Eggs made to order....

Cooking the perfect egg is perhaps the easiest yet hardest thing to do.....I guess it just depends on whether you are cooking it for yourself or cooking it for someone else and of course how picky you are if you are cooking it for yourself.


Did you know the US egg consumption is 256 per capita per year. With a population of 310 million people...that is 79,360,000,000 per year or 217,424,000 per day. That's a lotta eggs!

My preference for how I like my eggs has changed over the years. When I was a young Skeeter boy growing up, I have to admit I was slightly on the spoiled side and back then my favorite type of cooked egg was a soft boiled egg. My Mom, or should I say my Mommy, would place it upright in a little holder and then crack the upper part of the shell and cautiously remove it. God forbid if a piece of the shell fell into the egg itself.

Later I moved on to a simple fried egg, usually sunny side up, and perfect for dipping my toast into the yummy soft yolk often times leaving behind the fried white portion of the egg. And then later going with the more popular "over easy".

I'm reminded of how eggs were cooked and served in Basic Training when I was in the U.S. Air Force many years ago. As you moved through the chow line keeping your mouth shut and not speaking to anyone in front of or behind you, you were allowed to say only one of two words as you shouted out how you wanted your eggs cooked. It was either "fried" or "scrambled". If your choice was "fried", the cook would simply scoop up your egg on a wide spatula regardless of how long it had been on the grill, even if it was still runny. If you asked for the latter, "scrambled", the cook simply made two quick chops with his spatula and there they were, scrambled made to order.

As I matured in age, so did my epicurean skills. My ability to cook the perfect omelet filled with mushrooms and cheese and other delectable items and of course I needed the curved-edged omelet frying pan as well.

Later moving to the Southwest for the last 50 years, my tastes buds then began calling for the simple but delicious taquito, the fresh flour tortilla filled with scrambled eggs, fried ground sausage and covered with hot sauce, sour cream and grated cheese.

These days I've regressed back to the days of when I stood in line waiting for my scrambled egg. I usually wait until all of the other items we are having for breakfast, whether it be French toast and or maybe bacon with fried potatoes or possibly grits. I'll crack a couple of eggs, one handed I might add, and just quickly throw in some grated cheese, stir them a few times with a wooden spoon and I'm good to go.

As I said in the opening sentence, cooking eggs perfectly can either be simple or difficult, and I guess that's the same thing about life, it just depends how you want to approach it.