Gotta Eat, Can t Cook Show-Me-How Picture Book Cooking Eggs, Bacon & Breakfast Sausage Bruce Tretter www.gotta-eat.com bruce@gotta-eat.com Twitter: @gotta_eat
Contents Who Am I and What Makes This Book Different? i Soft or Hard Boiled Eggs 1 Fried Eggs Sunny Side Up 6 or Over Easy Scrambled Eggs 10 Omelet Fast & Easy 15 Microwave Oven Cooked Bacon 20 (Using Pork or Turkey Bacon) Microwave Oven Cooked Breakfast 24 Sausages (Using Pork or Turkey Sausages)
i What Makes This Book Different? If you don t know how to cook or are frustrated by traditional cookbooks that seem to talk over your head, you re not alone. Thirty years ago I didn t have a clue about what to do in the kitchen, and whenever I turned to cookbooks (which wasn t often), I was so convinced it was only me that just didn t get it I pushed them aside and learned most of what I now know through trial and error. Most importantly, what makes this book different from any other cookbook is that it never takes for granted you have any cooking experience. You won t find complicated recipes, directions written in abbreviated cookbook jargon, long lists of ingredients, or foods that look pretty on the page but can t possibly be recreated in a non-gourmet kitchen. Instead, this book is written and photographed specifically so that you can turn to any page, understand the directions right away and easily prepare any of the recipes even if you ve never boiled water. Wishing you success in the kitchen, Bruce Tretter
Soft or Hard Boiled Eggs 1 3 Minute Soft Boiled Egg 4 Minute Soft Boiled Egg 5 Minute Soft Boiled Egg Hard Boiled Egg 1. If possible (but don t make yourself crazy trying to figure this out), use eggs that are 3-5 days old or older (but less than a month) to make peeling the egg easier as the whites of fresh eggs tend to stick to the shell. 2. Cooking eggs in continually boiling water will give you rubber eggs. This recipe is designed to be the surest and safest way to avoid that result. Ingredients Tips before you start Cooking Time: 8-20 minutes depending on soft or hard boiled desired doneness, including time to bring water to a boil. 1-2 Eggs per person (no cooking or flavor difference between brown and white eggs) Salt & Pepper (optional) Equipment Smallest Sized Cooking Pot with Top that can hold the number of eggs you want to cook without crowding Cooking Timer (egg timer, stove clock (both shown here or any time piece) or
1. Put the raw eggs in the pot. 4. Let the water come to a full, rapid, big bubble boil as shown below. This should take 3-5 minutes (See Tip about how boiling water should look below). 2 big bubble, full boil 2. Add cold tap water until the eggs are covered over with about 1/2 inch of water. (Tip: A small bubble, soda fizz boil as shown below is not a full boil. Not waiting long enough for a full boil above will result in undercooked eggs.) soda fizz bubble keep cooking water 3. Put the pot on the stove (1) and turn the burner heat to HIGH (2). 5. As soon as the water comes to a full boil, turn off the burner,...
...transfer the hot pot to a cool burner, cover the pot with the top and 7. Cover the cooked eggs with ice and 3 set the cooking timer according to the desired egg doneness/consistency as shown in the table below. Doneness Egg Consistency Consistency Photo Cooking Time cold tap water as shown and let them sit for a minute or two until the eggs are cool enough to handle comfortably (for hard boiled eggs, see Tip below). Very Soft Boiled Soft Boiled Slightly Runny Egg White, Liquid Yolk Just Set Egg White, Creamy Yolk 3 Minutes 4 Minutes Firmer Soft Boiled Hard Boiled Egg White Set, Yolk Still Wet In Middle Firm Egg White and Yolk 5 Minutes 15 Minutes 6. Use the pot top as a dam as shown to keep the cooked eggs in the pot and drain the hot water into the sink. (Tip: In addition to making the hard boiled eggs cool enough to handle, cooling as shown above stops the cooking process ensuring a yellow yolk as shown in (a) below instead of the unappealing grey/green tinge covering the yolk shown in (b) below that can appear - but does not affect egg flavor - if the eggs are not cooled after cooking.) (a) (b)
9. To remove the shell form a cooked egg, do as follows according to whether you re going to eat the soft of hard boiled egg out of the shell or completely shell free. Partially Peeling a Soft or Hard Boiled Egg (1) Tap, roll and crack the shell of the top half of the egg repeatedly against a firm surface (sink edge, table top...) Peeling the Shell from A Whole Boiled Egg (1) Tap, roll and crack the shell of the whole egg repeatedly against a firm surface (sink edge, table top...) 4 10. Boiled eggs of any desired doneness above can be eaten as is or with salt and/or pepper to taste. (Yah, I know: you've gotta be a real man/woman to eat an egg out of an egg cup with feet on it) (2) Peel away the cracked top half of the shell and thin, white membrane. (2) Peel off the entire shell and thin, white membrane. (3) Rinse the egg under cool running water if needed to remove any small shell pieces. (3) Rinse the egg under cool running water if needed to remove any small shell pieces (4) Eat the egg out of the shell with a spoon.
