Sunday, April 15, 2007

Breakfast Cook Off

~6 and 3/4 years ago Em told me she would cook eggs benedict for me. I, @ the time, had never had Egg's B before. (Subsequently, I have had it twice at The Beach Chalet and Chou Chou, both in San Francisco). So this morning she decided she was ready to give it a go.


As she began she wanted me to look up how to poach an egg (neither of us has ever attempted to poach an egg, we thought Mormons weren't supposed to) and pulled out her outdated lame cook book, "How To Cook Everything." I then went to my cooking bible for advice, "The New Best Recipe," from Cook's Illustrated. (Everything I have ever made therefrom has turned out excellent.) Thus began the cook off to see who could make the best poached egg!



I had great faith in my book and its editor Christopher Kimball, my cooking god. Fast forward a few minutes and lots of trash talking and we had a wonderful creation. To be honest with all involved, Em's eggs did end up looking better and I had to eat my words, as well as the eggs! I was slightly disappointed* with my eggs shape (the taste was exquisite though), as it had a little too much feathering.
(Mine is the one on the egg's right, Em's is on the left)


It was a supper yummy breakfast and my wife rocks!



*At which point she told me I shouldn't worship false gods! (She's funny too! sometimes)
*I still hold true that my cook book is better, I just need a bit more practice with my method.

11 comments:

Mrs. Dub said...

perhaps you should have called your bro, who is not only an expert on poaching eggs but the making of eggs benedict. (which i must admit i introduced him to at the ripe ol' age of 26.) his secret to a killer poached egg? a few dashes of vinegar. 60 percent of the time it works every time!

Bartimaeus said...

You wives have at least been good for one thing!

mr. underhill said...

Amen to the wife comment -- and how! I would offer you eggs benedict, but I'm all out of benedict.
In other news, eggs benedict is quite good. But I don't know if it is worth having to make the hollandaise sauce from scratch -- and the stuff from the store is mediocre at best. So, I would suggest getting it every now and again from a good restaurant. It is quite tasty.
I echo, my wife's comment when she said, "60 percent of the time it works every time." Those are wise words to live by.

Anonymous said...

Wow you little brothers are becoming culinary wizards. Eggs Benedict. Wow. I've only ever had that at John David's wedding (the 1st one) breakfast and shared a portion with Mom and Sheesh at our Favorite Breakfast haunt in Sugar House: The Original Pancake House. I prefer the fruit crepes. I would love to be the judge of a breakfast cookoff. Especially if Emy is cooking!

Anonymous said...

I'd like to say for the record, I have nothing against America's Test Kitchen. I love it. I bought the darn cookbook! I just think How To Cook Everything has merit too!!! (And is sometimes less complicated!)

Anonymous said...

dude.. where did my comment go? oh no! i commented you a while ago. :(

i think i wrote: "i miss you."

hmm..

Linz said...

Nice looking eggs! We don't have cook offs in our house... because I hate to admit it, but I would be the loser 100% of the time! Good job!

mr. underhill said...

"How to cook everything" is way overrated. I tried to look up "toast" and it failed to provide me with step-by-step instructions.

Unknown said...

who doesnt know how to poach an egg? i find it rather easy...but we have a pot with a specail holder thing that all you do is boil water underneath and put the eggs in the holder thing. but still!!! hhaa
sounds like fun.
oh and i have "60% of the time it works everytime" tattooed on my foot. fyi.
(mormons in california are now allowed such things. bet you wanna come back even more now!)
(not true.)
:D

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Andy said...

The poached eggs are quite an achievement. But what I'd really like to know is how you came up with the hollandaise sauce. This is my favorite meal. But the sauce is even more tricky to me than the eggs.