In light of the shelter-in-place order, many of us have resorted to cooking at home, revisiting old recipes and getting creative with our pantries. Instead of our usual Flavors Worth Finding column with recommendations from restaurants, KQED staffers are sharing the meals they’ve been making at home to find some comfort and grounding during uncertain times.
Mom’s style eggs
I love eggs. They’re one ingredient that has so much versatility. Bake them. Boil them. Fry them. Poach, sous vide, baste, coddle, pickle, cured. The list goes on. During this time at home, I’ve made everything from veggie-laden frittatas and burji (Indian scrambled eggs) to three-ingredient fluffy souffle omelets and breakfast tacos.
But every so often, my mom would ask, “Do you want it Mom’s style?” It’s a simple runny yolk fried egg on generously buttered pan-toasted bread. That’s it. It’s simple, to the point and delicious. The edges are crisp but the whites aren’t leathery. The yolk absorbs into the bread, and it’s a pure joy to eat.
What’s the trick to the perfect fried egg? It’s all about temperature and timing. While my mom and most people use butter or oil to fry, I love using ghee. It gives you that buttery flavor while also allowing you to crank up the heat. You want to heat the ghee to a point that when you crack the egg in, it instantly starts dancing and sputtering in the pan. That violent reaction, in the beginning, will reward you with those crisp edges, variations in texture, a fully set white and a runny yolk. Another helpful method is to spoon ghee over the whites of the eggs to help them cook through.
It’s not homemade pasta or some huge project, but I’m perfectly content with that. Not everything needs to be Instagram-worthy heavy lifts. I gravitate to these eggs more now because it makes me feel closer to my mom, who lives in Florida. It makes me feel connected to my family while I’m here in the Bay Area. —Urmila Ramakrishnan, KQED Food Editor and Social Strategist
