Posted on 04/15/2009 7:33:26 PM PDT by JoeProBono
"Everything tastes better with a fried egg on top," I used to tell people as a joke. I was exaggerating, of course, but not by much: My life list of dishes that profit from a crown of wobbly, runny-yolked egg grows longer every year.
Give me a choice between a Croque Monsieur, (the classic French grilled ham-and-cheese sandwich) and the Croque Madame that plops a fried-egg bonnet on top, and it's no contest. Is there a burger that tucks a fried egg into sumptuous layers of bacon and cheese? I'll have that, please. When the smart young chefs started sending out first courses adorned with cunning fried quail and duck eggs a few years ago, I rejoiced.
From Peru to Penang, from Denmark to Bruges to Mozambique, food cultures agree that a deftly fried egg can put a dish ever so agreeably over the top. There is anticipation, drama and happy release in the moment a fork (or a chopstick) pricks the yolk--sending a cascade of golden goo every which way. A sense of luxury clings to that satiny liquid, which enriches any sauce known to man.
At a purely visual level, a fried egg gives a dish cosmic resonance, too, especially when served sunny side up: the egg-white orb centered by its yellow eye conjures up the sun itself, and (for me, anyway) the music of the spheres. It's the universe on a plate.
My fried-egg-on-top mania started long ago, at Houston's venerable Spanish Village restaurant, where I discovered the Enchiladas con Huevos that changed my life. As our neighbors in New Mexico know, the earthiness of serious red chile gravy is uniquely suited to the smooth unctuosity of egg yolk: They deepen each other's charms. Add the slide of melted cheese, the crunch of raw onion, and you have a guilty pleasure for the ages. An interactive pleasure, at that; when the enchiladas are set before me, I like to watch the over-easy yolks wiggle a little before I sploosh them. For a moment, I'm a kid again.
The Red Robin restaurant chain has the Royal Robin...beef, cheese bacon and topping WITH a fired egg on top. My absolute favorite.
But to really get the full effect, you need a fresh slice of bread about an inch and a half thick, & cook it in the grease of 1 slice of bacon.
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