According to culinary lore, a traditional chef’s hat has 100 pleats to represent the number of ways there are to cook an egg. But are there really as many as 100 ways to cook an egg? No, there are probably a thousand ways to transform, adorn and cajole this most obliging ingredient. But here is a modest selection of 100 – just to get you started.
Breakfast
1 Get up, don’t reach for your phone, reach for an egg instead and start your day sunny side up. For a perfect breakfast sandwich, serve a fried egg between two slices of bread with a dollop of chilli jam and a sprinkle of chopped chives.
2 As the mornings cool, there’s no cosier way to start the day than with the uncosy-sounding “eggs in purgatory”. Drop the eggs into bubbling, chilli-spiked tomato sauce and partially cover the pan until the whites are completely cooked.
3 But for eggs at their simplest, it’s hard to beat the humble boiled egg. Lower an egg into a saucepan of boiling water for five minutes for a runny yolk, or seven for a soft and creamy one.
4 Or try the Delia method: lower eggs into boiling water and cook for exactly one minute. Turn the heat off, put a lid on the pan, and leave for six or seven minutes. Consider your soldiers: Marmite on rye, gruyère on sourdough, anchovy butter on brioche ….
5 How about parmesan-crusted soldiers? This recipe calls for dunking them into a pesto-swirled yolk …
Lightly boiled egg with parmesan-crusted soldiers and basil pesto
6 For golden, lacy, crispy edges, fry an egg in oil so hot it hisses and splutters – and dodge the spits while you baste.
7 In New York, the cheesy bodega-style egg sandwich is much loved. It’s a squishy bun or English muffin stuffed with a cheesy almost-omelette, wrapped in foil. To make the almost-omelette, whisk the egg and tip it into a heated, oiled frying pan. Leave it alone, and as it starts to cook, place the cheese in the middle and fold the edges around it.
8 Or, instead of an almost-omelette, how about an actual omelette? Food producer and recipe writer Jodie Nixon suggests taking it up a notch with your pan: “I like doing this in a cast iron pan so I can get a golden bottom and crispy edges, you just need to make sure the pan is screaming hot so when you add the eggs it puffs and bubbles (and won’t stick!) - just push the edges in, swirling the rest of the eggs to fill the gaps and top with parmesan and chives.”
9 But the beauty in the omelette is in its easy customisation, there’s a filling for every moment. As recipe developer Zainab Pirzada puts it: “Omelettes are a morning ritual that reflect my mood. Some days call for nothing more than a sprinkling of salt and pepper, while other days demand bold fillings like smoked sausage and green chilli.”
10 To make a breakfast taco, fill a flour tortilla with crispy potatoes, a fried egg and optional bacon, and garnish liberally with coriander, avocado, diced onion and your favourite salsa.
11 Go for the Korean breakfast lifesaver, gyeran bap (which translates to egg rice): fried eggs, steamed white rice, soy sauce and sesame oil.
12 Unbox last night’s cold pizza, top it with a fried egg. (Or you can try the same thing with bolognese on toast – an absolutely delicious way to use up leftover ragu.)
13 Love french toast? Explore its possibilities by using hot cross buns, crumpets and thick slices of challah. The basic eggy bath consists of eggs, milk, vanilla, a sprinkle of sugar, a pinch of salt, and possible cinnamon and nutmeg. Soak well and fry in foamy butter.
14 Add fresh sage leaves to the frying pan while your eggs fry. Once the leaves are crispy, break them up and sprinkle on top of your eggs.
15 Egg in a hole: use a cookie cutter to make a hole in a slice of bread. Fry the bread gently on one side in a well-oiled (or buttered) pan, then flip the slice and crack an egg into the hole. Cook until the egg is almost firm, then flip again to seal the deal. (Rumour has it you can do this in an air fryer, cutting out the flipping.)
16 Scramble your eggs as you like. Top with ripples of smoked salmon, lemon and chopped dill.
17 For scrambled eggs with chutzpah, gently saute some chopped spring onions in butter or wilt some spinach before you add the eggs to the pan. Finish with a flurry of parmesan.
