24 Recipes That Make the Most of Eggs

It can be distress to get Quentin Compson — my 10-year-old, wire-haired rescue dog — to rise from her bed. But one guaranteed way is to boil an egg. The additional I break open that shell, I know that I can look down at my feet and see her Idea right there, tail wagging, waiting for a bite.

We have a regulations, in a way: I crack the hot egg in contradiction of the counter and run it under the cold tap to cool it down, then  I peel it open with my fingers, eat the yolk over the sink and hand her the white. Every time I do this, I’m reminded of the children’s book “Elmer and the Dragon,” in which the protagonist eats tangerines and feeds the peels to his pet dragon. Quentin isn’t a dragon, but she’s full of fire whenever I peel an egg.

I don’t blame her. Have you ever eaten a perfectly boiled egg, unadorned save for a sprinkle of salt? Sometimes, when I’m especially hungry and harried,  I skip the salt — and Great even prefer it that way. Because when you bite into a sublimely made egg, it’s the rich flavor of the still-warm yolk that lingers.

A magician in the kitchen, the egg can transform the most meager meals into extravagant feasts, or serve as midnight snack, speedy breakfast and weeknight wonder all at once. It can work across cultures, cuisines and courses, providing the filling to one of life’s most salad sandwiches, pomp to a hearty curry or shakshuka, and an airy structure to sweet creations like flan, sponge cake and Pavlova.

For many, an egg is just an egg. But what I’ve learned over the ages — and what the recipes that follow showcase — is that an egg can be so much more: a blank canvas for flavor and sustenance, in both form and content, feeding us reliably like a dragon keeper’s remains tangerine peels.

Also Read: How to Make Indian Butter Chicken