Great thread that spurs a question. How does one easily fry an egg on a non nonstick pan? We have cast iron, enameled Dutch ovens, copper clad/ stainless etc and I haven’t been successful frying an egg on much other than our nonsticks.
Easy hacks desired please.
Need a few nice pans
- Thread starter Toothpick
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I heat a carbon steel crepe pan, pour a bit of oil, probably peanut, in the center, spread it, pour off any excess, and crack the egg into it. From there I either turn it or, more often, pour in a bit of water, pop a No. 24 lid over it, and steam it. For folded eggs I use butter. Neither method sticks.Great thread that spurs a question. How does one easily fry an egg on a non nonstick pan? We have cast iron, enameled Dutch ovens, copper clad/ stainless etc and I haven’t been successful frying an egg on much other than our nonsticks.
Easy hacks desired please
Great thread that spurs a question. How does one easily fry an egg on a non nonstick pan? We have cast iron, enameled Dutch ovens, copper clad/ stainless etc and I haven’t been successful frying an egg on much other than our nonsticks.
Easy hacks desired please
The key is hot oil covering the surface before any food goes in the pan. You want the egg to go into a preheated pan, not to heat with the pan.
A smooth surface helps, and you might need a certain quantity of oil.
Having said that, nothing will be as nonstick as nonstick.
This is a good recent video. I don't agree with all of it but it's not bad for fried eggs:
Wait what you mean a crepe pan can be used for something else than making crepes ? you must be kidding right ? I guess I'll have to give it a try when I replace my old trusty 20 yo Tefal Crepes pan then.
I have been eyeing a carbon steel pan as a replacement for her, for the last 5 years but then this one keep on refusing to die
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- #46
Easy hacks desired please
Bacon grease. Only time I’ve used butter is when I don’t have any bacon grease. Which is rare. Medium heat, bacon grease, let the pan heat up. Drop the egg in and let it cook. Starts to actually sizzle around the edges, gently “break the seal” from the pan and flip it over. Repeat until your desired doneness.
Thanks is for all these suggestions folks! It’s time for some eggs.
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Great thread that spurs a question. How does one easily fry an egg on a non nonstick pan? We have cast iron, enameled Dutch ovens, copper clad/ stainless etc and I haven’t been successful frying an egg on much other than our nonsticks.
Easy hacks desired please
OK, here's yer "hack..."
One egg or two will fit well in a #5 or #6 cast iron skillet. Put the skillet on medium heat and let it get well warmed up. Crack the eggs into a small bowl. I then toss a spoonful of home-rendered organic lard into the skillet, and when it starts to smoke I gently pour in the eggs. The pan should be hot enough that the eggs bubble up and make frying sounds immediately. Then I turn the heat down a notch and wait for the white to firm up a little. Then I'll gently probe with my spatula and see if I can slide the eggs around a little in the pan. At this point you can go for over easy if that's your goal, or stab the yolks and flip the lot for over hard.
Once the white is mostly firm and the yolk is still runny it's time to slide the eggs out. You can put them on a plate or my favourite way is to put them on a piece of toast, on the plate.
A note on grease. I like lard because I have the tools and knowledge to render some very good lard, and olive trees don't grow in my part of Canada.
What I want (and of course you want that, too) is a grease that will be tenacious enough to coat the pan when I hit it with a bowl of runny egg white. Washing the oil up on top of the eggs does me no good. But I appreciate that many people might gasp and clutch their chests over using ohmygoshpigfat.I also appreciate that there are cultural and health reasons not to use lard. That's cool; I'll do what I do. Some alternatives include beef tallow (which is really better in shave soap, I think), mutton tallow (I'll take any excuse to eat mutton) and refined coconut oil. Liquid oils are less useful to me here, although a dribble of some flavourful oil like toasted sesame oil adds a bit of flash. Avocado oil would be good as it has a high smoke point.
The best "hack" is simply mise en place. Took me a long time to figure that out.
O.H.