18 That muffin tin in the back of the kitchen cupboard we don’t speak of? It does have a purpose. Spray each cup with oil, line with bacon and crack in an egg. Bake in the oven and voila – breakfast muffins you’ll actually make.
19 I do not like green eggs and ham … but you might? (Scramble them with pesto.)
20 In North America, “over-easy” means the egg is fried on both sides, so there’s no chance of underdone white. It works a whole lot better in a sandwich.
Smashed lemony mint peas with feta and poached eggs
21 … or on top of smashed lemony peas a la this recipe.
22 Poached, over the top of avocado toast, obvs …
23 What’s the difference between poached and coddled? Poached goes straight in the water, whereas coddled eggs are placed in a ramekin or “egg coddler” and then cooked in a water bath.
Brunch
Soft-boiled egg halves on bacon
24 Eggs benedict starts with a muffin that’s English, but the origin story leads us to Delmonico’s in Manhattan, where a long-time customer – one Mrs LeGrand Benedict – requested a dish of poached eggs, ham, hollandaise sauce and truffles.
25 There are no fritters without eggs. Celebrate the egg as a binding agent by combining it with vegetables, herbs and cheese, and then frying in patties. Turkish mücver are incredible: courgette, spring onions, dill, feta and a little flour.
26 Or, try your hand at the recipe below, inspired by a Korean dish called yachaejeon, and normally cooked as one large crispy pancake with a soy dipping sauce. Instead, this take calls for smaller fritters and is paired with a smoky tomato chutney made with soy sauce and deliciously spicy gochujang.
Crispy, vegetable fritters, gochujang and tomato chutney with soft boiled eggs
27 Spanish tortilla ingredients: olive oil, eggs, potato, onion, a little patience and a leap of faith (turning it over in the pan, eek).
28 Shakshuka is said to have been created by Tunisian Jews. The word means “mixed” and the mixture includes harissa, peppers, garlic and tomatoes, with eggs added straight to the simmered sauce.
29 Shakshuka has been around the internet brunch-block, which means there are variations galore. Search green shakshuka for versions with peas, kale, courgettes and spinach.
30 Huevos rancheros, or ranch-style eggs, can be traced to the farms and ranches of 16th-century Mexico. In its simplest form it’s fried eggs topped with a luscious red salsa, eaten with warm tortillas.
31 Dip asparagus spears in the runny yolk of a boiled egg. Wrap the spears in ham if you’re that way inclined (and a meat eater).
32 Turkish menemen is the most glorious scramble of eggs, olive oil, tomatoes and chillies. Welcome additions include feta, herbs and sucuk (Turkish sausage).
33 When is an omelette actually a frittata? Frittatas tend to be thicker, finished in the oven, loaded with (mostly) vegetables and eaten at room temperature – perfect for a leisurely brunch. Try yours with leeks, lots of fresh herbs and a cheese of your choice.
Roasted cauliflower cheese and jalapeño frittata
34 Or, if you’re hosting and you want that collective “oooooh” when you lay down a dish, try this frittata recipe.
35 A Parsi favourite, akuri makes for a jubilant Sunday morning. It’s a super-soft and luxurious egg scramble (never too well done) with onion, tomatoes, fresh coriander, chillies, turmeric and further spices at the chef’s discretion.
36 A strata is a savoury bread pudding – a dish piled with broken bread and flavourings (kale and gruyère, or sweetcorn, spring onion and cheddar, for instance), topped with a rich, creamy, and potentially mustardy, egg custard, baked until golden.
37 To make marvellous Mexican migas, tear corn tortillas straight into hot oil in a frying pan, and when they’re crisp, take them out. Fry some chopped peppers, jalapenos and onions, and then add the tortilla bits back into the pan with some eggs, and scramble it all together.
38 In France, eggs en cocotte tend to be baked in adorable ramekins in a water bath, with a little cream or creme fraiche, pepper and chopped chives.
39 The once-viral Japanese souffle pancakes, the fluffiest pancakes in the world, are powered by well-whipped egg whites, folded gently into the batter.
40 Nothing screams brunch quite like a crab-and-egg combo. In an eggs benedict, replace the English muffin and ham with a crab cake to epic brunch-time effect.
