Picture Perfect Sunny Side Up Eggs

Guten'tog! I am officially better! Being sick is the worst!

Normally, I just make over easy eggs for my kids. I've never really been fascinated with the whole preserving the look of the yolk thing for the sake of calling it a sunny side up egg. Over easy is just fine, and frankly I've always liked hiding that bit of yellow under a blanket of butter fried white. So why, why for the love of Pete do I bring you this post you ask? Because I do have a fascination with method. If there is a certain method in place solely dedicated to making a picture perfect egg and I become intrigued, I am pretty much obsessed until I end up making it.

Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman) made these eggs the other day on her cooking show. I wasn't really into it considering she used canola oil instead of butter to cook them (maybe clarified butter would work since it wouldn't burn?). But then, I'll be dammed if she didn't turn out the most freakishly perfect sunny side up egg I've ever seen. It looked fake, like those plastic eggs they give kids with their play kitchens. But then I realized I've never made such a good looking egg before, and knew I would need to master it for my sanity in case I ever needed that skill in the real world. What if I'm a food stylist some day? What if someone ten years from now asks me if I know how to make the perfect egg? I can't very well say no. I mean, I am a food blogger for goodness sake and there are certain basic skills one must have to bear that title with any dignity.

So, look, the recipe sounds "complicated" since you need a certain amount of oil to coat the bottom of the pan which can't be too hot since you want the eggs to cook slowly. You want the egg to sit in the pan for a few seconds before slowly starting to turn white.



Then you'll need to spoon some of the hot oil over the whites only at first. This is very, very important and if you need more explanation see the *note in the cooking directions.





Then, after a few minutes, you'll want to spoon the oil over the yolk to cook and set to your desired doneness.



 Lastly, you'll want to drain the egg on a paper towel since nobody wants their eggs to taste like oil. This step is surprisingly easy. Despite outlining all of the steps, I promise you it's super easy peasy if you are capable of an attention span of about three minutes. If you read this last paragraph and decided it was too much work or effort, I suggest you work on some more discipline, stillness, or self control in your life. But that's just my two cents and I'm not qualified or anything, I'm only a food blogger.

My suggestion would be to read the directions in their entirety first and visualize as you go. You'll be able to go make your perfect egg without referring back to the recipe unless you need it just...perfect like I do. I refereed back like three times even though I really didn't need to.

Perfect Sunny Side Up Eggs
adapted from The Pioneer Woman
serves 3

3 whole eggs
4 Tablespoons Canola oil (more or less as needed for size of skillet) *I bet clarified butter would work and be a bit yummier*

 First, heat the canola oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. You don't want it too, too hot, as you're going to cook the eggs pretty slowly. You don't want the oil so hot that the eggs sizzles and turns white the second you crack it in! The whites should remain clear for several seconds before they start to turn white.

1) Once the oil is mildly hot, crack in the eggs (three eggs is about as many as I can tend to at one time.) The oil should not cover the whites; if anything, it should just come over the edges a tiny bit.

2) Once the eggs begin to turn white, use a small spoon to carefully spoon the hot oil over the whites only. Go from egg to egg, spooning the oil over the whites. This will help the whites cook slowly so that they won't be slimy. *important: Don't spoon oil over the yolk yet.

3) After a minute or two, touch the whites of one of the eggs and make sure they're set/not jiggly and loose. At that time, you can spoon oil over the yolks to  help them set on the surface.

* Note: The reason you need to wait before spooning hot oil over the yolks is that immediately after cracking the eggs into the pan, there is still egg white covering the yolk. If you were to spoon the hot oil over the yolk immediately, it would cause the white on the yolk to turn white, which will result in the yolk having a cloudy covering. 

4) Continue spooning the oil over the egg until it appears to be as done as you'd like. You can gauge it by lightly jiggling it or poking with a spoon.

5) Remove eggs from the pan with a slotted spatula, then- this is important- drain them briefly on a paper towel before serving. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately!