I don’t know if you have noticed this, but the simplest of dishes are the most difficult to cook. This hit me again last week when I called up a few top chefs and asked them for tips to cook the perfect fried egg. Some of them were clearly stumped. If I had asked them the recipe for an exotic dish, they would have explained it to me with their eyes shut. But something as seemingly simple as a fried egg left a few stumbling for words.

The idea came up some days ago over a meal at Italia, an Italian restaurant chain. I was meeting Italia’s Bangalore-based chef Mandaar Sukhtankar, who had planned out a nice meal for us. But in the midst of all the talk about antipasti and gnocchi we started discussing fried eggs. “Frying eggs is easy and common but not many of us know what would make a good fried egg,” Chef Mandaar said.

And that’s a pity because folks who love their fried eggs have strong views on the way the egg should be cooked. If you like it sunny side up, the yolk has to be perfectly cooked — neither runny, nor hard. That’s true of the albumin too, for the white of the egg has to make a perfect circle around the yellow.

To get the right shape, Chef Mandaar suggests that you take a small egg. A large egg can lead to the white running amok when you break it over a hot skillet. Both Chef Mandaar and Executive Chef Ramesh Javvaji of ITC Sonar, Calcutta, stress that the egg has to be fresh.

Temperature control, Chef Javvaji underlines, is the key to a perfect fried egg. The right temperature and timing will give you the right consistency of the egg yolk and white, he says — and Chef Mandaar agrees that this is crucial to a good egg. “Cooking eggs is all about controlling the temperature in the most gentle manner,” he adds.

Chef Mandaar gives us some step-by-step tips on frying eggs. First, lightly oil the pan. Butter, he warns, is not a good idea, for it tends to foam. Break the egg with the firm tap of a knife. If you break an egg sharply, it falls smoothly into the pan — and you are not left with jagged ends. And, he adds, make sure that you are holding the egg very close to the pan when you are breaking it. Breaking it from a height may spoil the shape.

Keep the pan on low to medium heat. “Eggs are very sensitive to heat and can colour very fast — but also ensure that the pan is not very cold or else the egg will run around the pan,” he says. “Gently cook the eggs by moving the pan over the burner to provide even heat. The egg is done sunny side up when the white has firmed up and the yolk is still runny.”

That’s New Kenilworth hotel executive chef Niladri Chakr-a-borty’s suggestion too (see recipe). But you can tart up your fried egg easily. Take a red bell pepper and cut a ring. Place the ring on the frying pan. Break the egg into this ring. When the fried egg is done, use a spatula to slide the egg and the bell pepper ring onto a plate. This will look beautiful, and the crunchy bell pepper ring will act as a nice side dish. This is called a red ringed egg.

I also had a chat about fried eggs with Manu Chandra, the young executive chef of Olive Beach in Bangalore. Chef Chandra advises you to make sure that the egg you use is not frozen. Take it out of the fridge and keep it aside for a while before you break it over the pan which, he adds, should be a seasoned skillet.

Though a lot of people like cooking their eggs on non-stick pans, Chef Chandra believes that an iron skillet is the best. And the skillet shouldn’t be scoured with anything abrasive, but cleaned with a piece of paper. An abrasive pad leaves thin grooves on the skillet leading to uneven heating.

The tricky part of a fried egg is to break it in such a way that the yolk doesn’t run into the albumin. Some experts first transfer the broken egg into a saucer, and then gently slip it into the pan.

Fried egg cousins — such as steamed or poached eggs — need a bit of gentle handling too. Chef Javvaji sometimes puts a thin layer of water in the pan and then breaks an egg into it. He covers it, and the end product is a nicely steamed egg.

Chef Mandaar has a tip for those who like their eggs poached. It’s a little intricate, but works out very well. Take a sheet of cling-film, and break an egg on it.

Take the sides of the plastic wrap and tie it up without touching the egg. Now lower this in boiling water for a minute. Take it out, and slide it onto a plate.

Chef Chandra says that you shouldn’t keep a pan with the fried egg in it on a flame for more than 45 seconds. After that, keep the pan aside, and the egg will cook in its own heat for a few seconds.

Serve your fried egg with a side dish of boiled peas, French fries, sausages or ham and bacon. A hearty breakfast like this will keep you going through the day. After all, morning shows the day.

Perfect bull’s eye

Ingredients (To serve one)

• 1 egg • 2ml oil/butter • Salt, to taste

Method

Heat a non-stick frying pan. Grease with fat. Break the egg gently and place it carefully in the centre of the pan — with the yolk in the middle and the white surrounding it. Cook gently on slow fire till the bottom of the egg is firm, but the top is runny — or half done.

Season with salt, and serve hot with grilled tomato and hash brown potato.