The Spanish Fried Egg

Spanish Fried Egg

I am always looking for new ways to fry an egg. I came upon this recipe in my travels, and have found it to be very interesting. it’s like a poached egg, in oil!   The egg white get crackly, and the egg yolk thickens. It is perfect to top a steak, or as a change from the drab morning egg.  Nothing could be further from the “perfect way to cook an egg” that Chef Ferdinand Point promoted.  (He insisted the ONLY way to cook an egg was slowly, in ample amounts of butter.)  The texture is unique.  The Spanish fry everything in a rather bland olive oil (lacking in overall “olive” flavor). This may be cooked in a good quality cooking oil, in melted lard, or as the Spanish do, in olive oil.

Heat a generous amount of oil in a heavy pan (cast iron works well) until it is nearly smoking. Then reduce the heat to medium-high, and break an egg into the hot oil. Cook eggs one at a time (several eggs will instantly migrate together and coagulate into one big shaggy mess). Tilt the pan away from you, and spoon the oil over the egg or, alternatively, roll the egg gently with a spoon to cook all sides evenly. Cook until the white is opaque but the interior is still runny. The total cooking time is less than a minute, closer to 45 seconds, for a still-runny yolk and up to 2 minutes for a firm yolk. Use a slotted spoon to lift the egg out of the oil, and let the excess oil drip off. The technique and resulting egg texture are more like those of a poached egg, but with a decidedly fried, almost crispy, exterior.

Savory French Toast

Savory French toast, eggy toast, and fried toast are similar to the sweet varieties, in that they have a custard base. They differ in that they have more-intense flavors, involve cheese, or are filled. These are good for breakfast, snacks, lunch, or a light dinner. This is just a small sampling of recipes for savory French toast. You can certainly experiment with the idea and create your own signature one.

Savory Cheesy Eggy Toast
½ cup milk
4 eggs
4 slices stale bread

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup grated or shredded cheese (your choice of cheese)

ketchup (garnish)

Mix egg and milk. Dip bread slices, and coat both sides evenly. Melt butter in skillet on medium heat, and heat until very hot. Cook until golden on both sides. Move slices of bread to an oven broiler pan, sprinkle with cheese, place under broiler, and heat until cheese melts. Serve with ketchup.

Dessert Deviled Eggs

Everyone knows variations on deviled eggs, but what about dessert deviled eggs?

These two recipes are fantastic (and not just for the shock {wow} factor) Perfect for a potluck:

Chocolate Deviled Eggs

12 hard-boiled eggs, peeled

¼ cup unsalted butter, softened

¼ cup cream cheese

¼ cup superfine sugar

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

several drops vanilla extract

¼ cup whipping cream

cocoa powder for garnish

Remove yolks from eggs, and set whites aside. With fork mash yolks and put into bowl. Add room-temperature butter and cream into yolks. Add room-temperature cream cheese, and blend into butter mixture. Add sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract, and blend in well. Put spoonfuls of yolk mixture back into egg whites, and reassemble both egg halves. Refrigerate to firm. To serve, whip up whipping cream with small amount of sugar, place dollop of whipped cream on plate, and place egg on top. Sprinkle with cocoa powder.

Italian Sweet Hard-Boiled Eggs

8 hard-boiled eggs, peeled

½ cup butter, softened

¼ cup sugar

several drops vanilla extract

¼ cup flour

½ cup cornstarch

Cut eggs in half, and separate yolks from whites. Set whites aside. Mash yolks with fork. Cream butter and yolks, and add sugar and vanilla extract. Stir together flour and cornstarch, sprinkle a little at a time onto yolk mixture, and blend in. Fold until flour is incorporated. Make firm ball with dough. Refrigerate 2 hours. Remove, and make 16 small balls of dough. Place a dough ball in cavity of each egg white. Flatten dough slightly. Place on cookie sheet. Bake in 350-degree oven 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden-brown. Serve warm, or chilled.

Columbia Cookbook (1902) More Recipes

Omelet Soufflee

Whites of six eggs, yolks of three eggs, juice of half a lemon, three tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar. First grease a quart baking dish with butter, and then see that the oven is hot. Now beat the whites to a very stiff broth, beat the yolks, add them to the whites, then the sugar and juice of a lemon; stir carefully, and quickly heap into the baking dish; dredge with powdered sugar and put into the oven. Bake fifteen minutes or until a golden brown, and serve immediately. It may also be baked in paper cases.