41 Planning a brunch to take your time over? Add a hit of chimichurri to your steak and eggs and load that cafetiere – you’ll be set up for the day.
42 The tomato-based Mauritian Creole sauce rougaille is flavoured with chilli and fresh thyme. It tastes good alongside almost anything, but for added sunshine, drop in whole eggs and cook in the same style as eggs in purgatory or shakshuka.
43 Çilbir is the Turkish poached egg dish of dreams: poached eggs on a heavenly bed of garlic yoghurt, topped with chilli butter and scooped up with bread.
44 One of Singapore’s staple breakfasts, kaya toast (toast smothered with coconut jam) is incomplete without soft-boiled eggs and sweet, strong coffee.
Lunch
Green chilli cheese croque madame with poached egg
45 Indeed you can fry your eggs in your favourite chilli oil. Take no prisoners; baste the yolk with it, too.
46 Boiled egg mixed with mayonnaise and chopped spring onion is the correct way to enjoy a good bagel, pickle on the side.
47 Or opt for a Japanese tamago sando. Egg mayo (made with kewpie mayo) stuffed between two slices of Japanese milk bread. The secret that makes this a superior sarnie? After the boiled eggs are peeled, the yolks are separated and mashed to create a creamy golden sauce for the chopped whites. Sounds like a right pain, yes, but worth it.
48 Upgrade your life and almost any lunch with soy-marinated eggs – jammy boiled eggs (try 6½ minutes to get the yolk just right), then cooled, peeled and submerged in a soy-based marinade, and left to do their thing overnight.
49 Picnic pie! Usually like a pork pie (with a hot-water crust pastry), but stuffed with spiced sausagemeat and whole boiled eggs.
50 Is it a tart? Is it a pancake? Does it matter? The galette is the perfect vessel for an oozy egg. This spinach version, above, from chef and recipe writer Hannah Mai Miller (@Hannahmaieats) uses the classic combination of sweet, earthy beetroot and tangy goat’s cheese.
51 It’s hard to say what meal you’d eat cloud eggs for, or why they exist. Nonetheless, the internet seems to love them. They are egg whites whipped to form a cloud or nest, with the egg yolk plopped back in the middle, then baked in the oven.
52 Want to double the egginess? For oeufs durs mayonnaise in the Parisian pavement style, make your own mayonnaise with beautiful yolks and plenty of Dijon mustard and spoon it on to halved boiled eggs in very generous splodges. Create extra drama with crusty bread, fries, a green salad and a glass of Beaujolais. Don’t go back to work.
53 Omurice! Fried rice seasoned with ketchup, tucked beneath a silky omelette blanket. Thank you for everything, Japan.
54 If the croque is a boy, it doesn’t have an egg on, so make damn sure your croque is a madame.
55 Or level up your toastie game – cumin, green chillies and soft-boiled eggs deliver a tasty spin on the comforting croque.
Green chilli cheese toastie with poached eggs
56 The days of the national scotch egg challenge may be behind us (but national scotch egg day is still a thing), so don’t for one minute think we’ve forgotten about smoked mackerel scotch eggs, black pudding scotch eggs, onion bhaji scotch eggs, or prawn toast scotch eggs – they adorn farmers’ markets up and down the country.
57 But we’d be remiss not to mention another omelette … a very fancy one at that, one that deserves a sea view and a very cold, crisp glass of wine. This crab, coconut and courgette omelette from cook and food writer Ixta Belfrage might not seem like your usual combination of ingredients, but it’s a breakfast-for-dinner fit for a king!
Crab, coconut and courgette omelette
58 A salade lyonnaise is – to all intents and purposes – a bacon and egg salad (frisée, crispy lardons, poached eggs).
59 We managed to get to number 56 before wheeling out a quiche. Here it is – champion of the lunch trolley – a splendid quiche lorraine, laced with leeks, bacon and cheddar.
60 Yam khai dow is a genius Thai salad that includes chopped up crispy fried eggs, onion, spring onion, fresh coriander and a sour-spicy dressing.
61 Stracciatella (not the cheese or the ice-cream) is an Italian soup made from chicken broth with eggs and parmesan whisked in. Extras include freshly grated nutmeg and parsley.