Fried Eggs Sunny Side Up or Over Easy 5 Fried Eggs Sunny Side Up Fried Eggs Over Easy 2 eggs sunny side up/over easy Tip before you start Although the name fried eggs implies cooking eggs over high heat, the surest and easiest way to cook fried eggs is over low-medium heat in a covered pan as shown in this recipe. Cooking Time: 10-20 minutes depending on desired sunny side up or over easy egg doneness. Ingredients 1-2 Eggs per person (no cooking or flavor difference between brown and white eggs) Butter, Margarine or Oil (Olive, Canola or Vegetable) Salt & Pepper (optional) or Equipment 10 12 Inch Frying Pan with Top (you can improvise a top as shown in step 6) Small Bowl if you re not used to cracking eggs (makes removing broken egg shell pieces easier as shown in step 2) Spatula Table Knife
6 1. Put the frying pan on the stove (1) and turn on the burner heat to LOW MEDIUM (2) (As shown below, I ve barely turned on my burner to 2 on a. stove with a 1 (LOW heat) to 10 (HIGH heat) scale.) using a larger shell piece to scoop up the smaller piece(s) the two shell pieces should attract each other (please don t be discouraged if you get any broken shell pieces in the bowl - anyone who has ever cooked eggs has done this at least a few times I still do and will no doubt do it again). 2. If you re comfortable cracking eggs directly into a hot pan, skip to step 3. Otherwise, break 1 to 2 eggs into a bowl as shown in steps (1) and (2) below. larger shell piece (2) Use your thumbs to push in the cracked area as shown and break the membrane. Then gently pull apart the shell to release the egg white and yolk into the bowl. (1) Hold the egg snugly in your hand and tap it just hard enough against a firm (preferably rounded) surface, like the sink edge as shown, to crack the egg shell. If necessary, remove any broken shell pieces from the bowl like the one shown below by 3. Let the pan heat (this should take 2-5 minutes) until tap water (1) flicked from your fingers onto the pan surface (2) evaporates with barely a sizzle. (If the water sizzles and evaporates as soon as it hits the pan, remove the pan from the heat for a few minutes to let it cool. Turn down the burner heat a few notches and heat the pan again. If the pan is too cool, either let it keep warming or, if you let it warm for 5 minutes or longer, turn up the burner heat another notch, wait a few minutes and test the pan again.) (1) Wet your fingers with cool tap water. broken egg shell piece (2) Flick the water into the pan (without touching the pan surface). The water should evaporate with barely a sizzle.
