Add This Ingredient To The Frying Pan For Better Fried Eggs

Craft with care, and a simple fried egg can be dazzling. High temperature, enough oil, and a controlled cooking duration result in the beautiful contrast of a runny interior meeting a crispy mouthfeel, ready to enjoy on toast or alongside rice. Yet despite the dish's straightforward assembly, there are also plenty of fried egg hacks you'll wish you knew sooner – like using oil from garlic confit for the frying.

Wondrously malleable, garlic confit simply requires slow-cooking or roasting peeled alliums in a generous bath of olive oil, crafting tender, sweet bulbs and a savory oil. After only half an hour of cooking, the garlic confit will keep in the fridge for around a week. So the joyous days following a freshly prepared jar serve as the perfect occasion for garlicky eggs.

Melding the two is easy. Start the egg fried preparation as usual, but use the aromatic garlic oil instead of another fat base. If you're running low — or don't want a garlic heavy egg — you can mix in standard olive oil, too. While cooking, remember to spoon the oil onto the whites, thereby infusing the eggs with even more garlic flavor. Just a minute or so later, you'll have a flavorful fried egg rendition unlike anything else.

Using a foundation of only garlic and olive oil, this allium-based confit makes a flavorful canvas for more egg twists. In French culinary terms, a confit really means flavor preservation — so feel free to add other aromatics, too. Common choices include sturdy herbs like rosemary, oregano, thyme, or bay leaf. Spices like red chili flakes, whole peppercorns, and entire peppers make great additions, too. For an extra complex edge, toss in citrus peels. Regardless of the employed seasoning, roast as usual, and judge readiness by the texture of the garlic, which should turn tender and lustrous.

Already, cooking with such an oil upgrades a fried egg with remarkable complexity. However, don't neglect meshing in the soft cloves for further complexity. You could spread the garlic onto toast — also fried in the oil — for an uber umami bite. Alternatively, mash a touch of the confit cloves into avocados, then top with eggs for avo toast. You could even consider making a garlic confit schmear for a bagel breakfast sandwich. With the flavor-packed oil in hand, breakfast takes on a new savory edge.