Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/09/22/jacques-pepin-makes-a-delicious-fried-egg.html
…
Yoke must be runny so you can soak it up with some toast.
That’s exactly how my parents taught me some 40+ years ago now.
I learned everything I know about cooking eggs from Ralph Records:
Wait…a hard yolk?
you’re a god damn monster Mark. Go hide your head in shame.
I love this man’s videos. His pronunciation of the word “butter” is almost as tasty as butter itself.
One of my favorite videos of his is one where he effortlessly debones a chicken:
Damn he uses so much butter he’s practically deep frying them!
We prefer this as well, though if I’m aiming for sunnyside up I’ll leave the yolk runny. Instead of turning the heat down like in the video, I turn it up to add the steaming water. Then there is a sweet spot to look for where the whites have fried nice and crispy but the yolks are still not hardened.
I’m gonna say that was a French tablespoon (1.5 standard tablespoons), a measurement applied exclusively to butter.
I’ve always said that not only is Pepin a fine chef, but he’s also a world-class line cook.
Every fine dining restaurant uses an amount of butter that would shock you.
“assuming a classic French restaurant… by the time you leave, you’ve probably eaten about a stick+ of butter”
I had the good fortune to attend a live demonstration where he performed this deboning process in front of about 20 of us, all the while chatting and telling stories about his life, beginning as an apprentice as a teenager. He made it look so effortless, and obviously he had done it hundreds or thousands of time. His videos are terrific glimpses into the skills of a true master in the kitchen who tries to de-mystify the cooking process.
My grandfather spoke exactly the same way with his old Parisian French accent.
I DVR all of Pepin’s shows and watch them regularly. And anytime I have mushrooms in the kitchen I out loud mutter “if you’re mushrooms are dirty, you wash them. if they aren’t you don’t.” in that same accent.
And a shocking amount of salt as well!
team Soft Yolk
I’ve switched to using olive oil for fried eggs (though I still like using bacon fat).
Big big fan of Jacques.
An amazing life too. The guy turned down the opportunity to work as a White House chef under the Kennedys so he could learn his craft even further by taking a job working in the kitchens working on menus for Howard Johnson.
For sheer entertainment value alone, his television work with Julia Child is a wonderful thing.
And yeah, the butter. Somewhere I remember his commenting specifically on the subject by quoting Julia Child who remarked 'You want it to taste good, don’t you?