4. To avoid greasy fried eggs, add either just enough butter, margarine or oil as shown below. Then... Butter or Margarine Oil 7 5. Add the eggs to the heated pan by either cracking them directly into the pan or rub knife against pan edge or swirl the butter, margarine or oil in the pan by rolling your wrist as shown in (1) and (2) below until... pouring them from the bowl as prepared in step 2 (don t worry if the egg yolk breaks as shown in the inset the eggs will cook and taste fine). coat the pan bottom evenly as shown here. butter or margarine oil Tip If the melted butter, margarine or oil pools when the pan is tipped as shown in (1) below, carefully remove the excess with a fat wad of paper towel as shown in (2). (DO NOT pour the hot butter, margarine or oil either directly down the sink (this will clog your drain pipe) or into a trash can (hot fat can melt through trash can liners).) 6. Cover immediately with the pan top. If your pan doesn t have a matching top (like mine doesn t), you can either use a universal top like the one shown below (looks like a UFO but fits any pan up to 12 inches in diameter) or
improvise using a larger diameter frying pan face down as shown below. (3) Carefully slide the leading edge of the spatula under one cooked egg at time. Lift the egg as shown and either put it on a plate if you re having the eggs sunny side up or, 8 7. Keep the pan covered and cook as follows according to whether you want eggs sunny side up eggs (steps (1) (3) below) or over easy (steps (1) (6) below) (1) Cook for 4-7 minutes until the egg white is firm enough on top as shown so that it does not wet the edge of a table knife with uncooked egg white. (4) for over easy eggs, flip each egg as shown sunny side down, (2) If necessary, separate the eggs from each other by cutting the egg white with a table knife. cover again with the pan top and
9 (5) cook for another 1-2 minutes until the eggs look about like this. 9. Cleaning Tip To make clean up as easy as possible, squirt a shot of dish detergent onto the warm pan surface, add water as shown and... (6) Lift the cooked eggs out of the pan onto a plate....clean the pan when it cools with a sponge (a) or dish brush (b) as shown below. (a) (b) 8. Eat sunny side up or over easy fried eggs as is or with salt and/or pepper (optional) to taste. Sunny Side Up Over Easy
Scrambled Eggs 10 Tip before you start: Adding just a small amount of salt to the egg mixture as shown in step 4 not only enhances scrambled egg flavor, it also ensures that the eggs will be fluffy (a), not rubbery (b) as shown to the right. Preparation Time: 2 minutes Cooking Time: 5-10 minutes Ingredients 1-2 Eggs per person (no cooking or flavor difference between brown and white eggs) Milk (any kind) Butter or Margarine (I prefer unsalted butter but any will do) Salt Ground Black Pepper (optional) (a) fluffy eggs (b) rubbery eggs when pulled apart Equipment 10 12 Inch Frying Pan Small Bowl Fork Spatula Table Knife
1. Put the frying pan on the stove (1) and turn on the burner heat to MEDIUM (2) (As shown below, I ve turned on my burner to 4 on a stove with a 1 (LOW heat) to 10 (HIGH heat) scale.) 11 using a larger shell piece to scoop up the smaller piece(s) the two shell pieces should attract each other (please don t be discouraged if you get any broken shell pieces in the bowl - anyone who has ever cooked eggs has done this at least a few times I still do, and will no doubt do it again). 3. Add just enough milk... 2. Break the eggs into a bowl as shown in steps (1) and (2) below. (1) Hold the egg snugly in your hand and tap it just hard enough against a firm (preferably rounded) surface, like the sink edge as shown, to crack the egg shell....so that the egg/milk mixture looks about like this. (2) Use your thumbs to push in the cracked area as shown and break the membrane. Then gently pull apart the shell to release the egg white and yolk into the bowl. If necessary, remove any broken shell pieces from the bowl like the one shown below by 4. To avoid accidentally adding too much salt to the eggs, shake about as much salt into your palm as you see in (1) below and add it to the egg mixture (2). larger shell piece broken egg shell piece broken egg shell piece
