Michael Symon, an American chef and restaurateur who is a regular on the Food Network, has shared his simple method for cooking the perfect fried egg – and it’s not what you’d expect
You might have been frying eggs all wrong – one telly chef reckons you can master the technique with just a handful of tweaks.
Whether you fancy your morning eggs sunny side up, over easy, or even with a burst yolk, nailing them consistently can be a right nightmare. American chef and restaurant owner Michael Symon, a regular face on the Food Network, has dished out some fool-proof methods for flawless results every single time.
“So the first thing is, I have a non-stick pan. I’m gonna turn that over medium heat,” he explained in a TikTok video. Symon stressed it’s crucial to let the pan heat up “a touch” before adding a knob of unsalted butter.
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“Just let that gently melt,” he added, before the chef then revealed a brilliant trick to avoid getting any pesky shell fragments in your pan. “If you are a confident egg-cracker, you could crack your egg straight in the pan. If you are not a confident egg-cracker, it’s okay,” reports the Express.
He suggested cracking your egg gently into a bowl first, which gives you the chance to fish out any rogue shell pieces before cooking begins. Taking your time with the crack also helps keep that precious yolk intact.
While acknowledging there are countless ways to prepare eggs, Symon demonstrated his go-to sunny side up method – and he’s got good reason to love it. “We don’t have to worry about the flip if we don’t want to,” he noted.
“You could just top it with a lid if you want your yolk cooked a little more. When the butter was slightly bubbling but,” as the butter starts to gently bubble without “not frothing”, celebrity chef Symon shared that it’s prime time to ease your egg into the pan. “Then we’re going to top it with some salt and pepper,” he ended.
The chef also shared: “We are then going to turn our heat down just a touch and we’re going to let that egg continue to set on the outside and the yolk is going to continue to cook”.
Symon suggests letting the egg sizzle away for 30 to 45 seconds. For those who fancy their eggs sunny side up, he advises spooning over the hot butter from the pan to cook the top and yolk thoroughly, or pop a lid on for 20 to 30 seconds for a more well-done result. He noted that this is “over low to medium heat2.
And voilà, you’re all set to slide the perfect fried egg onto your plate – “there you go, the perfect fried egg,” Symon declared.
The cooking demo sparked a flurry of comments online, though not everyone was sold on Symon’s technique. One sceptic questioned: “Do people really not know how to fry an egg? ? ?”. Another expressed their preference, writing: “Lost me at non stick pan”.
Yet, not all feedback was critical. One person shared their recent egg woes: “The past few weeks I’ve been so frustrated about my eggs. I’ve kept this to myself completely. My FYP freaks me out”. Another was all about efficiency: “I don’t have time for that,” they said. “I’m flipping that egg over to cook the other side”.