Technically that would be sunny side up...

I like my yolks set so flipping is a necessity. It's okay, though, I can manage it without a video. ;)

I have never been able to fry an egg. I know it is odd but it is something I want to finally master this year. I question the use of a spatula and a spoon? Couldn't you just melt the butter with the spatula?

It's even better if, right after you crack the egg in the pan, you add a small amount of water (2 tsp or so - just eyeball it) and then put a lid on the pan. The egg will cook with a slight film over the yolk (over easy), but you won't get those overcooked/slightly burned parts around the edges of the egg white.

@alexis - yes, just use a spatula! It's the best tool for frying an egg. I just forgot to have mine out at the beginning of the video (rookie TV chef mistake...) :)

I use bacon grease when I fry eggs to give that good salty bacon flavor to the eggs...my mom would always splash a little of the hot bacon grease on top the egg to ensure the whites were cooking enough around the yolk...

JohnCanon, knock it off. Everyone has to learn how at some point. Don't be an ass.

@SmallMighty this is how I cook my eggs. I think it's called steam frying. It yields the perfect texture (to me) every single time.

A few of you think that cooking an egg is simple, liking adding sugar to coffee or tea, but even this video didn't quite get it right. Cooking eggs perfectly is a difficult task that takes a lot of practice.

I'd recommend a fry pan (not a griddle), more butter (enough to baste the top of your egg to cook the yolk), and lower temperature (because browned eggs are more a personal preference than something one would teach others to do).

Very useful! My family never did eggs like this, so I always wondered how they were cooked. I have a ton of eggs right now, so I'll have to try it out!

My son likes his egg flipped over. So to entertain him and make my husband jealous, I flip the egg without a spatula by shaking the pan and jerking it towards me. I use non-stick spray instead of butter--less fat and the egg slides better. Use medium heat and be sure the pan is pre-heated before you crack the egg on the pan.

I really appreciate this post and some of the posters obviously understand that cooking eggs is not the easiest thing to do. As a student at the French Culinary Institute, one of our exams was to make a perfect omelet (no color on the eggs, slightly jiggly and plated in a perfect crescent). I went through a dozen eggs before I even got it close. Thanks for all the info.

THE PERFECT FRIED EGG – ADMITTEDLY A MATTER OF TASTE

That’s a real funny way to describe how to make a perfect fried egg. In fact, everybody who does not know how to make a perfect fried egg would do it the way you describe. However, why would you use such a large pan (I understand,… if you do more than one egg) and why do you believe the egg yolk would be even close to warmed after 4 minutes? So, let’s start fresh.

What’s the result you like to achieve? If it is a firm egg white with a warmed but still runny (or as you like) yolk, without (or with) a brown crust underneath, you may want to continue reading. If the end result should be nicely shaped, so that the “eyes” will “join your stomach” while eating, you may like it even more. Don’t give me all the credits. Loving eggs, I developed the procedure on my own, but I found a quite similar recipe in “Eggs” of Michel Roux.

First of all, and I would assume you just didn’t mention this step, since obvious: You should take the egg out of the fridge at least one hour before starting. Is that really true? Yes, if you try to get a perfect egg in 4 minutes, as suggested by you, with at least slightly warmed egg yolk, as is mandatory for a perfect egg (I believe). Honestly, I never know an hour ahead if and when I want to eat a fried egg. So, how to achieve the perfect result with eggs just out of the fridge?

What you need: 1 non-stick pan, an egg ring (better a ring without a handle, not too small), two lids, a small one which fits well just on the ring and a larger one that fits on the pan, a see-through lid will be best.

• Take the eggs out of the fridge in time or just when you start, it doesn’t matter (if you get a bit practice in doing eggs this way)

• Add a small (can be really small) knob of butter and put it in the pan whenever you like, heat the pan to high heat and distribute the melted butter over the pan (or the place where you intend to put the ring.

• Put the ring in the pan.

• Crack the egg and put it in the pan.

• Important: You will now see that the egg white becomes very quickly firm. So just wait a few seconds and then take the pan completely off the heat.

• Turn the heat down to lowest possible heat

• Important: You will see as well that the egg yolk tends to “flow” to the side. If you want to have it in the middle of the egg, just lift the pan on one side so that the yolk moves to the middle. Keep the pan lifted for a few seconds until the yolk likes the position and ceases to escape to the sides.

• Move the pan back on the stovetop which will have cooled down a bit already (see above: “turn down to lowest heat …)

• Put the small lid on the ring (or the large one if you work with one lid only) and be patient. You may need to wait for some minutes until the bottom of the egg has settled firmly but the top of the egg white is still kind of liquid.

• With a knife (be careful with your non-stick pan), run around the ring and loosen the egg from the ring.

• Take away the ring and cover again with the lid.

• Still on lowest heat, you will now finish your egg by just watching the egg yolk. As you like, you can take out the egg with the egg yolk still liquid or you could even wait until the egg yolk becomes lightly yellow and is more or less (to your liking) set.

• The bottom of the egg will not be browned or burned at all.

• If you like crusty (up to burned) borders of your fried egg, then this method must be varied by a combination of two things: The amount of butter and the heat. Just take a bit more butter and do not reduce the heat too much in the beginning and you will achieve a crusty browned bottom.

• Sounds more difficult as it is. Practice will tell you very soon how much butter you start with, how long you leave the first lid on, when to free the egg from the ring, how long to leave the lid on the second time and on how low heat you will do all of this (or if you increase the heat again etc.).
Slide the ready fried egg on toasted brown bread, the bread you will never find in America, though American cooking books suggest it exists. So, if you are in America, skip this attempt and enjoy otherwise. A slice of good French cheese, the one which American cooking books suggest would be available in America, but is not, on the toasted brown bread, will do good; add a bit of ham (no obstructive comments on availability of good ham!) and enjoy.

You may want to place such a fried egg on a good round steak, the ones which German cooking books suggest would be available in Germany, but which are available in fact only in America.

Either way, you will like it. Enjoy the PERFECT FRIED EGG

Christoph Heyne, Frankfurt, Germany

I only have margarine and a sautee-pan - will this method still work?

My method: I don't use non-stick pans. I use olive oil, after cracking the egg and letting it cook briefly until the bottom is set, I add a tablespoon or so of water and cover it. This does two things. It steam cooks the top so I don't have to flip the egg. And it loosens the egg from the pan- no sticking!

Now my method doesn't give you the crispy browned egg bits, but I never liked that part much anyway.

I find that using a non-stick pan makes the eggs rubbery. I prefer a regular pan, butter, a little water, cover, low heat. Easy.

Do you happen to have a tutorial on how to make an omelette? Because I'm hopeless at it. :( The bottom always gets too brown (or even burnt) while the top is still runny... And I don't know how to flip.

Also great would be a tutorial on Spanish tortilla de patatas. Thanks! :)

A "fried" egg is a broad term. I mean, scrambled eggs are also fried. To me, a fried egg sees the yolk cracked and cooked along with the albumen. Doesn't need to be flipped, the whole thing should be cooked through, though. Covering it would help in this. This is one of the few ways I can enjoy eggs. Finely scrambled eggs (with toast), fried my way (in a sandwich), and hard boiled (with salt or deviled) are the only eggs I can stand.

This was pretty bad.

this video is not up to Kitchn standards, I hope. from the moment she said the pan was on "medium-high" heat, I knew we were in trouble. medium is the highest heat that eggs should be cooked on.

p.s. I'd send back that egg.