5. Add ground black pepper (optional) as shown in (1) and (2) below. 12 8. Cut about as much butter or margarine with a table knife as shown in (1) below and rub it off the knife using the pan edge as shown in (2). Then... pull the knife against the pan edge 6. Scramble the egg mixture by stirring vigorously with a fork (1) until all the yolks have broken and what you have is well mixed together about as shown in (2) below. swirl the butter or margarine in the pan by rolling your wrist as shown in (3) and (4) below until... (3) (4) 7. Let the pan warm (this should take 2-5 minutes) until tap water (1) flicked from your fingers onto the pan surface (2) evaporates with a sizzle. (NOTE: If the water sizzles and evaporates in a puff as soon as it hits the pan, move the pan to a cool burner for a few minutes. Turn down the heat setting a few notches on the burner you originally used and heat the pan again. If the water doesn t sizzle, either turn up the burner heat if you ve let the pan warm 5 minutes or longer or let the pan warm longer. If the pan is too cool, either let it keep warming of, if you let it warm for 5 minutes or longer, turn up the burner heat another notch, wait a few minutes and test the pan again.) (1) Wet your fingers with cool tap water. the pan surface is coated evenly like this. 9. Add the egg mixture to the hot pan. (2) Flick the water into the pan (without touching the pan surface). The water should evaporate with a sizzle. eggs should sizzle when they hit the pan
13 10. Let the eggs cook for about 30 seconds until you see them form cooked bubbles pushing up from the pan bottom (1) and solidify along on the pan edge (2) as shown below. Then,......the eggs have solidified enough to form a pile in the middle of the pan like this. Then... (1) (2)... starting at the pan s edge, lay the blade of the spatula flush with the pan surface (1) and gently and evenly push the spatula to scrape the eggs toward the middle of the pan (2). spatula blade should be flush with pan surface push 11. Gently and evenly, keep pushing and pulling the eggs from the side of the pan as shown in (1) and (2) below until... flip...flip the eggs about every 10-15 seconds with a spatula as shown in (1) and (2) below until......the eggs have cooked through no running liquid eggs; solid throughout, not dry but still moist on top as shown here. push pull
14 12. Lift the cooked scrambled eggs out of the pan onto a plate and......use the spatula as shown to loosen eggs stuck to the pan bottom,......serve as is or with additional salt and pepper to taste....and clean the pan when it cools with a sponge (a) or dish brush (b) as shown below. (a) (b) 13. Cleaning Tip To make clean up as easy as possible, squirt a shot of dish detergent onto the warm pan surface, add water as shown,...
Omelet Fast & Easy 15 Tip before you start: Adding just a small amount of salt to the egg mixture as shown in step 4 not only enhances omelet egg flavor, it also ensures that the eggs will be fluffy (a), not tough and rubbery (b) as shown in the photos to the right. Preparation Time: 2 minutes Cooking Time: 2-3 minutes Ingredients 2-3 Eggs per person (I m using 2 eggs - no cooking or flavor difference between brown and white eggs) Butter or Margarine (I prefer unsalted butter but any will do) Salt Ground Black Pepper Filling (your choice but have it out ready to add as cooking goes quickly I m using packaged grated mixed cheese as an example) Equipment 10 12 Inch Frying Pan Small Bowl Fork Spatula Table Knife (a) fluffy eggs (b) tough, rubbery eggs
16 1. Put the frying pan on the stove (1) and turn on the burner heat to MEDIUM (2) (As shown below, I ve turned on my burner to 4 on a stove with a 1 (LOW heat) to 10 (HIGH heat) scale.) using a larger shell piece to scoop up the smaller piece(s) the two shell pieces should attract each other (please don t be discouraged if you get any broken shell pieces in the bowl - anyone who has ever cooked eggs has done this at least a few times I still do, and will no doubt do it again). 4. Shake about as much salt into your palm as you see in (1) below and add it (2) to the egg mixture. 2. Break the eggs into a bowl as shown in steps (1) and (2) below. (1) Hold the egg snugly in your hand and tap it just hard enough against a firm (preferably rounded) surface, like the sink edge as shown, to crack the egg shell. 5. Add ground black pepper (optional) as shown in (1) and (2) below. (2) Use your thumbs to push in the cracked area as shown and break the membrane. Then gently pull apart the shell to release the egg white and yolk into the bowl. If necessary, remove any broken shell pieces from the bowl like the one shown below by 6. Scramble the egg mixture by stirring vigorously with a fork (1) until all the yolks have broken and what you have is well mixed together about as shown in (2) below. larger shell piece broken egg shell piece broken egg shell piece 7. Let the pan heat (this should take 2-5 minutes) until tap water (1) flicked from your fingers onto the pan surface (2) evaporates with a sizzle. (If the water sizzles and evaporates in a puff as soon as it
