We were at the Harvest Festival at nearby Wishing Star Farm this past weekend, and my sister Emily bought me what could be my favorite treat: farm fresh eggs. Nothing compares to eggs just laid.
So, what do I do with an 18 pack of farm fresh eggs? Oh — lots of things, but one of the purest ways to enjoy such a simple delicacy is to cook them “juicy.” A term from my childhood, and probably from my mom’s too. I think, technically, they are “over-easy” to everyone else. This is the way my mom, and my Grandma and Grandpa Salazar have always eaten their eggs, and continue to do so.
My siblings and I grew up eating “juicy eggs,” which means they are fried and steamed with a tiny amount of water for a perfectly cooked egg, and now my girls demand them nearly every day! Served with some tortillas (recipe here), I’m happy.
The Juicy Egg
a Salazar family tradition
Ingredients:
- eggs
- small bit of butter
- water
- salt and pepper, to taste
Preparation:
- Heat a frying pan over high heat.
- Add about 1/2 tsp. butter, let it melt, and quickly swirl it around the bottom of the pan.
- Crack your eggs into the pan, taking care not to break the yolks.
- Add about a tablespoon of water to the perimeter of the pan.
- Cover (make sure no steam can escape), and cook for 90 seconds to two minutes until yolks appear pink and whites are cooked through.
- Serve hot with freshly cracked salt and pepper, and preferably — tortillas!
This is exactly how I cook my eggs – never knew they were called juicy! Oooh that lovely yellow runny yolk.
Hi Sally — well, it’s good to find a fellow-juicy-egg-eater! I have never, up to this day, met anyone outside of my family who cooks eggs like this. Glad you can relate.
mmmmmm!
That first photo looks like a batch of dyed Easter eggs—they are so beautiful!!! You forgot to mention Julia’s sweet duck egg find at the farm–perhaps your next blog post? BTW, I think we should contact Wishing Star Farm to see if they sell those eggs throughout the year. They were just terrific with the deep golden color and thick consistency. Did you save the green ones for last? Serve them with ham!
Since I have always known them as “juicy” eggs it was a real challenge for me when I first started ordering them in a restaurant. The closest I could get to what I wanted was to use the term “over medium”.
Another favorite way your Grandma Salazar prepared my eggs was to cook them in a pan of hot bacon drippings. Instead of turning the egg she would gently tip the frying pan so that the drippings would puddle and then use the spatula to quickly baste the eggs with the hot drippings until they were cooked and “juicy”. It is still one of the tastiest ways I know of to cook a delicious egg. Steamed or basted – both methods have satisfying results!
What would we do without eggs?
Mmm – how delicious and satisfying! I love juicy eggs but have a hard time geting the right (probably my impatient hunger early in the mornings) – I cant wait to try this recipe!