eatchicago wrote:

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:I'm just waiting for the inevitable fried-egg and bacon cupcakes that you just know someone is working on right now.

and, done
http://deepfriedkimchee.com/2009/03/26/ ... cakes.aspx

WillG wrote:You have obviously not had a one-eyed bacon cheeseburger at the University Diner in Charlottesville after half a bottle of southern comfort.

You mean, the Gus Burger at the White Spot in Charlottesville?

-Dan

It might just be trendy here, but in Chile, and in other South American countries as far as I know, a fried egg on top of a meat dish is very old school. Anything from a hamburger patty to a pork chop to a beef steak can be served "a lo pobre," meaning topped with a lot of french fries and a fried egg. The lo pobre designation indicates that it is hearty food for the hard worker. Generally not a dish a woman would order (I've only had a steak a lo pobre once, and couldn't finish it), nor for someone who's watching his cholesterol.

Just about anything can be and is served a lo pobre. Travelling down in the southern cone, my brother and kinda expected to see penguino a lo pobre, but didn't come across it.

The Wife and I ate at Big and Little's tonight. They offer hamburger with or without a fried egg. Little told me that they sell way more burgers with egg than without. I had mine without, and it was one fine hamburger, hand formed, fresh ground, medium rare.

David Hammond wrote:The Wife and I ate at Big and Little's tonight. They offer hamburger with or without a fried egg. Little told me that they sell way more burgers with egg than without. I had mine without, and it was one fine hamburger, hand formed, fresh ground, medium rare.

Agree Big & Little produce a fine burger though, being a nothing says excess like excess kind of fellow, I've had mine with egg. Please note, ketchup was applied by the chef, unnecessary when egg is involved and a less liberal application when egg is not involved.

Big & Little Burger w/egg

I'm sure it was in the late 80s that I first saw a pizza with a lot of different toppings and an egg on top. This was near Pompeii in Italy.

Edited to add: I don't think adding eggs improves most things, but the penchant we (in the US) have for melting cheese on top of everything seems much weirder to me. Of course we use very bland cheese most of the time, so it mainly adds fattiness and I do get why people enjoy that in a dish.

I would not be caught dead eating an egg on a burger. I agree completely with the originator of this post. Eggs are overkill on most things. Don't much like them anyway.

G Wiv wrote:Please note, ketchup was applied by the chef, unnecessary when egg is involved and a less liberal application when egg is not involved.

Big & Little Burger w/egg

I, of course, was glad to see catsup, and we loved the Twilight Zone swirl in the application of this endlessly fascinating condiment (which I do like on scrambled eggs, now and again, but everything in moderation, including catsup and egg).



I do believe the egg-on-everything is a result of the quest for excess (nothing wrong with that, of course).

When I first tried the Kuma buger at Kuma's Corner. I was astounded at how good the egg, bacon, big burger and cheese combination tasted on a pretzel roll. Since then I've made burger's with eggs at home. Love it. The salt, yolk, beef flavors together was a happy discovery.

Love those eggs.

TC

Jumping the fried egg shark even more (apologies to JeffB):



At least there's some acid with that lardo & fried egg. I opted instead for the slightly lighter pork rillettes (fantastic, BTW; perfectly balanced bite of pork, pickled black radish, apple mustard and pinot blueberries).

Not exactly a fried egg, but, of ccourse, a nice soft poached egg has always topped a proper salade lyonnaise--altho here's a chef that's gone one step further and fried the poached egg!

http://www.formerchef.com/2010/05/03/sa ... ached-egg/

Just to be clear, fried eggs on hamburgers is not in any way new. Fatburger, and the dearly departed Jay's Jayburger had eggs on burgers before there was an internet. Way before. http://articles.latimes.com/2005/mar/05 ... jayburger5

Even the Disney version of these places, Johnny Rockets, had the egg option from jump street. The grill man at the Diner Grill has never looked up in surprise when I ask for egg. It's in heavy rotation at TAB, too. I appreciate thatthis is an "eggs on everything" thread. And it is getting silly. But eggs on burgers isn't so unusual.

JeffB wrote:Just to be clear, fried eggs on hamburgers is not in any way new. Fatburger, and the dearly departed Jay's Jayburger had eggs on burgers before there was an internet. Way before. http://articles.latimes.com/2005/mar/05 ... jayburger5

Even the Disney version of these places, Johnny Rockets, had the egg option from jump street. The grill man at the Diner Grill has never looked up in surprise when I ask for egg. It's in heavy rotation at TAB, too. I appreciate thatthis is an "eggs on everything" thread. And it is getting silly. But eggs on burgers isn't so unusual.

Concept is not new; ubiquity is.

For all the egg lovers out there, here's some food porn from yesterday's lunch at Big & Little's . . .