Rum Omelet

Put a small quantity of lard into the pan; let it simmer a few minutes and remove it; wipe the pan dry with a towel and put in a little fresh lard in which the omelet may be fried. Care should be taken that the lard does not burn, which would spoil the color of the omelet. Break three eggs separately, put them into a bowl, and wisk them thoroughly with a fork. The longer they are beaten the lighter will the omelet be. Beat up a teaspoonful of milk with the eggs, and continue to beat until the last moment before pouring into the pan, which should be over a hot fire. As soon as the omelet sets, remove the pan from the hottest part of the fire. Slip a knife under it to prevent sticking to the pan. When the centre is almost firm slant the pan, work the omelet in shape to fold it easily and neatly, and when slightly browned hold a platter against the edge of the pan and deftly turn it out on to the hot dish. Dust a liberal quantity of powdered sugar over it and singe the sugar into neat stripes with a hot iron rod, heated in the coals; pour a glassful of warm Jamacia rum around it, and when it is placed on the table set fire to the rum. With a tablespoon dash the burning rum over the omelet, put out the fire and serve. Salt mixed with the eggs prevents them from rising, and then it is so used the omelet will look flabby, yet without salt it will taste insipid. Add a little salt to it just before folding it and turning out on the dish.

Smoked beef with Eggs

Cut some smoked beef in thin shavings or chips, put them into a frying pan, and nearly fill it with hot water; set it on the fire and let it boil up once, then pour it off; add to the beef a good bit of lard, twice the size of an egg, for a half pound of the beef, shake a little pepper over it, and let it fry for a few minutes over a quick fire; then break two or three more eggs into it, stir them together until the eggs are done and then turn it onto a dish. Or, after frying the beef with a little wheat flour dredged over, fry eggs, and serve with it the same as ham.

Ham and Eggs

Fry the eggs in a little every nice salted lard; drain off every drop of grease and lay them upon a hot dish with neat slices of fried ham around the edges., half the size of the slice as the first, carved from the ham. Trim off the rough edges of the eggs, and cut the ham evenly in oblong pieces before dishing. Garnish with parsley.

Egg Nogg

Beat the yolks of twelve eggs very light, stir in as much white sugar as they will dissolve, pour in gradually one glassful of brandy to cook the eggs, one glassful of old whiskey (or two glassfuls of sherry wine), one grated nutmeg, and three pints of rich milk. Beat the whites to a froth and stir in last.

Egg Sauce

Three hard boiled eggs, a good teacupful of drawn butter, a little salt. Chop the yolks only of the eggs very fine, and beat into the hot drawn butter, salting to sates.  This is used for boiled fowls and boiled fish. For the former, you can add some minced parsley; for the latter chopped pickles, caper, or nasturtium seed. For boiled beef, a small shallot minced fine.

 

 

Columbia Cookbook (1902) More Recipes

More Recipes from the Columbia Cookbook:

Deviled Eggs

Twelve eggs, one large teaspoonful of French mustard, two heaping tablespoonfuls of cold-boiled ham or tongue, one tablespoonful of olive oil, salt and cayenne to taste. Cover the eggs with warm water and boil fifteen minutes, then throw them into cold water for half and hour; this prevents the whites from turning dark. Remove the shells, and cut the eggs in halves lengthwise. Take out the yolks carefully without breaking the whites. Rub the yolks into a smooth paste with the mustard, oil, and then add the ham or tongue finely chopped, the salt and pepper, and mix thoroughly. Fill the hollowed whites with this mixture, and serve on a bed of water-cress or salad.

For picnics or garden parties, put the two corresponding halves together and press them closely. Cut white tissue paper into pieces six inches square, fringe the opposite sides, roll one egg in each paper, twist the fringed ends the same as the candied secrets. Serve on a napkin, in a pretty little basket, garnish with smilax or myrtle.

Breaded Eggs

Boil the eggs hard, and cut in round thick slices,; pepper and salt; dip each in a beaten raw egg, and then in fine bread crumbs or powdered cracker, and fry in butter hissing hot. Drain off every drop of crease and serve on a hot dish for breakfast.

