Hello egg lovers!!!
“For as long as eggs have popped from bird butts, they’ve been relished the world round,” says Rachel Khong, “eaten, drunk, steamed, whisked, fried, baked, poached, cracked into dorm room bowls of Top Ramen, coddled in Michelin-starred restaurants. People eat eggs everywhere, and egg is the star of many other meals, too, and it is beloved for its workhorse qualities in recipes the world over.
“The greatest of all our foods, the egg combines beauty, elegance, and simplicity, a miracle of natural design and, as food, bounty,” – Ruhlman.
In no particular order, we have coined out 11 of our favourite egg meals from around the globe. Check them out.
Shakshuka, Middle East and North Africa
While most commonly referred to as an Israeli dish, shakshuka (rough translation: “all mixed up”) is eaten across the Middle East and North Africa. In the West, it’s often presented in iron skillets along with hunks of crusty bread, making it a brunch favorite.
What makes shakshuka so irresistible, though, is the soft-cooked egg poached in a peppery tomato sauce. Whatever extra accoutrements are added, nothing beats the thrill of dragging a slice of bread into the fragrant sauce laced with runny yolk.
Burger with the lot, Australia
Australian cuisine stands on the strength of its uber-fresh ingredients, but one of the country’s most beloved dishes is a more down-and-dirty affair — a burger from the local “milk bar” or fish-n-chip shop. The stuff of beach days in the sun, the Aussie burger starts out simple enough with a plain white bun, minced beef patty, grilled onions, and cheese.
What makes it a “burger with the lot” is the additions of a fried egg, pineapple, bacon and a thick slice of tinned pickled beetroot. Top it off with Australian barbecue sauce (similar to A1 steak sauce) and grab a stack of napkins because this is going to get messy. You can add lettuce and tomato if you like. As long as it’s got that egg, you’re right, mate.
Omelet, France
As with many dishes on this list, the origins of the omelet — the word and the eggy object itself — are contested. According to the American Egg Board’s Eggcyclopedia, it supposedly began with the ancient Romans, who called it ovemele (eggs and honey). But the omelet we know and love today probably came from France.
Variations of the dish abound. Jacques Pépin’s French omelet is made by adding fresh herbs to mixed whole eggs and cooking in a hot pan with plenty of butter. Let the mixture sizzle, shake the pan and stir the eggs for a minute, tilt and fold the now-cooked egg over onto itself.
Carbonara, Italy
Deceptively simple recipes often spark the most debate, and so it is with the delicious, decadent carbonara. At its core: Egg, cheese, cured pork, black pepper over pasta. A dish with Roman roots, it’s believed that carbonara was helped into being by adding bacon and powdered egg yolks to a basic pasta dish.
There may be as many as 400 variations, but according to Italian food historian Emilio Dente Ferracci, Roman tradition calls for pancetta or guanciale instead of bacon, fresh egg yolks over powdered and pecorino Romano for the cheese. Lucky for anyone who eats it, carbonara is both decadent and fairly easy to make.
Tortilla Española, Spain
The tortilla Española is also known and best described as a Spanish frittata or Spanish omelet, with the focus on the eggs and potatoes.
The key to mastering the dish, says one Bon Appétit recipe, is “to leave the eggs slightly undercooked” to achieve a custardy texture. It can be enjoyed as a tapa, or as a meal any time of day
Scotch egg, UK
This is a boiled egg surrounded by meat, dipped in egg wash and breadcrumbs, seasoned and deep fried, tracks the travelers’ snack to 1738 and says it was likely inspired by a similar Indian dish.
It was initially called a “scotched” egg because of the anchovies added to the meat to bolster the flavor. These days the meat is nearly always pork sausage meat
Menemen, Turkey
Menemen takes its name from a region in Turkey, where it’s a popular breakfast dish, often served with yoghurt and flatbread or crusty bread. Similar to shakshuka, menemen consists of eggs scrambled with peppers and tomatoes.
This delicious base can be customized by adding things like feta, onions and sujuk (sausage flavored with chili, cumin and garlic). Often served in a Turkish copper skillet called a sahan, menemen is not just for the mornings, but also makes a great light supper or substantial lunch.
Huevos Rancheros, Mexico
Another breakfast favorite with plenty of variations, huevos rancheros (“rancher’s eggs”) is a hearty way to start the day, thanks to its composition of eggs, tortillas, refried beans, cheese and salsa. Other toppings like sausage, guacamole and sour cream can be added, and almost any cheese works if you don’t go with the traditional cotija.
Using both red and green salsa will turn huevos rancheros into huevos divorciados; Mexican chef Gabriela Cámara of Contramar and Cala has delicious recipes for salsa roja and salsa verde, both using the herb epazote.
Croque madame, France
First there was a croque monsieur — a “gentleman’s sandwich” of bread, cheese and ham — which appeared in Paris in the early part of the 20th century. Then some wise soul put an egg on it and the decadent delight became a croque madame — the feminine name a nod to a woman’s hat.
What makes a good croque madame apart from the sunny side up egg are those undeniably French details — at Bouchon Bakery & Cafe, that means clarified butter, homemade brioche, Swiss cheese and a mornay sauce with (more) grated cheese and a dash of nutmeg.
Egg curry, India
As with all curries, each recipe you find for egg curry will have some tweak or “secret” ingredient, passed down through the generations. Almost everyone will prefer the one their mom or dad or grandmother made for them. In “All About Eggs,” Padma Lakshmi recalls a recipe her mother made when there was little else on hand.
Whatever egg curries it is you’re cooking or savoring, it’s a good bet that the hard-boiled eggs will be joined by at least some combination of the following ingredients: onions, garlic, tomato, curry leaves, ginger, cumin, cardamom, bell peppers, garam masala, black pepper and cilantro to garnish. In other words: heaven on a plate.
Çilbir, Turkey
This Turkish dish consists of poached eggs in (or perched upon) yogurt, topped with Aleppo butter. Çilbir is said to date back to early Ottoman times when it was eaten by sultans.
What transforms a deceptively simple breakfast staple into something exceptional is the palate-pleasing contrast of the sour yogurt against creamy eggs and butter. Sopping up the runny yolks with a chunk of bread as they stream into the yogurt is naturally all part of the fun.
Tamagoyaki, Japan
Translation: fried (or grilled) egg. But, as with so many things Japanese, there’s more to it than that. Tamagoyaki is made from rolling layers of that fried or grilled egg into a kind of wedge or roll or log. (not to worry, you can achieve this by using a special pan created just for this process, called a makiyakinabe).
Like the omelet, a tamagoyaki can be customized with different ingredients to make it sweet or savory, fishy or smoky, or whatever flavours it is you desire. The basics are basic eggs, soy, sugar and dashi — the fish stock that’s also used to make miso soup.
Which of these is your favourite egg dish? Tell us in the comments section.
This article is a coined from a publication of CNN Travel.