Cheeseburger with Egg at Big & Little's

I thought the burger was outstanding but the perfectly cooked egg, requested by my wife, didn't add very much -- and may have even subtracted -- for me. It looked great, though.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:I thought the burger was outstanding but the perfectly cooked egg, requested by my wife, didn't add very much -- and may have even subtracted -- for me. It looked great, though.

=R=

Appearance is a big part of the egg-on-everything epidemic. It makes the dish look better, but does it actually improve anything, like taste?

The Wife scoffs at my one man war against this rising trend, but even she admits the egg kind of glops up a plate and makes the food, especially a burger, impossible to eat without getting yolk all down your sleeve.

Picked up a fresh dozen from Farmer Vicki today; had a few for lunch; excellent...with bacon and toast, where they belong.

David Hammond wrote:Picked up a fresh dozen from Farmer Vicki today; had a few for lunch; excellent...with bacon and toast, where they belong.

Is there anything better than this? I don't think so. We have a CSA with Vicki (aka Genesis Growers) this year and get a dozen eggs a week. They're so good, I fee like I'm getting away with something by receiving them.

=R=

The current egg craze may extend beyond restaurants and the fried variety. In the last few months, I've noticed an uptick in egg gadgets on industrial design blogs I read. For example, in just the last week, Yanko Design featured two egg contraptions:

Bang Bang (the egg toaster)



Punch-Bell Egg Cracker



I've also been noticing, perhaps because of this thread, more, let's say...poetic, interpretations of the almighty egg:

Things that are difficult to scan :a [fried] egg *

(*Source poem for said scanned fried egg)

Even though I'm perfectly capable of boiling an egg, I still want one of those pop up egg toasters!

I see this trend as a good thing, because it means people are no longer afraid of runny eggs. We have come a long way since 1992, when undercooked eggs were actually banned in New Jersey.

LAZ wrote:I see this trend as a good thing, because it means people are no longer afraid of runny eggs. We have come a long way since 1992, when undercooked eggs were actually banned in New Jersey.

Eh, I lived through that. Never had a problem getting eggs over easy (or "over light" in NJ-ese) with my dad at our local diner.

Is it really possible to fry an egg on the pavement?

gooseberry wrote:Is it really possible to fry an egg on the pavement?

Yes, and if you put some aluminum foil down, you won't even get the grit or creosote notes on the back of the palate.

gooseberry wrote:Is it really possible to fry an egg on the pavement?

This reminds me of a childhood summer vacation trip with the fambly to Louisiana and Texas, and in particular the day we all saw the Gulf of Mexico for the first time and got out of the car to go swimming in the salt water. I remember my parents saying it was hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk, and I wondered all day when we were going to get around to frying the eggs.

Again, fried eggs on top of meat dishes might seem just trendy and photogenic here, but they have a long history of being protein- and calorie-rich lunchtime meals for hardworking laborers in other countries. Possibly some of the places topping burgers and steaks and such with fried eggs lately are catering to a - call it a demand or a preference or a craving for some homestyle comfort food - of which not all of us are aware? It's not my thing, but I know it strikes a deep chord in some other people.

A good runny egg makes a nice condiment on a burger. I don't think of it as an ingredient, but a sauce. Not that far from putting bernaise on a burger.

Of course, cook it to rubber and then it's an ingredient... a bad one.

David Hammond wrote:Me, I’m ready to see a fried egg only once a day: on my breakfast plate.

Was my first meal of the day so I thought, what the hell, and added an egg to my Brat Stop brat.

G Wiv wrote:

David Hammond wrote:Me, I’m ready to see a fried egg only once a day: on my breakfast plate.

Was my first meal of the day so I thought, what the hell, and added an egg to my Brat Stop brat.

brilliant.... now that its been done im going to follow your lead mr.wiv.

The fried egg tide may be turning. From the 8/2/10 RIA Weekly Digest (italics mine):

RIA wrote:New Summer Fare and the "Slowest Egg Ever" at Province

Province is beckoning fresh summer flavors with new menu items like
grilled flatbread, corn chowder and peach salad...

Grilled herbed flatbread, topped with housemade cheese and a 45-minute
poached egg, puts a fresh spin on typical grilled summer fare. Executive
Chef Randy Zweiban describes the dish as a naan-like dough, which is
drizzled with roasted garlic oil and sprinkled with housemade ricotta,
market arugula, olive oil and sea salt. As it's served at the table, the
slow-poached egg is spread across the flatbread.

...

happy_stomach wrote:a 45-minute poached egg

How do thay do that, poach it in tap water?

Slow cooking eggs was all the rage last October, apparently. I remembered seeing a couple of articles about it, and dug up two that were published within days of each other. Serious Eats on Oct 9, 2009 and Ideas In Food on October 15, 2009. For some reason though, I doubt these eggs were cooked sous vide.

-Dan