Cooking In Enamel Cast Iron

I think I read or heard that cooking students spend a week learning eggs from all the styles and technique. As simple as they appear there is a lot to master.

I'm still working on mastering hash brown.

Steve,
 
Hilditch, I love your video! What fun! That is a graphic delineation of correct egg cooking style, and I found it instructive. Thanks for sharing. (I really like your wooden fork too!)
 
I discovered one needs to let the video load fully before watching. Photobucket does not like to load & play at the same time.

Sharon, although it is sold as a spaghetti fork I've found it to be a good all around kitchen fork that doesn't scratch. The tines straighten out after a few beers.

Hilditch
 
After thinking about this, I decided to let you guys in on a family secret. My husband cooks eggs "sunny side up" in an unmarked enameled skillet, 9 1/2 inches, which is "seasoned" now--lots of butter and grape seed oil having been cooked into it. Of course the appearance is pitiful, but the eggs are very easy to remove from the pan.
 
Frying an egg without a spatula just takes some attention and a little shaking. This skillet was pre-warmed and got a light spray of canola before resting a few minutes so it didn’t start off completely bare before the butter. A quick wipe to remove crumbs and it’s ready for the next batch.

If you choose to watch this video, pause it at the beginning until it loads and then play. PhotoBucket does not like to load and play at the same time.



Hilditch
 
6 3/4” The curved sides and transition from the sides to the bottom on the Le Creuset and Descoware lid skillets off the 1 qt. sauce pans is what makes them great for 2 eggs.

Hilditch
 
Im glad this thread came back to life

Hilditch can you advise please?

There are some worn spots on the enamel in the egg pan. it looks like some one used metal tools and scratched the surface. Eggs stick only to that spot.
I cant figure it out. can it be fixed somehow ?

i got a really good shot of the wear marks, you can see it in the pic. it looks like fire flickering. its at 6oclock

 
It appears that only the clear coat was affected, so it probably won’t take seasoning well. The concept is to keep the egg from touching the surface, the whole surface of the pan with a lubricant. Just like the grease in your front wheel roller bearings keep the steel from touching steel.

Try pre-warming the skillet and giving it a good coat of oil before letting it rest for a few minutes. Then don’t skimp on the lubricant & proceed to heat slowly covering the whole inside surface. Pay close attention when you add the eggs and as soon as they start to set at 6 o’clock jiggle to try and keep them loose at that point. I might even add the eggs at 12 o’clock to push the lub over to 6 o’clock. Once the center is set and breaks loose with shaking you can then use the weight of the egg to try and break loose any sticking by tilting the skillet down toward the sticking point and jiggling. Or even break it loose with a wooden spoon and then keep it moving.

Some lubes work better than others. Drawn butter does not work good for me but salted butter and bacon grease work well. Too much babble but my only other idea was to do some spot seasoning to the area and not wash it off.

Hilditch
 
Thanks. Ill try that. I was sending the egg away from the scratch not towards. The egg kept tearing. Once it got loose and away fro that area, it slid around very nice. I use bacon grease, always. Now that i think about it, toward should work better
 
Good. You got the timing right. As Dr. Seuss might say; A little stick can become a stuck too fast and the longer the stuck sticks the stickier the stuck.

Hilditch
 
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