Restaurant PSA: Eggs

I have worked in the industry in some way, shape, or form for over twenty years. I have been with my current company for sixteen years. There are plenty of things people do at restaurants that drive me crazy (I am sure every person can say that about their job). However, there is one thing that sets me off more than anything: when customers have no clue about eggs. If you are a grown adult, you should be able to order eggs. I realize that many people just had eggs prepared by their parents and probably had no real choice in how they got them. “You’re gettin’ dippy eggs or you’ll get nothin’ at all!” My dad could only make scrambled or “dippy.” His dippy eggs ran the range from over light to probably over hard.

My favorite is when you ask a customer how they want their eggs, they will respond “fried.” Over the years I took that to mean over well, but some people actually mean over light. I learned pretty quickly to ask some follow up questions, such as “do you want the yolk to be runny or not?” I have had people ask for “up eggs, but make sure the yolk ain’t runny!” Umm, what?

So today, I am going to quickly explain the differences in eggs. Just in case you are someone who has no clue and just says words that you have heard before from other people.

Scrambled: This one is pretty easy. The yolk and whites mixed (scrambled) together in a bowl and then fried. They are usually fluffy. You can get them soft (which are a mushy) or well done (they are a little harder and slightly browned).
Poached: These eggs are cooked in a cup/bowl with heated water. I am sure you can find a hundred videos showing how to poach an egg in the microwave. They end up being a hard outer white, then the yolk is runny. You can get them soft (they are very runny and can look like snot) or hard (the yolk is completely cooked and it is basically a hard-boiled egg in my opinion).
Basted: You fry your egg and then you want the yolk intact and have a slightly cooked top, so you cover the egg with a lid and put some water in there to steam the top. I feel like it is a mix of poached and fried.
Up: Sometimes called Sunny Side Up. A fried egg that you do not flip. The white is completely cooked and the yolk is runny. Many Pennsylvania folks refer to these eggs as dippy.
Over Easy: Sometimes referred to as over light. This is a fried egg that you flip to cook the top of the yolk, but leave it still runny. As a cook told me when he was training me “flip the eggs, turn around and grab your plate, turn back around and they should be perfect.” This can be confusing because many people will refer to these as dippy eggs. Just call them by the proper name and there will never be confusion.
Over Medium: Same as above, but you leave them cook longer. The yolk is still runny, but the edges have started cook fully.
Over Medium-Well: Not one you will hear very often, but it is an option. This is where you allow the yolk to almost completely cook, but leave a small amount runny. I have definitely gotten into an argument with a customer over this before. They will order over medium, but then be mad about it being somewhat runny. I try to inform them that they most likely want over medium-well and then they tell me I need to learn how to make eggs. I then make an over medium-well egg and they say “see, this is a perfect over medium egg!” Whatever, those people make me angry.
Over Well: The yolk is completely cooked. When someone says they want a fried egg, this is what I think. However, that is not always the case.
Over Hard: This one is weird to me. Is there a taste difference between over hard and over well? I cannot imagine, but yet people love to order one or the other. Over hard is when you break the yolk, then cook it all the way through. Even in the picture above, they do not distinguish between over well/hard (their hard is not broken, weird).

Hopefully this helps everyone when it comes to ordering eggs!

The other thing that drives me crazy about eggs is the fact that customers do not understand certain aspects of the eggs. Here is a picture I took today of some eggs I made at work.

I will be called out to a table, at least once a month because the customer thinks there is a hair or plastic in their eggs. See that thin, stringy part that I labeled “not hair”? It is just the white of the egg, after you crack the egg onto the grill, as you go to throw the shells away, some of the remaining white may run onto the grill. That is all. Not hair. The same goes for the “plastic.” If your cooking surface is not 100% flat (or you place the eggs on the grill in a motion that moves the white as they are dropped), then it causes the whites to become thin in an area and they cook really fast and look like plastic. You can eat them. I can assure you they are not hair or plastic. We are not trying to kill you. But if you say “oh, this made my stomach turn. Can you make me new ones?” Then yes, I may actually kill you. Not with an egg though. Probably a spoon.

Why a spoon, cousin? Why not an ax?

Author: Ngewo

7 thoughts on “Restaurant PSA: Eggs

  1. Haha!! After cooking eggs for close to 25 years at the park..thank you for clearing this up! To bad they can’t put it in the menu! The next thing u need too clear up is bacon.! It’s almost as bad!

    1. Oh yeah! I think the servers are probably more to blame for bacon. If they see any fat, they act like it is raw and needs microwaved immediately. I like my bacon light.

  2. That was… educational. I don’t think I’ve put that much thought into eggs. We grow chives in the backyard, and this morning I went back and picked some to throw in my eggs along with horseradish cheddar. Yum. The jalapenos will be ready to pick soon, then I’ll have new ingredients.

    1. Get screamed at by someone because their over medium wasn’t done enough…then you learn pretty quickly the difference haha

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