I’ve been cooking fried eggs for a long time now, experimenting with a few different seasonings and oils to see what works best.
If I had to pick the simplest type of egg to master, it would undoubtedly be a fried egg. Poached eggs can be unpredictable; sometimes they turn out flawlessly, but other times the yolk separates from the whites.
Fried eggs are straightforward — just heat a pan with oil or butter (I favour oil), crack in the egg, then reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and cook until the whites are firm and the yolk is still runny.
Having recently experimented with various ingredients for cooking eggs, such as pickle juice, basil pesto and plain oil, my default choice remains simple oil. After noticing that Chef Rebecca from The Practical Kitchen prefers using oil but enhances it with a seasoning, I was keen to try it out.
She suggests adding paprika to the oil before frying the egg, allowing the seasoning to permeate the egg white and yolk rather than merely sitting on top. The taste was pleasant, but I’d advise using more than the one-eighth of a teaspoon recommended in the recipe.
Since preparing a fried egg in this manner, I’ve actually used paprika twice, simply increasing the quantity for a more robust flavour.
There are various types of paprika available. Like Rebecca, I chose mild and sweet paprika. However, smoked or hot paprika are always options.
To prepare the fried egg, all I required was an egg, paprika, salt and oil. I prefer to use a spray oil as it helps me avoid overuse and spreads it evenly across the pan.
Method
I began by warming my pan to a medium heat and then adding the oil, ensuring it wasn’t too hot, as this would scorch the paprika.
As soon as the oil started to bubble, I sprinkled in the salt and paprika. I would have added pepper, but unfortunately, I didn’t have any available.
Give it a good swirl to spread the spices around. You’ll notice the spices will start to sizzle slightly and release a lovely aroma.
Next up, I cracked the egg right over the spot where the oil and paprika had gathered. I allowed the egg to cook for a while, until the whites began to firm up, before covering the pan with a lid to let the yolk cook slightly.
The egg was ready in just under three minutes, but during that time, I kept a close eye on it to ensure it wasn’t sticking to the pan.
Finally, using a spatula, I carefully moved the egg from the frying pan onto a slice of toast, sprinkled a bit more salt on top and tucked in.