62 Tamagoyaki is made by rolling together several thin layers of cooked egg. Once you’ve mastered it, you can use it to make tamago sushi – plump parcels of sushi rice topped with egg and wrapped in elegant strips of nori.
63 One pickled egg, scooped from the cloudy pub jar and slipped directly into a just-opened packet of salt and vinegar crisps, shaken, then eaten.
Dinner
Fried egg on steak and chips
64 Carbonara, baby. All you need is spaghetti, egg yolks, pecorino romano, lots of pepper and scrumptiously fatty pork cheek (guanciale). Certainly not cream.
65 If guanciale isn’t your bag, you can make a vegetarian carbonara by ditching the meat in favour of caramelised shallots, and adding a little grated courgette or some peas.
66 Eggs make batter. And batter makes everything better.
67 Fancy frying your leftover rice with eggs? Watch the YouTube works of Uncle Roger (Nigel Ng) for all the ways not to do it … and go from here.
68 In Elizabeth David’s essay An Omelette and a Glass of Wine, the omelette in question was omelette molière, consisting of three eggs beaten with a tablespoon of finely grated parmesan and a little pepper. Fry in butter, adding one tablespoon of diced gruyère and one of thick cream during cooking. The wine was Marc de Champagne (grape-skin brandy).
69 There are many egg curries in the world, all worthy of your attention. Consider egg makhani – boiled eggs simmered in a buttery, nutty, rich curry sauce that is golden in hue.
70 Lomo a lo pobre is a Chilean dish that translates to “poor man’s steak” but is in fact a sumptuous mix of steak and eggs. This inspired version includes pan-fried plantain, which brings sweetness, and is balanced by a punchy, but quick to make, green sauce loosely inspired by aji verde. Top the seared sirloins with a couple of crispy, fried eggs for a golden finish and you’ve got a winner dinner.
Lomo a lo pobre with fried eggs and plantain
71 The legendary Chinese century eggs tend to be preserved in their shells for weeks or months (rather than 100 years) in a mixture of wood ash, salt, clay, quicklime and tea. The method is said to date back to the Ming dynasty. The flavour is variously described as umami, salty and very savoury.
72 An egg on top of a steaming bowl of dal is a very wonderful thing. Fry the egg and slide it on top, or break it straight into the pan to poach with the dal.
73 To make devilled eggs as the devil intended, scoop the yolks out of hard boiled eggs, mix them with mayonnaise, paprika and mustard, and then pipe the mixture back into the whites in pretty rosettes. For a cheat’s version, try oeufs durs mayonnaise as above, but spice up the mayonnaise with paprika and English mustard.
74 Jammy eggs … but this time immersed in a creamy, spicy coconut soup. This recipe, left, by kitchen wizard John Gregory-Smith uses ready-made dumplings and is a doozy to make.
75 When in Burgundy (or when you’re feelin’ like a French duke), cook your eggs in red wine sauce and serve with garlic toast. That’s oeufs en meurette.
76 Huevos rotos (broken eggs) can be found throughout Spain, but the dish probably originated in the Canary Islands. It’s fried eggs placed over crispy fried potatoes (usually cut into rounds but occasionally actually French fries) alongside ribbons of jamón or chunks of chorizo.
77 Aioli is egg at its most mind blowing – yolks emulsified with garlic, olive oil and lemon juice to luxuriant effect, ideal for your chips, roast chicken or fish stew, but how to quickly turn it into a meal? Why, le grand aioli, of course! Fill a platter with colourful chopped things to dip: radishes, peppers, carrots, cooked potatoes, cherry tomatoes, blanched green beans, sugar snap peas, some cooked prawns if you’re feeling fancy. The pièce de résistance? Halved boiled eggs, of course.
78 The Greek dish strapatsada is ripe tomatoes cooked simply and then finished by adding eggs, and scrambling – it has no time constraints, and is often eaten as part of a meze for lunch or dinner.
79 Ham, egg and chips, like your nan used to make.
80 To make the magical Thai dish son-in-law eggs, you fry hard boiled eggs (really!) so they develop a golden crust and then you serve them with a syrupy tamarind sauce and crispy onions. Crunchy, sweet, sour, yum.
