Fried eggs are a breakfast staple no matter if you are making a fry up or eating them with toast, but they are often a little plain if they are not seasoned properly. Many people just sprinkle a little salt and pepper onto their eggs after cooking them, but once the white sets, it can be impossible for any seasoning to reach the yolk. This often results in the seasoning simply sitting on top of the egg so you end up with a mouthful of pepper or salt, which is not very pleasant to eat.
Rebecca, a pastry chef and the founder of The Practical Kitchen, has shared a better and much easier method to make fried eggs really flavourful – and you just need to add a little paprika to the oil instead. She explained: “The hot oil helps intensify the flavour of the paprika, which will fizz a little and become fragrant and dark red very quickly.
“By blooming the spices first, when the egg settles into the pan, the oil is already packed with flavour that cooks right into the egg.”
Blooming is a simple cooking technique of infusing the cooking oil with spices before adding the food you wish to help infuse the flavours.
It helps get the seasoning deeper into the food, and in this case the egg, so every part of the dish will be tasty without being overpowering.
Seasoning the oil takes less than a minute but will ensure the yolk of the egg is a lot richer and is a easy way to greatly improve the taste of a fried egg.
Paprika is used in this recipe as it goes well with egg to make is sweet and smoky, but you can use any seasoning you wish for this technique to work.
How to bloom a fried egg
You will need:
Two tablespoons of olive oilOne large eggA quarter teaspoon of paprika A quarter teaspoon of saltA quarter teaspoon of pepperOne slice of toastUnsalted butter
Method:
To begin, prepare your toast first, slather it in as much butter as you wish, and then set it aside on a plate for now. Then, heat the oil in a small frying pan on a low heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the salt, pepper and paprika to the frying pan.
Use the handle of the pan to swirl the oil around so the seasonings evenly coat the pan, and then crack the egg into the pan as well. It should only take 30 seconds for the eggs whites to begin to set, so make sure to gently shake the pan to loosen the egg and stop it sticking.
Keep moving the pan so that the oil gets on top of the egg and cooks the top. If you wish, you can also carefully spoon oil on top of the egg.
Once the egg is almost fully cooked, add a small splash of water to the pan and cover with a lid as the steam will help the top of the egg to cook.
Let the egg steam for three to five minutes, and when the time is up you should have a fully cooked and really tasty egg where every bite should be packed with flavour.
