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When I go to a restaurant, I always get asked how I want my eggs. Can some one please list the choices and tell me what they mean. My wife thinks Im an idiot when it comes to going out to eat (I am). Also if you can, please list the choices for how a steak is cooked too. Thank you for your help:
Sunny-side up means fried with the yolk bright yellow and runny. There's usually a thin skin of uncooked white over the yolk.
Over-easy means fried but flipped over, so that the white is cooked on both top and bottom, but the yolk is still bright yellow and runny.
Over-medium is like over-easy, but the yolk is firmer.
Over-hard is like over-medium, but the yolk is solid.
Poached is, well, my spouse describes it as "water-fried". The egg is cracked into a swirling pot of boiling water and cooked that way. It's the lowest-fat way of cooking an egg (other than hard-boiled). In the hands of a good chef, it's superb. Poached can be soft, medium or hard, which refers to the yolk consistency.
Hard-boiled means boiled in the shell until both the white and yolk are solid.
Soft-boiled means boiled in the shell until the white is solid and the yolk is still soft to runny. Soft-boiled eggs are often served in egg cups; you cut the top part of the shell off and eat the insides with a spoon.
Scrambled, well, that should be pretty obvious, I hope!
Last edited by 7G9C4J2; 07-31-2008 at 08:59 PM..
Reason: typo, as usual
Omelette!!
Much like scrambled eggs, in that the white and the yellow parts are all mixed up so that the whole concoction is pale yellow, but instead of thousands of little bumps as in scrambled eggs, you get one smooth, fairly solid but soft surface, folded over on itself like someone's insane first idea for an envelope.
Often contains tiny portions of such yummies as: chopped chives or onions or shallots or sweet onions, green or red peppers or other sweet peppers, tomatoes, ham, potatoes... Arrgghh I'm hungry!
P.S. You're entitled to be an "idiot" in restaurants, since every single restaurant is different from every other restaurant and how's a person to know if they all know the same secrets??
Steak. Ummmm, don't know if I can get through this without running to the kitchen. But I will try.
Rare -- Dark brown on the outside, bright rosy pinky red on the inside, with liquid running out of it onto your plate. This is the carnivore's delight, brimming with many flavors and many textures.
Medium Rare -- Not so bright, not red, more rosy pinky on the inside, a small amount of liquid running onto your plate. Also brimming with flavor and textures.
Medium -- Inside is not rosy but is a semi-brownish, semi-greyish pink. Pretty much no liquid emerging from this steak. Flavor is getting monotone; texture also.
Medium Well -- Not for real people who actually enjoy tasting what they eat. No pink on the inside; rather a kind of dark mauve-grey-brown. No liquid emerging. Flavor the same throughout; texture is chewable.
Well Done -- Never a choice unless you don't taste anything ever, and you are just trying out your new teeth to make sure they work, and you want to make sure the cook earns every penny of his salary so you keep him working long past any sane need to do so.
Well Done -- Never a choice unless you don't taste anything ever, and you are just trying out your new teeth to make sure they work, and you want to make sure the cook earns every penny of his salary so you keep him working long past any sane need to do so.
Also known as shoe leather, and a dreadful thing to do to a lovely and inoffensive bit of beef.
Those are both very accurate examples. I think as AFC has mentioned it changes regionally, even in restaurants. I have cooked steaks (and eggs) in many areas of the world and there are quirks to each. I think it best just to describe the steak you want to the server/captain...and they will repeat it back...and give it the name that fits their restaurant. Like when I say "rare" Im thinking cool, cold blood in the middle...blood red and still got some "moo". However that may be "Blue" to a certain restaurant and serve rare more like AFC's description.
There are various levels in between and even fun names like "Pittsburgh style (uber rare)" or "Chicago (charred outside)" ...and then there is the dreaded basted egg that is started fried and finished poached....a chefs joy on a busy Sunday morning.
I think the confusion (as a pro chef) I think we experience most is when someone wants a well done steak, but orders a delicate steak like a filet mignon and then cooks it to within an inch of its life. Right now I serve a steak from Iwate prefecture here in Japan that puts the famous "Kobe" beef to shame (evident by the yen im charged) Still some people want it well-done and who am I to try and sell them something they do not want ( at 10,000 yen for 4 ounces). I do recommend that if you are to order a steak well done, you go for a higher fat content like a rib eye or t-bone. I also think that it should be started on the grill and finished in an oven as opposed to drying on the flame grill.
Best of all are the currently popular braised meats for the well done meat lover...tender juicy and not a drop of "moo"to be seen.
Buon Appetito!
5
Last edited by 5chevin5; 08-01-2008 at 01:11 AM..
Reason: spelling....the other white meat.
hey people!!! i LOVE my beef WELL DONE!!!
i dont want the taste of blood in my mouth. i want the taste of perfectly delicious steak.
We are the same way, I am trying to go more toward medium but when I go to a restaurant I order well-done(but I almost never order steak at a restaurant).
A well done steak can still be juicy and 160*. I smoke ours for anywhere from 1/2 hr to 1hr(depends on smoker temp and steak).
I've had rare to med rare, helped a friend move and he cooked me a steak. I ate most of it, but I sure hope I never have to again.
OP - I've heard that a med steak at one place is well done in another.
If you are cooking steak yourself, you an use the finger/hand trick to test the doneness - where you press against your thumb pad whilst touching finger and thumb....better explained with pics, here
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