Runny egg yolks are underrated: Treat eggs like steak

Home Opinion Runny egg yolks are underrated: Treat eggs like steak
Runny egg yolks are underrated: Treat eggs like steak
An artist rendering of a fried egg. | Flickr

I have never understood it. How can someone enjoy that metallic smell of a overcooked yolk? Ruin a perfectly good egg yolk?

Just like every food connoisseur knows, you’re supposed to order your steak medium-rare. Why? Because that’s how to get the best taste. 

“The flavor is in the fat, if you cook it all out, you have a less-tasty and dryer steak,” Chef Wade Wiestling of Mastro’s Steakhouse told Business Insider in an article about how to eat a steak. 

The same principle applies to eggs. The yolk of the egg contains almost all of the carbohydrates, sugar, cholesterol, and fat that can be found in an egg. This means that opting to cook your egg yolk actually dries out the egg’s fat, destroys the flavor, and ruins your egg experience. 

Think about it. 

You just rolled out of bed, stretched, yawned and heard the depths of your stomach crying out for food. You don’t want to stuff a dry bagel, topped with an overcooked egg, into your dehydrated mouth. No. You would rather bite into a bagel, feel the pop of the egg, and reward your taste buds with the creamy, silky goodness of a runny yolk.

Now some might argue that an egg yolk, when runny, is messy, sticky, and inconvenient. But no one ever argued that consuming delicacies had to be clean or sanitary. You don’t hear people complain about their hands getting dirty when they chow down on baby-back ribs or ask for the fudge on their brownie sundae to be hardened so they don’t risk spilling it somewhere. People embrace the glory of a good sauce and savor the new and exciting texture it provides. 

Over-easy eggs actually make everyone’s morning easier by providing their own side sauce. When you’re running late to class or simply too lazy to cook up some hollandaise, you can rely on the egg’s natural qualities. The moment you touch your egg on toast, you are blessed with a savory, velvety sauce. This yolk is the oasis in the barren desert that is your breakfast plate. 

Eggs were made with two distinct parts: the white and the yolk. So why would you opt to destroy the natural beauty of an egg and cook it all the way through? 

 

Megan Williams is a sophomore studying rhetoric & public address.