I like to have a big breakfast once in a while, usually Saturday.
Here is one with a few nice features.
First, I have Mystic Monk Coffee in a “Save The Liturgy Save The World” mug. I used a “French Press“, in honor of my English friends where these gizmos seem to be the preferred method of making coffee.
Also, I have two eggs in a coddler. You coat the inside with butter and add your seasoning together with the eggs (which I got from a nearby farm) and then, after screwing the cap onto the porcelain coddler, it is placed in simmering water. This is a slow method, which allows you to do some other things, such as fry your bacon and toast your English muffin. It seems to me that coddlers, since they are a slow prep method and keep the contents warm, would be ideal for a breakfast tray. I have written about this thing before.
I usually slam breakfast down in a hurry and not rarely even skip it. It is nice once in a while to take your time.
Loading ...
Ugh! The coffee, muffin, and bacon look great, but coddled eggs anathema sit! I need to know my eggs are thoroughly cooked.
Gosh. Thanks for your nice comment.
Shouldn’t it be ‘Anathema sint’? But I like coddled eggs – so ‘Bravo’!
I make a big breakfast for my father a couple of times a week. He loves sausage so I make him some – me, I prefer bacon. I also make biscuits and I make him some eggs. I can’t abide eggs myself, but I can cook them exactly how my father likes them. He’s 90, and I like to pamper him.
Ellen….you’re a doll! I used to like to pamper my father too…
@Fr. Z
Oh, come on. De gustibus non disputandum est. I’m a bit leery of eggs, though; if anything, I know I tend to overcook them. You could probably patch a hole in your shoes with my omelettes. :-)
I know some people really like poached, coddled, or soft-boiled eggs; I just don’t see how you can eat them.
Good to see you like English muffins. You just have to learn the delights of English bacon too. I see yours is done in the typically American style.
That muffin might almost be a Bay’s English muffin. [Indeed it is.] But at least it does not resemble the dreaded Thomas’s product.
Awesome breakfast. My wife and I always make our MM coffee in a press. Best way. You might try oatmeal. I have a very easy and delicious, and savory, recipe, if you like. Quick, too.
That breakfast looks really good! Especially for a grey day… when we need some extra help powering up to get moving.
I do my eggs this way in a cocotte, soft 4 mins, hard 6 mins. How long did your coddler take?
Well, Father, we share an appreciation then, for the best muffins. ;)
How do you get your bacon so crispy? Mine’s always so chewy and chokey.
APX: I use a fairly high heat and then as immediately when they come out of the pan dab them with paper towels to get the excess grease off of them. The quality of bacon might make a difference as well.
I’ve never seen an egg prepared like this. I will have to give it a try one day. I showed this post to my mother, who always enjoys seeing what Father is cooking up in the kitchen. When she saw this she said “Just a half of a muffin? He’s so good!”
How do you keep it from sticking to the pan? Whenever I use high heat, the maple in the bacon carmelizes and burns to the pan.
I know I have a beautiful pair of Royal Worcester egg coddlers, somewhere. I even saw them in the last year, somewhere, probably in the basement. There are plenty of vintage ones on eBay. The “birds” pattern strikes me as even better than the ones I have, somewhere. The bird is shown with an insect in its beak. It appears that Father Z has one of these. In the time it took me to write this, I just got a pair on eBay for less than $15, plus about $7 shipping. These are not destined for the basement.
I like my silicone egg poaching pods, but that coddler looks good too.
http://te-deum.blogspot.com/2012/01/great-cooking-cheat-egg-poaching-pods.html
I just got the PoachPods a few weeks ago, and I think they are wonderful. A very small amount of water does collect on the surface of the poached egg from condensing steam, but it is easily poured off. The PoachPods themselves are very quick and easy to clean.
As for the need to cook eggs thoroughly, that comes from the possibility of salmonella enteritidis contamination. There are producers of relatively expensive eggs, such as Country Hen, that have always voluntarily had their eggs tested for salmonella, and have never had even one positive test result.
I have a mystic monk little press to make my morning coffee but I find it frustrating to have to heat the water and then wait for the coffee to steep only to have there be too little coffee for two persons.
What is the best way to fix the Mystic Monk coffee? I would like to make larger amounts but my old coffee maker died and it didn’t make good enough coffee to be worth replacing.
I find it a problem that when I do a whole pot it sits too long to be really good to the end, and my press makes too little or I have to keep heating water for it. I’m not finding that middle ground where you have the convenience of a pot but made in smaller amounts so as to be fresh.
I live in the town where Country Hen eggs are grown (hatched?) and they are like the Latin Mass, after you have one you can never go back (to supermarket eggs in this case). They are expensive but I only make eggs on weekends so it’s not a huge deal. I am also a proponent of the big breakfast on Saturday.
I love my French press! We don’t drink lots of coffee, so we don’t need a pot on for lots of refills. A press is the easiest way to make it in individual quantities.
More about eggs and Country Hen:
A Better Egg , by Corby Kummer, from the Atlantic Monthly, October 2000.
Is it a North American thing? I have noticed that bacon here always seems burnt to a crisp. Having experienced bacon in UK, europe and of course Australia, I have never experienced bacon served so well done [polite way of saying burnt to a crisp!] [I prefer crispy bacon.]
Father K: probably an American thing. I don’t recall bacon in Canada being quite so crisp. But then, in Canada, I’d rather have pea-meal bacon, at breakfast.
So that’s what an egg coddler looks like! I’ve heard of coddled eggs, but never knew how they were made….until now, that is….
Your breakfast looks pretty good there, Father Z!
wmeyer-what’s ‘pea-meal bacon’, if I may ask? Is that a ‘Canadian thing’?
One can find an egg coddler here.
I used to have an old one, but my family liked my poached eggs better.
Here is another cheaper one. HERE.
I use (not used as error above) to cook these types of eggs, and they are good if one does not want greasy eggs. Poached eggs are easy to make as well, as I mentioned, and again. low on icky grease. Coddled eggs can be made for lunch as well, as with a large salad. The egg has been unnecessarily maligned. It is a good food for young and old, unless one has an allergy. I use a French press daily, and people may find this interesting. Caffeine gets worse as it is cooked. So, the coffee made in a French Press has less caffeine than that made in a drip or peculator. The stats for this are floating out there on the Net and have been for years.
Charles – I too get the accumulation of steam water on top of the eggs in the pods, but you are right, it is easily poured off. I pull the pods out with a slotted spoon and rest it on the counter a minute, then pinch two of the three corners so the egg can’t slip out, and drain the water.
I’ve been using my poach pods for weeks now and I’m very happy with them. When I don’t forget to spray them with oil, they merely need to be wiped out or rinsed. It is so predictable, how long I need to let them cook to get the same consistency, as long as I use the same sized eggs. I tend to like mine where the yoke is a little cooked, but mostly runny as opposed to having some of the egg white runny at all.
For those who haven’t seen it, here are the pods. Pretty cheap from Amazon; much cheaper than the coddlers. http://te-deum.blogspot.com/2012/01/great-cooking-cheat-egg-poaching-pods.html
Diane,
Thank you for the additional Poach Pod tips.
I noticed that the name is two words. The product is not computer-related.
Some of the online photos may not make it clear that when you buy a pair of Poach Pods, you get one light green and one darker green one. I got mine from Lee Valley Tools, which is mostly the retail arm of the highly-regarded Canadian woodworking tool company, Veritas. The design of their tools is much better than that of their Website, which has kitchen tools in the gardening section.