Eggs on Toast

Put a good lump of butter into the frying pan. When it is hot, stir in four or five well beaten eggs, with pepper, salt, and a little parsley. Stir and toss for three minutes. Have ready to your hand some slices of buttered toast (cut round with a tin cake cutter before they are toasted; spread thickly with ground or minced tongue, chicken or ham. Heap the stirred egg upon these in mounts, and set in a hot dish garnished with parsley and pickled beets.

Eggs, Newport Style

Take one pint of bread crumbs and soak in one point of milk. Beat eight eggs very light and stir with the soaked crumbs, beating five minutes. Have ready a sauce pan in which are two tablespoonfuls of butter, thoroughly hot, but not scorching; pour in the mixture, season with pepper and salt, as the mass is opened and stirred in with the “scrambling,” which should be done quickly with the point of the knife, for three minutes, or until thoroughly hot. Serve on a hot platter with squares of buttered toast.

Plain Omelet (Fine)

To make an omelet, beat the yolks lightly (twelve beats is said to be the magic number), as too much beating makes them thin and destroys the appearance of the omelet, then add the milk, the salt, pepper, and the flour if any is used, and lastly the whites beaten to a stiff froth. Have the skillet as hot as it can be without scorching the butter; put in a tablespoonful of butter, and pour in the omelet, which should at once begin to bubble and rise in flakes. Slip under it a thin broad bladed knife and every now and then raise it up to prevent burning. As soon as the under-side is hard enough to hold together and the eggs begin to ‘set,” fold over, shake the skillet so as to entirely free the omelet, carefully slide it on a hot platter, and serve at once. It should be cooked in from three to five minutes.

Bread Omelet

Three eggs, one quarter teaspoonful of salt, one dash of black pepper, one half cup of bread crumbs, one half cup of milk, piece of butter the size of a walnut. Beat the eggs separately. Add to the yolks. Add to the yolks the milk, salt, pepper, and the bread crumbs. Now stir into this carefully the beaten whites; mix very lightly. Put the batter ina very smooth frying pan; as soon as hot turn in the mixture gently, and set it over a clear fire, being very careful not to burn; shake occasionally to see that the omelet does not stick, the same as plain omelet.  Now stand your frying pan in the oven for a moment to set the middle of the omelet. When done, toss it over on a warm platter to bring the brown side of the omelet uppermost; or it may be folded in half and then turned out in the center of the platter. Serve immediately or it will fall.

Omelet with Ham, Tongue, or Chicken

Make precisely as above; but when it is done, scatter thickly over the surface some minced ham, tongue, or seasoned chicken, slip our broad knife under one side of the omelet and double in half, enclosing the meat. Then upset the frying pan upon a hot dish.

Omelet au Naturel

Break eight or ten eggs into a basin; add a small teaspoonful of salt and a little pepper, with a tablespoonful of cold water, beat the whole well with a spoon or wisk. In the meantime put some fresh sweet putter into an omelet pan, and when it is nearly hot put in an omelet; whilst it is frying with a skimmer spoon, raise the edges from the pan, that it may be properly done. When the eggs are set, and one side is a fine brown, double it half over, and serve hot. These omelets should be quite thin in the pan; the butter required for each will be about the size of a small egg.

Spanish Omelet

Six eggs, one medium sized tomato, one small onion, one dash of black pepper, three tablespoonfuls of milk, five mushrooms, one quarter pound of bacon, one quarter teaspoonful of salt.

Cut the bacon into very small pieces and fry it until brown; then add to it the tomato, onion, and mushroom chopped fine; stir and cook for fifteen minutes. Break the eggs in a bowl, and give them twelve vigorous beats with a fork; add them to the salt and pepper. Now put a piece of butter the size of a walnut into a smooth frying pan, turn it around so as to grease the bottom and sides. When the butter is hot, pour in the eggs and shake over a quick fire until they are set. Now quickly pour the mixture from the other frying pan over the omelet, fold it over at once, and turn it out in the centre of a heated platter, and serve immediately.

Rice Omelet

Take a cupful of cold boiled rice, turn over it a cupful of warm milk, add a tablespoonful of butter melted, a level teaspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper, mix well, then add three well beaten eggs. Put a tablespoonful of butter in a hot frying pan and when it begins to boil pour in the omelet and set the pan in a hot oven.  As soon as it is cooked through, fold it double, turn it out on a hot dish, and serve at once. Very good.

