CRACKING THE CODE
The best in the brunch business lay out their fried and true secrets for an eggcellent meal with Dan Stock
Vinegar or no? Boil or simmer? To milk or not to milk? What about cream?
When it comes to poaching, scrambling, frying and boiling breakfast (or lunch and dinner), there’s more than one way to crack an egg.
In fact, there are as many schools of thought on how to boil an egg as there are colleges cooking up qualifications. Cold to a simmer; bring it to a boil, then off the heat; cover first; cover last; into boiling water for three-ish minutes… the list goes on.
Likewise scrambling and poaching and frying, too.
“I am a very good breakfast cook,” writes Anthony Bourdain in his cookbook, Appetites. “This was both a blessing and a curse. No matter how messed up I might have been, however unemployable by polite society, I could always get a job as a brunch cook.”
And he picked up a few things along the way.
MIX IT UP
Bourdain subscribes to the no added milk, cream, or – quelle horreur! – water school of scrambling.
“I believe in eggs, salt, black pepper, and the butter the eggs are cooked in,” he writes.
For his method, break your eggs against a flat surface, and beat lightly with a fork, dragging the yellow and white through each other. Heat butter in pan. Pour in the egg and stir using a fork. When the egg is fluffy, yet still moist, plate and serve immediately.
“I think you want full flavour when you go to a cafe,” says Stuart McKenzie of Collingwood’s South of Johnston. “So we use cream, but when I’m at home I might use milk, it reminds me of the scrambled eggs I had when I was a kid.”
Stuart suggests using 10ml of cream per egg (two or three per person), whisked together. For super-fluffy scrambled eggs, you could even use an electric beater.
Melt butter with a splash of oil in the pan, then use a spatula to fold so the liquid eggs keep hitting the pan.
“I serve my scrambled eggs with loads of parsley. I think that makes them just divine.”
ON THE BOIL
“The perfect boiled egg is not to boil it at all,” says Candy Poon from the Grange Road Egg Shop in Toorak, who goes through up to 1000 eggs every weekend.
“Put the eggs into cold water. Bring to the boil, then cover with a lid and remove from the heat. In six minutes you’ll have eggs perfect for soldiers.”
If boiling eggs to use in a salad, Candy says adding 1 tbsp vinegar to the water will make them easier to peel.
“Store them in water in the fridge until ready to peel and use,” she says.
FRYING HIGH
Greg Bremmer from South Melbourne’s Good Egg is not a fan of how Aussies fry eggs.
“We tend to fry the bottom of them and burn them, which I can’t stand,” he says.
His method is to instead “sort of shallow poach them in olive oil”.
Fill a large frying pan with enough olive oil to cover the whites of the eggs – but not the yolk – and heat over medium.
“This cooks them slower, so they’re not crispy on the bottom,” he says.
Remove with a slotted egg flip and drain on kitchen paper before serving.
Candy says the best way to get a perfect fried egg is to invest in a small non-stick egg pan, but failing that, cooking low and slow in a frying pan sprayed with oil will give best results.
POACHING PATROL
All the chefs agree that using the best – and freshest – eggs you can find is the most important part of any method – but is imperative when it comes to poaching.
“If they’re old eggs, they just won’t poach properly,” Candy says. To test for freshness, add your egg to a bowl of room temperature water. If it floats, it’s old and best banished for baking.
Stuart says how to poach an egg is the question most often asked of him.
“For many people, it’s all a bit mysterious, poaching,” he says.
His method: fill a saucepan/ deep frying pan with water to about 10cm deep to which 1 tbsp white vinegar has been added. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Working one egg at a time, crack each egg into a cup and add, as close to the water at the centre of a gentle whirlpool as possible, into the pan.
“This will give you the perfect teardrop shape to your egg.”
Cook for 2-3 mins for a soft egg, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel.
Because, as Candy says: “There’s nothing worse than wet toast.”
BAKED EXPECTATIONS
“At home I make up a version of patatas bravas (Spanish roast potatoes) but with baked eggs,” Greg says.
He starts with a sofrito – frying garlic, onion, tomatoes, capsicum with paprika and cumin – and then adds cubed roasted potatoes.
Once this is hot and bubbling away in the pan on the stove, crack in two eggs and bake in a preheated oven for 6-7 mins. “That way the eggs are cooked into the sugo but aren’t overcooked,” Greg says.
“This is great served with a side of fried chorizo.”
FRENCH REVOLUTION
“Australia is loving its French toast at the moment,” Stuart says. “The sweet and savoury mix is so much more popular in cafes now.”
To make at home, he suggests using a light airy bread, such as brioche.
“It’s decadent and soaks up the egg mix well and makes the dish so moreish,” he says.
Slice to about 2cm thick – you don’t want it too thick as otherwise it won’t cook in the centre – and dip into a mix of 4 eggs whisked with 80ml cream and 80ml milk.
Cook in a pan on a moderate heat so it cooks through and doesn’t burn.
“I think one of those daggy electric frying pans is perfect as you can control the temperature well, and fit more pieces in.
“It really is a fantastic crowd pleaser.”
“We tend to fry the bottom of them and burn them, which I can’t stand” GREG BREMMER ON THE AUSSIE WAY