81 A crispy fried egg atop noodles is one of life’s greatest pleasures. Making your own chilli oil is another. We present to you both.
82 Fresh pasta! Pappadelle! Linguine! Ravioli! Tortellini!
83 Those of us who dined in Pizza Express’s heyday (we, the true pioneers of the dough ball) will forever have a soft spot for the fiorentina – a spinach, olive and egg pizza. Do as your elders did and dip your crusts in the yolk.
Dessert
84 Floating islands – the egg at its harmonious puddingy peak? The whites are transformed into floating featherlight meringues, the yolks enrich a lake of sweet creme anglaise.
85 An early version of the egg custard tart as we know it in Britain (heavy on the nutmeg, ever so wobbly) was served at the coronation banquet prepared for Henry IV in 1399 – listed as “doucettys”.
86 If you want to see what an egg white is capable of, whether you’re an angel or not, make an angel food cake. It’s made of egg whites, flour and sugar (no butter or oil), with a little cream of tartar to stabilise. It’s as close as you’ll come to baking a cloud.
87 The classic Italian pudding zabaglione is made with just egg yolks, sugar and sweet wine. In Piedmont, where it began, the wine is moscato d’Asti.
88 Crema catalana is also known as crema cremada, and what’s not to like about burnt cream? Unlike the French creme brulee, Spanish crema catalana tends to be flavoured with cinnamon and citrus.
89 Creme caramel is a more gelatinous custard with a layer of dark caramel. It’s possible that its rise in popularity in the late 20th century was because it could be made in bulk, unlike other cremes (brulee, for instance).
Chocolate mousse
90 The pastel de nata (arguably the best of the custard tarts) dates back more than 300 years, to Jerónimos monastery, in the Belém district of Lisbon. At the time, egg whites were used to starch monks’ and nuns’ habits, leaving the yolks up for grabs.
91 The French dessert you make if you’re trying to impress someone, a soufflé is, at its heart, a baked egg dish. Soufflé is the past participle of the verb souffler, meaning blow, breathe, puff, and it is, of course, the egg white that does the puffing.
92 Another unique eggy alchemy, we must never take for granted: lemon curd. Lemons, butter, sugar and eggs, heated and whisked until thickened, then jarred and stored in the fridge, ready to become sunshine on toast, alongside your first cup of tea of the day.
93 Pasticcini di mandorla are soft, chewy almond biscuits from Sicily, made with just egg whites, ground almonds, icing sugar and lemon. Like all sweet things in Sicily, they’re eaten at any time of day, including for breakfast, dipped in coffee.
94 A really good chocolate mousse will make you wonder why you ever bother with any other dessert. It’s just eggs, chocolate and sugar. Whatever you do, do not overmix.
95 While eggnog is officially a drink, not a dessert, you’ll scarcely find a more puddingy eggy (pasteurised) punch, laced as it is with cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg, plus bourbon, brandy or rum.
96 Only eggs could transform an unappealing ingredient such as stale bread into a comforting dessert – bread and butter pudding.
97 Budino is the Italian word for custard or pudding. It tends to be a super-smooth custard in a glass, with a whipped cream topping. Chef and baker Nancy Silverton’s butterscotch budino is a brown-sugar beauty.
98 Lemon meringue pie is good, but have you tried chocolate meringue pie? Raspberry meringue pie? Orange and rhubarb meringue pie? Key-lime meringue pie? You get the idea. Meringue is king.
99 Meringue is queen, actually. Queen of puddings has it all – breadcrumbs soaked in custard (the original version uses any old bread, but Nigella uses brioche), berry jam, and a soft, chewy meringue crown.
100 Finally, 100. where we present to you the almighty pavlova. Imagine the concept of a dinner party without a wreath of snow-white meringue laden with figs, raspberries and shavings of white chocolate. Or a tower of pavlovas! Stacked high with lemon curd, cream, and sparklers, for the shiniest of show-stoppers.
Find out more about Freshlay Farms and why its Golden Yolkers have clinched a Great Taste Award 2024
Photographs: Robert Billington/The Guardian. Food stylist: Lucy-Ruth Hathaway. Props stylist: Anna Wilkins. Assistants: Jack Storer, Gigi Arnold