Savory Omelet

This is made like a plain omelet with the addition of one taplespoon of chopped parsley. A little grated onion may be used also if you like it.

Tomato Omelet

Peel a couple of tomatoes, which split into four pieces; remove the seeds, and cut them into small dice; then fry them with a little butter until nearly done, adding salt and pepper. Beat the eggs and mix the tomatoes with them, and make the omelet as usual. Or stew a few tomatoes in the usual way and spread over before folding.

Potato Omelet

Two boiled potatoes, chopped fine. Put a tablespoonful of butter in a frying pan, and, when very hot, add the potatoes. Shake over the fire until a nice brown; then sprinkle with chopped parsley, salt and pepper. Stand them where they will keep warm until you make a plain omelet. When the omelet is partly set, spread over the potatoes, roll, and serve.

Green Corn Omelet

Boil one dozen ears of sweet corn, cut from the cob. Beat together five eggs; mix with the corn and season with pepper and salt; make into small cakes. Dip into the beaten yolk of an egg, and then into bread crumbs; add a teaspoonful of flour to the bread crumbs and season them with a little salt and pepper. Fry brown

Jelly Omelet

Make a plain omelet, and just before folding together, spread with some kind of jelly. Turn out on a warm platter. Dust it with powdered sugar.

Oyster Omelet

Allow for every six large oysters, or twelve small ones, one egg; remove the hard part and mince the rst very fine; take the yolks of eight eggs, and the whites of fou, beat until very light; then mix in the oysters, season and beat all up thoroughly; put into a skillet one gill of butter, let it melt; when the butter boils, skim it and turn in the omelet; stir until it stiffens, fry light brown; when the under side is brown, turn onto a hot platter; if wanted the upper side brown, hold a red hot shovel over it.

Mushroom Omelet

Clean a cupful of large button mushrooms, canned ones may be used; cut them into bits. Put into a stew pan and ounce of butter, and let it melt; add the mushrooms, a teaspoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful of pepper, and a half a cupful of cream or milk. Stir ina teaspoonful of flour, dissolved in a little milk or water to thicken, if needed. Boil ten minutes, and set aside until the omelet is ready.

Make a plain omelet the usual way, and just before doubling it, turn the mushrooms over the centre, and serve hot.

Cheese Omelet

Beat up three eggs, and add to them a tablespoonful of milk and a tablespoonful of grated cheese; add a little more cheese before folding; turn it out on a hot dish; grate a little cheese over it before serving

French Omelet

One quart of milk, one pint of bread crumbs, five eggs, one tablespoonful of flour, one onion chopped fine, chopped parsley, season with pepper and salt; have butter melted in a spider; when the omelet is brown, turn it over; double when served.

Asparagus, Cauliflower, and Onion Omelet

Cook the vegetables as if for the table; place them in the centre of the omelet just before folding.

Bengal Omelet

Take half a dozen fresh eggs, beat the whites and the yolks well together, chop half a dozen yong onions fine, mix all together and fry after the form of a pancake

Old Cookbooks: Columbia Cook Book, 1902

In my old first edition (1898), Columbia Cook Book, which was written by the Ladies Aid Society of the First Baptist Church of Colombia, Tennessee, there are some egg recipes that I have never come across in my quest for egg recipes.   Eggs are discussed at great length in this compiled book. It was back in the day when every home had chickens in the yard. The recipes have been copied exactly as they were written in the cookbook.  In old cookbooks the recipes were written by many different people, and not well edited, or formatted to list ingredients first, and then instructions. In some cases the wording is awkward, and who knows what they’re talking about.  It’s a little odd to read, but the variation and scope of the use of eggs as a meal. Its interesting to revisit these old gems..

colombia cookbook

Columbia Cookbook 1902 , the Bradley & Gilbert Company

There are so many ways of cooking and dressing eggs that it seems unnecessary for the ordinary family to use only those that are most practical.

The first point of importance is to see that your eggs are perfectly fresh by putting them in a pan of water, and if fresh they will sink immediately, or float if doubtful.  Or, hold them before a strong light, and if the yolk appears round and the white surrounding clear, the chances are that it is good.

