Reversed Colour Fried Egg

I've been thinking about how to do this for ages and finally saw a video which gave me an idea on how to pull it off. It's more time-consuming to make reversed colour fried eggs than regular fried eggs, but it's over easy!

Supplies

I wanted this to be a project I could do without any special equipment, so you won't see an egg topper or anything else weird here - just things you have around the house!

Tools and Equipment

rubber band

pencil

box cutter / exacto knife / Stanley knife [it's all the same - name just depends on where you're from]

shotglasses or scissors

regular ol' bowls and spoons

pot with lid

thin plastic spoon

frying pan

Ingredients

eggs

cooking oil

water

starch [I used tapioca but corn or potato should work just as well]

turmeric (optional)

Step 1: Make Egg Shell Cups

I came upon an artsy-craftsy video the other day that turned on a light bulb for me.

This video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYDPcCtwAwY] shows how to easily and cleanly cut egg shells to make art or cups.

So I realized I could use this technique to make reverse colour fried eggs, something I've been chewing on for a long time. I was basically wondering how to make white yolks in that characteristic half-dome shape. Of course - poach whites in something egg-shaped!

So here's how to cut the shell cleanly to make a nice little poaching cup:

1. First, take a rubber band and put it around the egg at the level you want to cut. Halfway works well.
2. Take pencil and trace a line above or below the rubber band.
3. Using a sawing motion, slowly and patiently cut around the circumference of your egg. I found it worked best to go around and around rather than trying to just cut from one side.

Why slowly and gently? You don't want to cut through and stab the yolk, because that would ruin that egg for this project (you can still eat it though!).

As you can see, I got a really clean cut on this shell and this was my first time doing this, so it's pretty easy.

Once you cut through, wash out the shells and rub the inside with your finger to remove the shell membrane. That's the ultra-thin, skin-like layer between the shell and the egg white (albumen). Rub and peel this membrane out as it will cause the white yolk to stick.

Then coat the inside of each shell cup with cooking oil and you're ready to go!

BUT to be honest this step is not even necessary. If you don't mind a little hit and miss action, you can just try to break your eggs the old fashioned way and use half a shell from that. I used one of each and the result was the same!

Step 2: Make Egg White "Yolks"

This step is the crux of the project.

The idea is to make white egg "yolks" that are actually a bit runny like a sunny-side up fried egg.

First I separate the yolks from the whites by pouring them back and forth between shells and keeping them in 2 different bowls. Then I tried 2 different methods to do this. One really worked out, while the other wasn't great..

Pro Tip: To make things easier, you can place the shell cups on shot glasses or on scissor handles so they will stand up straight.

Method A:

The first time I simply poured egg white into the oiled shell cup and poached it in hot water. This produced a "yolk" with a texture just like a boiled egg, which wasn't what I was looking for.

Method B (AKA the one that works):

1. I mixed 1/4 tsp (1.2 ml) of water and 1/4 tsp (1.2ml) starch with 1 1/2 Tbsp (22mL) of egg white for each yolk. You really want to beat this mixture well to make sure there are no lumps.
2. I poured this mixture in each oiled egg shell cup and placed these cups in simmering water. I covered the pot with the lid and poached them for about 90 seconds.

Once the eggs seemed cooked, I used a thin plastic spoon to loosen the yolk very carefully. Then I proceeded to break the shell off bit by bit. Go carefully at the end - if you press too hard you will break the "yolk".

Step 3: Fry 'Em Up!

Next, it's time to make yellow whites.

You can take the yolks and any leftover whites and beat them together. Then, if you want to amp up the yellow colour, you can add turmeric powder to the mix. I put about 1/8 tsp (0.6ml) in with 2 yolks and a bit of extra whites, but you could go even more vibrant yellow than this.

Now to fry...

Put a little oil in a frying pan and get it up to medium heat. Don't go too hot - these yellow "whites" cook a whole lot faster than regular egg whites!

Pour some of the yellow mixture in the pan and fry, but have a white "yolk" near at hand.

Flip over a yolk and plop it gently in the middle of your yellow egg "white". Cook to desired consistency, but I recommend being gentle so you don't get rubbery eggs.

And that's it!

Step 4: Enjoy

Plate up these weird, reverse colour fried eggs and dress 'em up all pretty. I added chooped green onions, black pepper, and a bit of hot sauce.

Hopefully you can get a nice satisfying ooze when you pop the white yolk like I did.

(BTW, you can see in my other photo where I used a Method A white "yolk" that it oozed just disappointing teeny bit.)

Do they taste like eggs?

Sure - they ARE eggs!

Are they just like regular fried eggs?

No way! Aside from the colours being reversed, the texture is quite different. The yellow "whites" end up a bit foamier than regular fried whites, and the yolk has a bit more of a boiled egg consistency on the outside, though the runny inside is similar.

They're more for the novelty than anything else - try them out for a nice surprise for just about anyone who's bored to tears of regular ol' eggs!