The Best Fried Eggs You’ll Ever Make

Epicurious

In this edition of Epicurious 101, professional chef and chef instructor Frank Proto demonstrates how to level up your breakfast game with his ultimate guide to making the best fried eggs at home.  Director: Parisa Kosari Director of Photography: Kevin Dynia Editor: Boris Khaykin Talent: Frank Proto Director of Culinary Production: Kelly Janke Creative Producer: Debbie Wong Culinary Producer: Jessica Do Culinary Associate Producer: Leslie Raney Line Producer: Jen McGinity Associate Producer: Amanda Broll Production Manager: Janine Dispensa Production Coordinator: Elizabeth Hymes Camera Operator: Jake Robbins Audio Engineer: Rachel Suffian Researcher: Vivian Jao  Post Production Supervisor: Andrea Farr Post Production Coordinator: Scout Alter Supervising Editor: Eduardo Araujo Assistant Editor: Andy Morell

Transcript

00:00 I'm Frank Proto, professional chef and culinary instructor,

00:02 and I hope you like fried eggs,

00:03 'cause that's what we're doing today.

00:04 I'm gonna show you how to make a perfect fried egg.

00:07 Salty, crispy edges, buttery, runny yolk,

00:11 not those floppy, snotty eggs that you used to make.

00:15 This is fried eggs 101.

00:18 In my world, a fried egg is an egg cooked in fat,

00:21 but it also has to have brown, crispy edges.

00:23 The secret to the best fried eggs

00:25 is knowing how to control your temperature

00:27 and using lots of butter.

00:29 Simple.

00:30 First thing I wanna do is get everything I need laid out.

00:32 I don't wanna be running around the kitchen,

00:34 'cause fried eggs don't take that long,

00:35 and if I have to run to get a spatula,

00:37 it's gonna get overcooked or burnt.

00:39 Time to fry.

00:40 (upbeat music)

00:43 When I make fried eggs, I use a nonstick pan.

00:45 You can use stainless steel, you can use carbon steel,

00:48 but for the most part, this is more foolproof,

00:50 and you're gonna get a better result every time.

00:53 I put my pan on medium-high heat.

00:54 First thing I'm gonna do is add just a little bit of butter

00:57 to kinda grease my pan up.

00:58 And before I put the eggs in,

01:00 just wanna make sure that I coat the bottom

01:01 of my pan with butter.

01:02 We're gonna put more butter in later just to baste the egg,

01:04 but for now, just gonna start it out

01:06 in a little bit of butter.

01:08 I'm gonna wait for the butter to sizzle a little.

01:10 Listen, right?

01:11 Most people don't understand that you're using

01:13 all of your senses in the kitchen.

01:14 Sometimes you need to listen.

01:16 Hear my butter starting to snap, crackle, and pop?

01:19 I'm gonna crack on the counter before I put my egg in.

01:21 If I crack on the side of the pan,

01:23 sometimes you get little fragments of shell.

01:25 If you get shell in your eggs,

01:26 you wanna use the shell to get it out.

01:27 So shell attracts shell.

01:29 So we're gonna crack on the counter,

01:31 and we're gonna crack our eggs into the pan.

01:33 On the counter and into the pan.

01:37 At this point, salt and pepper.

01:39 Fried egg is not a fried egg

01:41 unless there is a little pepper on it.

01:42 You don't have to agree with me, but I'm right.

01:44 And then I'm gonna put a nice big knob

01:47 of butter in here for basting.

01:48 I'm gonna separate my eggs so they're two individuals.

01:52 So at this point, to get the white nice and set

01:54 around the yolk, I'm gonna take my butter,

01:57 I'm gonna baste it around, and try and avoid the yolk

02:00 and just get it onto the white.

02:02 If you have to tilt your pan a little, tilt your pan.

02:04 We're gonna get that beautiful buttery goodness

02:06 all over the egg, not just on the edges.

02:08 All right, our egg is nice and basted.

02:10 We can see that we're getting some nice caramelization.

02:13 I'm gonna lower my heat just a little.

02:15 But you can see, I have nice snap, crackle, and pop,

02:17 and my eggs are done.

02:20 I'm gonna use a spatula, drain them a little,

02:26 get them on the plate.

02:27 And the only thing this plate needs is some toast

02:29 to soak up that beautiful runny yolk.

02:31 Here are my beautiful fried eggs.

02:33 Only one thing left to do is to taste.

02:35 What do you do with the toast?

02:36 You jam it right into the yolk and you dip it.

02:38 You gotta take a bite.

02:39 Butter makes all the difference here, right?

02:45 I'm just gonna taste a little piece of the egg.

02:48 The yolk is perfectly runny.

02:51 The bottom whites are super crispy,

02:53 and we got those beautiful crispy edges.

02:55 They're buttery, salty, perfect.

02:57 This is a wonderful fried egg.

03:00 Fried eggs don't need to be difficult.

03:02 Set yourself up right, choose the right ingredients,

03:04 and in a matter of minutes,

03:05 you're gonna have that perfectly salty, runny yolk,

03:08 crispy edge fried egg that everybody wants.

03:11 [Music]

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