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Many years ago, when I was still a child, my mother came down with the stomach flu. I could not have been any older than 6 or 7 years old, but it still is very clear in my mind and I know my age because of the house we were living in at the time.
It was left to my father to cook for us, my mother was that ill. The only thing he knew how to cook was fried eggs. And so . . . we had fried eggs for every meal that day. Sometime during the night afterwards . . . you guessed it . . . I got the stomach flu myself. It was many, many years before I could ever face a fried egg again. In fact, it has only been in recent years.
One thing Easter always meant in our home was that there would be plenty of eggs to be eaten up. Mom used to blow some of them out for scrambled eggs for those of us who couldn't abide fried eggs, and then the others would get fried eggs.
Always served with butter fried slabs of salty ham, leftover from the Easter dinner. It was always ham for Easter dinner, never anything else. We would enjoy it cold and sliced along with mashed potatoes, salad and another vegetable. The star of Easter dinner was always the Lemon Meringue Pie we had for dessert.
The star of Easter Monday was always fried ham & eggs. I know in some families that for supper on Easter Day they would have egg eating contests, seeing how many eggs one person could consume. That was never done in our house. We had one egg per person, two maximum.
One nice thick slice of ham/gammon. Fried in butter until golden brown on both sides. The fatty edge getting all stick and sweet from the marmalade glaze. OH so good . . .
Sunny side up eggs are always a delight. It goes without saying that you will want to use the freshest eggs that you have, and they should always be started at room temperature. If they are refrigerator cold, then just pop them into a bowl of warm water for fifteen minutes. That will soon bring them to room temp.
The only real decision you have to make when frying the eggs is to cook and serve them sunny side up, the whites softly set and the yolks beautifully runny, or to flip them over and serve them over easy . . . both with a golden brown lacy frill around the edges.
Look at that lovely glazed and golden slice of thick ham . . . perfect . . .
The yolk of the egg, perfectly runny and ready for dipping . . .
It doesn't get much better than this. You can use whatever fat you want to fry the egg in (I always fry my ham in butter), but I prefer a flavourless sunflower oil to fry my egg in. It doesn't burn, so you can have it well heated when the egg lands in the pan, which gives you that lovely golden brown ruffle. Butter tends to burn.
Proper Fried Ham & Eggs
Yield: 1
You just repeat this process for as many servings as you wish. The end result is perfectly fried eggs accompanied with a thick slab of butter fried ham. Toast fingers for dipping into the runny yolks are a must!
Ingredients:
- 1 thick slice of roast ham/gammon
- 1 fresh egg, at room temperature (or two if you can handle that many)
- 1 small knob of butter
- 1 TBS of flavourless oil
To serve:
- Hot buttered toast, cut into fingers, crusts on or off as you please
Instructions:
How to cook Proper Fried Ham & Eggs
- You will need two skillets as the ham and the eggs will be cooked separately.
- Start the ham first. Melt the knob of butter in one skillet over medium heat. Once it begins to foam add the slice of ham. Cook on one side until golden brown, turn down the heat, then flip over and continue to cook on the other side.
- While the ham is browning on the second side, heat the oil in the other skillet. Crack the egg onto a saucer and slip into the hot oil. Cover with a lid and leave over low heat, at which time the edges of the egg will be ruffled and golden brown, the whites set and the yolk still runny. If the white is not set, recover and cook for a further 30 seconds.
- Slide onto a heated plate, season with some coarse black pepper and flakes of salt. Add the golden slice of ham and serve immediately with the buttered toast fingers for dipping into that golden yolk.
Today I expect I will be making a casserole of some sort with the leftover ham. What is your favourite thing to do with leftover ham? I really want to know!
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