Fried Egg

Servings: 1

Notes:

• When heating the butter, you can tell if the pan is hot enough by seeing if the butter forms bubbles and sizzles when in the pan. This bubbling is the water in the butter boiling, which means the pan is hot enough to set the egg whites quickly.
• You can use oil in place of butter. To check if the pan is hot enough, wet your hand and allow a drop of water to fall into the pan. If the water immediately sizzles and evaporates, your pan is hot enough. Be careful to not drop too much water as it can cause the oil to sputter and possibly burn you.
• It's advisable to crack your eggs on a flat surface, like the counter top, to avoid accidentally breaking the yolk with the sharp edge of the shell. Avoid cracking the eggs on the side of the skillet, a bowl, or cup.
• It's not a bad idea to crack your egg into a small bowl before inserting the egg into the pan. This can help preventing damaging the yolk by cracking the egg directly into the pan, and can prevent cracking a rotten egg into the pan.
• If cooking more than one egg, use a larger skillet, if needed, to avoid crowding the eggs, and to give yourself enough room to negotiate flipping the eggs.

Ingredients

• 1 Large Egg
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Salt
• Pepper

Directions

1. In a medium skillet, heat butter over medium heat.
2. Crack the egg into a small bowl, then gently slip the egg into the pan.
3. Cook the egg on the first side for 3 minutes. Eggs are very easy to overcook, so pay attention to how the whites look during this time - if the whites seem completely set before 3 minutes are up, you can proceed to step 4.
4. If you prefer sunny side up eggs, you can serve the egg immediately, otherwise you can continue to step 5.
5. Using a turner, gently flip the egg. Avoid lifting the egg too high out of the pan, as the chance of breaking the yolk increases with height.
6. If you prefer an over easy egg with a mostly unset yolk, cook for an additional minute. For an over medium egg, cook for an additional 2 minutes. For over hard, cook the egg for an additonal 3 minutes.
7. Season with salt and pepper and serve.