Fry Eggs in Heavy Cream
Now that we are in the midst of May, and Easter is over, you might think that the time for cream eggs is over. This is only partly true. The time for cream eggs is (unfortunately) over, but the time for cream eggs is just beginning. At least for me.
Eggs fried in cream first caught my attention about a year ago when Food52 wrote about them, but the idea (as far as I can tell) came from Ideas in Food , which is a pretty good blog with – as the name suggests – pretty good ideas about food. One of their good ideas is, obviously, frying eggs in cream, and I would love to try this idea before.
This is not so much a recipe as a method: you pour the cream into a saucepan, you break the eggs in the cream, and then you season the whole thing with salt. Cook the eggs over medium heat until the water has boiled out of the cream and the whites and sugars begin to caramelize and brown, resulting in very tender, rich flavored eggs.
The cream will take a long time to foam, especially if you have a lot of it in the pan, but don’t be alarmed. So the water is boiling away, and this is necessary. The first time I cooked them, I filled the pan with cream to the brim before adding the eggs. It was too much, and by the time the cream caramelized, the yolks were slightly overcooked. I recommend starting with 3-4 tablespoons of cream for two eggs and increasing if things get too dry and too fast. Both Food52 and Ideas in Food recommend removing the eggs from the heat and covering them to finish cooking, but I found my proteins were completely frozen by the time the cream started to caramelize.
As you can see, there is a good gradation of yolk “readiness” using this method: the top is very soft, almost liquid, and the base is heavily cooked, but not so much that it tastes like sulfur. But the real hero of the play is white. They are incredibly tender, slightly crunchy around the edges, and indeed take on the rich, sweet character of a caramelized cream.
I only have one problem with this method: as the cream caramelizes, it sticks to the pan – even with a non-stick coating! – in such a way that it is rather unpleasant to clean it off. It won’t ruin the finish or anything, it just needs a little wiping to remove and I’ve never had to clean a Teflon-coated pan before. But eggs come out of the skillet quite easily, and that medium peel is a small price to pay for such soft eggs.