Eggs-actly Right!
Eggs - so versatile
by Grainne
On more than one occasion when I’ve found myself staring into a near-empty fridge, the humble egg has come to the rescue of my grumbling stomach.
When the only other occupants of the fridge have been a mouldy head of lettuce that more readily resembled algae, a wedge of dried up cheese, or unidentifiable three-day old leftovers, this most versatile of foods has proved my saviour.
Apart from their versatility, and I’ll come back to that again, they take no time at all to cook. Whatever way you choose to have them they’ll go from cooker to table in minutes. Perfect when the hunger pains are gnawing or time is short.
Boiled, scrambled, fried, poached, made into an omelette or quiche, or combined with bread to make French toast, eggs rival that other great flexible food, the equally humble spud in the number of ways they can be cooked. They’re just as yummy as salad food; cold boiled eggs, egg mayonnaise or Devilled eggs.
There’s nothing quite as satisfying as a soft-boiled egg. Here though I have to confess to never having graduated to the ‘adult’ way of eating them, i.e. in an eggcup, the top neatly sliced off, a touch of salt and a spoon to scoop out the contents. I’ve never got over having boiled eggs the way I was fed them as a child by my mother, scooped out of their shell into a teacup, mashed up with a fork, a dab of butter and a pinch of salt added and a spoon supplied to slurp it all up with. I still eat boiled eggs like that to this day, to the bemusement of those who’ve witnessed this little ritual. This treat is not reserved for breakfast but has often been my lunch or supper of choice.
I like scrambled eggs but only when I can cook them myself. I steer clear of them when served as part of breakfast buffets in hotels, the pale yellow mass of tasteless gunge usually served up in no way compares with the bright, fluffy variety I can cook up in seconds at home.
Fried eggs are my absolute favourite, again soft fried and especially when accompanied by home made chips that can be dunked into the runny yolk. This simple dish is a family stalwart and favourite. On my last trip to New York with my sister, where they like to feed you steak with your eggs for breakfast, or tempt you with stacks of calorie-laden pancakes, where you can have all kinds of other weird and wonderful choices for breakfast, we sought out a small diner which served plainer fare. We started every morning after that with two soft fried eggs apiece and plenty of toast washed down with strong tea.
There’s something wonderfully satisfying about a well-made omelette. You can add just about anything to one, but my favourite would be spring onion and grated cheddar cheese, flavoured with salt and pepper. Mmmmm.
You can, of course, ‘posh up’ your eggs, a la Eggs Benedict or by adding a little flaked smoked salmon to scrambled egg. For me though, plain is best.
Italians have their own version of the omelette, their Frittata which can also combine a range of different ingredients. The Scots decided the taste would be enhanced by surrounding boiled eggs with sausage meat, dipping them in egg and breadcrumbs and frying the whole lot. (Was it the success of this national treasure that spurred them on to also try frying Mars bars?) Egg fried rice is a staple of Chinese food.
Add to the range of ways they can be cooked and eaten the number of dishes in which eggs are an important ingredient and you’ll agree this simple foodstuff punches way above its culinary weight. Sponge cakes, buns, pancakes, soufflés, muffins, doughnuts and ice-cream all have eggs added, then there’s their use to bind pastry edges and glaze the top and to hold stuffing ingredients together.
Probably the only exception to my egg-loving is eggnog but that more of an aversion to them being served raw.
Eggs have a lot of other good stuff going for them too. They are a cheap foodstuff. According to An Bord Bia’s official egg website (yes there is such a thing!) one egg provides nearly one sixth of the daily protein required by an average woman. They have a high nutrient density in proportion to their calorie count and two thirds of the fat found in them is the healthy unsaturated kind. In fact there’s none of the ‘baddie’ trans-fatty acid at all in eggs.
Above all, they taste good. That is, if you are lucky enough to get ‘proper’ eggs, laid by chickens that get to run around in the great outdoors as opposed to their less lucky battery hen relatives.
A salmonella scare in the 1980s led to a massive drop off in egg usage in Britain and brought the industry to near-collapse. It also resulted in the resignation of Junior Minister Edwina Currie from the Conservative Party as it was her chance remark about the danger of eating salmonella-infected eggs that caused the furore.
In these cholesterol-conscious times eggs came in for some scrutiny and people were warned about over-consumption for a time. Over at An Bord Bia’s official egg website “An egg a day is ok” is now the catchword, with the advice that it’s best to limit intake to between four and six a week. The British Nutrition Foundation meanwhile says an egg is a great way to start the day. Maybe once again, the British public will be urged to “Go to work on an egg” as it was in the 1950s by an advertising campaign run by the Egg Marketing Board. Or would that be a bit eggsessive?
