Fry Eggs in Brine for Amazingly Subtle Flavor
I haven’t seen the Barbie movie yet, but I (somewhat unintentionally) made a Barbie egg. It’s like a regular scrambled egg, only bright pink – almost purple, in fact – with a slightly sweet, slightly sour, earthy taste of pickled beets.
I don’t know if I would call it “beautiful”. There’s something unsettling about Barbie’s egg. But it’s amazingly delicious. The egg did not taste marinated; the effect was weaker. Instead of a scrambled egg with a sour, tangy protein, you get an egg with a slight tartness, a touch of earthy sweetness, and various herbs and spices found in the pickle liquid. I was worried that the vinegar in the brine would make the rubber white, but I didn’t notice a difference in texture.
Egg frying basics:
- Good non-stick pan
- Fish spatula with silicone edge (so as not to scratch a good non-stick pan)
Fried eggs can be fried in any brine.
I didn’t stop at beetroot brine. I fried eggs in caper brine and classic dill pickle brine, both of which were delicious and, unlike Barbie’s egg, neither required additional salt. The dill pickled egg was the most obvious win, the flavors of which I immediately dubbed “dill pickled”, but I love dill pickles so that was fine with me. The brine-fried egg with capers was the most flavorful: salty, spicy, and superbly salty. If I had to choose a favorite, I would pick this one.
Again, the flavors are not aggressive; they linger on your tongue long enough for you to think, “Was that? Yes, it was the essence of the pickle” and then they were gone (until the next bite). You are certainly not limited to these pickles. A pickled jalapeno pickle would have been fun, as would an olive pickle, which I (unfortunately) didn’t have.
How to fry an egg in brine (beetroot, marinated, olive, whatever you have)
Whichever brine you use, the procedure is the same: add a tablespoon of butter to a non-stick frying pan, add the egg, and cook until the egg white is almost set. Add a tablespoon of brine and shake it so that it splatters on the white. Continue swirling for about a minute until the white is set and serve immediately, preferably as part of a fine, gourmet breakfast sandwich.