Eggs are highly nutritious, pleasing to the palate, and easy of digestion, and are said to contain all that which is required for the sustenance of the human body.  So that they should form part of the daily bill of fare for every family.

The fresher eggs are, the more wholesome, although new-laid eggs require to be cooked longer than others. Eggs over a week old will do to fry, but not to boil. Do not mix eggs in a tin: always use earthenware.

The best and safest plan to feel assured of the freshness of an egg before using is to break each egg into a saucer before cooking, for if one egg is slightly tainted, it will leven the whole.

Boiled Eggs

The fresher laid the eggs are the better. Put them in boiling water; if you like the white set, about two minutes’ boiling is enough. A new-laid egg will take three minutes if you wish the yolk set. To boil hard for salads or made dishes will take ten minutes.

Poached Eggs

Two eggs, two tablespoonfuls of milk, half a tablespoonful of butter. Beat the eggs and add the salt and the milk. Put the butter in a small sauce-pan, and when it melts add the eggs. Stir over the fire until the mixture thickens, being careful not to let it cook hard. About two minutes will cook it. The eggs, when done, should be left soft and creamy. Serve immediately

Creamed Eggs

Break as many eggs in a buttered pie-dish as it will hold without crowding each others. Sprinkle with pepper and salt, and put a bit of butter on each. Have ready a cup of hot milk in which has been cooked for one minute a teaspoon of corn-starch, or better yet arrowroot wet up with cold water. Pour this, a spoonful at a time, about the raw eggs, and bake it in a quick oven until the eggs are fairly set. Five minutes should do it. Send to table at once in the pie-plate.

Baked eggs

Soak a cupful of bread-crumbs in a half a cupful of hot milk for twenty minutes, stir in a teaspoonful of butter, the yolk of an egg, a tablespoonful of grated cheese, two tablespoonfuls of savory broth, a little minced onion, and a teaspoonful of minced parsley. Pour the mixture into a neat pie-plate, and set, covered in a quick oven. In six minutes lift the cover, break as many eggs on the bubbling surface as the dish will hold, sift the fine crumbs on top and leave in the oven for three minutes longer. Serve in the dish.

Fricasseed Eggs

Boil for fifteen minute, throw at once into cold water, and let them lie there for the same time. Peel, cut each in half length-wise; extract the yolks and rub smooth with a teaspoonful of anchovy paste, a little made mustard, and the tiniest suspicion of cayenne. Mold this pasty mixture into balls of the same shape and size as the yolks, put them into the cavities left in the halved whites, fasten them in place by tying firmly with cotton twine when you have skewered them together with wooden toothpicks, once through each bisected egg. Have ready in a sauce-pan a good cupful of drawn butter (drawn with milk, not water), season with pepper, salt, and minced parsley. Lay the eggs in carefully; set the sauce-pan covered in boiling water, and cook gently, keeping the water outside at a slow boil for ten minutes. Arranges the eggs in a pile on a heated platter, and pour the sauce over them.

Meringued Eggs

Whip the whites of the eggs very stiff. Lay great spoonfuls of the standing froth on a platter that will stand the oven heat. With the back of a tablespoon make a hollow in the middle of each heap, and put a raw yolk in it. Set in the oven until the meringue begins to color faintly, sprinkle with pepper and salt, lay a bit of butter on each egg, and serve in the platter in which they were baked.

Fried Eggs

Melt some butter in a frying pan, and when it hisses drop in the eggs carefully. Frey three minutes; dust with pepper and salt, and transfer to a hot dish

Scrambled  Eggs

Heat the spider, and put in a little butter; have the eggs broken into a dish, salt and pepper them,; add a small piece of butter; beat up just enough to break the eggs, then our into the buttered spider; scrape the up from the bottom with a thin knife, to prevent their cooking fast; do not cook too dry

Buttered Eggs

Four eggs, two ounces of butter, two tablespoonfuls of cream, a little grated tongue, pepper, and salt to taste, pieces of buttered toast. Break four eggs into a basin, and beat them well; but two ounces of butter and two tablespoonfuls of cream into a saucepan; add a little grated tongue, pepper and salt to taste; when quite hot add the eggs, stir until nearly set, then spread the mixture on pieces of buttered toast and serve.