Animal fats are truly the best...butter, ghee, duck fat, bacon fat, schmaltz, hog or beef lard...all excellent, but, for an egg that does not stick, they need to be free of fried bits.OK, here's yer "hack..."
One egg or two will fit well in a #5 or #6 cast iron skillet. Put the skillet on medium heat and let it get well warmed up. Crack the eggs into a small bowl. I then toss a spoonful of home-rendered organic lard into the skillet, and when it starts to smoke I gently pour in the eggs. The pan should be hot enough that the eggs bubble up and make frying sounds immediately. Then I turn the heat down a notch and wait for the white to firm up a little. Then I'll gently probe with my spatula and see if I can slide the eggs around a little in the pan. At this point you can go for over easy if that's your goal, or stab the yolks and flip the lot for over hard.
Once the white is mostly firm and the yolk is still runny it's time to slide the eggs out. You can put them on a plate or my favourite way is to put them on a piece of toast, on the plate.
A note on grease. I like lard because I have the tools and knowledge to render some very good lard, and olive trees don't grow in my part of Canada.
I also appreciate that there are cultural and health reasons not to use lard. That's cool; I'll do what I do. Some alternatives include beef tallow (which is really better in shave soap, I think), mutton tallow (I'll take any excuse to eat mutton) and refined coconut oil. Liquid oils are less useful to me here, although a dribble of some flavourful oil like toasted sesame oil adds a bit of flash. Avocado oil would be good as it has a high smoke point.
The best "hack" is simply mise en place. Took me a long time to figure that out.
O.H.
I've been using copper with tin lining for a while. Only sticks if you brown something in it and then try to cook eggs (this morning, used the pan to brown sausage for a pizza and didn't scrub it first.
Tin is the original non-stick, but it requires being heated and oiled first. By far my favorite is copper, but it's necessary to be able to re-tin it unless you have lots of money to throw around, people want silly money of that job.
Also best if you don't care if they are shiny -- keeping copper gleaming clean and the tin mirror finish will make you crazy, and it's absolutely non required.
Tin is the original non-stick, but it requires being heated and oiled first. By far my favorite is copper, but it's necessary to be able to re-tin it unless you have lots of money to throw around, people want silly money of that job.
Also best if you don't care if they are shiny -- keeping copper gleaming clean and the tin mirror finish will make you crazy, and it's absolutely non required.
Great thread that spurs a question. How does one easily fry an egg on a non nonstick pan? We have cast iron, enameled Dutch ovens, copper clad/ stainless etc and I haven’t been successful frying an egg on much other than our nonsticks.
Easy hacks desired please
Your pan isn’t hot enough. Heat pan on medium/medium-high until a drop of water rolls around bottom of pan, or point where butter foams but doesn’t burn.
OldSaw
The wife's investment
I watched Julia Child make a French omelette on YouTube recently. It was a very old black and white video and she used a coil top electric stove. She made it look so easy.
So when I got home yesterday I tried making one her way and it is the best one I’ve made. No scorching on the outside, nice and custardy on the inside. And the pan was nearly spotless; easily wiped off with a paper towel.
I made another one this morning and it was fabulous.
The pan is a Demeyere Proline.
So when I got home yesterday I tried making one her way and it is the best one I’ve made. No scorching on the outside, nice and custardy on the inside. And the pan was nearly spotless; easily wiped off with a paper towel.
I made another one this morning and it was fabulous.
The pan is a Demeyere Proline.
OldSaw
The wife's investment
I may end up cross posting my previous comment in another thread because I thought I already had one going about French omelettes, so don’t get confused.
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- #54
Just dropped today. Good timing! I’ve yet to buy anything.
I was just going to load this for you. I really like this guy.
Tin quickly gets grey and mottled. It is not an issue. Letting the copper go dark is not an issue either. Brilliantly polished pans were the hallmark of kitchens long ago. Except for high temperature cooking, for which carbon steel is hard to beat, tinned copper is incomparable. Silver lined copper may take higher heat, but tin lined copper is the best way to cook things not requiring very high heat.
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