hits the pan, move the pan to a cool burner for a few minutes. Turn down the heat setting a few notches on the burner you originally used and heat the pan again. If the pan is too cool, either let it keep warming or, if you let it warm for 5 minutes or longer, turn up the burner heat another notch, wait a few minutes and test the pan again.) 17 the pan surface is coated evenly like this. (1) Wet your fingers with cool tap water. 9. Add the egg mixture to the hot pan and... (2) Flick the water into the pan (without touching the pan surface). The water should evaporate with a sizzle. 8. Cut about as much butter or margarine with a table knife as shown in (1) below and rub it off the knife using the pan edge as shown in (2). Then... pull knife against pan edge eggs should sizzle when they hit the pan...as soon as it starts to solidify on the bottom, which will only take a few seconds, make four quick sweeps with the side of the fork as shown in the two photos below to pull some of the just solidified egg from the pan side and bottom to allow liquid egg to fill the space behind it and... 1 2 4 3 swirl the butter or margarine in the pan by rolling your wrist as shown in (3) and (4) below until... (3) (4)...roll the pan if needed to help the liquid egg fill empty pan space as shown here. liquid egg to fill space
10. Cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute until the eggs are mostly cooked through but still moist on top as shown here and then... 12. Cook for a few more seconds until the eggs are cooked through as shown in detail below. Then... eggs are cooked through when they are no longer shiny and runny 18...add your choice of omelet filling to one half of the omelet as shown below (I m using packaged mixed grated cheese)....turn off the stove (1) and slide the omelet out of the pan onto a plate as shown below. filling half no filling half 13. Serve warm as is. 11. Slide the spatula under the no filling half of the omelet as shown in (1) and (2) to fold the omelet in half. 14. Cleaning Tip To make clean up as easy as possible, squirt a shot of dish detergent onto the
19 warm pan surface, add water as shown and......clean the pan when it cools with a sponge (a) or dish brush (b) as shown below. (a) (b)
Microwave Oven Cooked Bacon (Chewy or Crispy; Pork or Turkey Bacon) 20 Chewy (top) or Crispy (bottom) Pork Bacon Chewy (top) or Crispy (bottom) Turkey Bacon NOTE: There are 3 good reasons to cook bacon in the microwave oven: 1. Less cooking time. 2. Less fat (and no splatter) - the paper towel soaks fat incredibly efficiently. 3. Less clean up - fat soaked paper towel goes in the trash. No pan to cool, wipe clean with a paper towel and then later clean with soap and warm water. Cooking Time: 3-4 minutes for 4 bacon pieces depending on desired chewy or crispy doneness Ingredients 1-2 (or more) Slices of Bacon Per Person (Pork or Turkey) (pork bacon) (turkey bacon) Equipment Microwave Oven Microwave Oven Safe Plate (large enough to hold bacon pieces) Large Frying Pan (only for defrosting bacon, if needed) Pot Holder Paper Towels only needed if bacon is frozen
1. If the bacon is already defrosted, skip to step 2. Otherwise, put the sealed bacon package in a large frying pan and fill with WARM (not HOT) water as shown. Defrosting will take 10-20 minutes. NOTE: Do NOT use a microwave oven to defrost frozen bacon (or any other food) still in its plastic packaging as research has shown some of the plastic, when exposed to high microwave heat, can melt and leech into the bacon (or other food). bacon with paper towel as shown in (b). (a) (b) 21 4. Put the plate in the microwave and... 2. Do as follows according to whether you re cooking pork or turkey bacon. For pork bacon (higher fat content needs more paper towel to absorb fat), use a 4 piece section of paper towel folded in half and positioned on a microwave oven safe plate as shown below. For turkey bacon (less fat content) use a 2 piece section of paper towel as shown....cook using HIGH heat according to whether you want the pork or turnkey bacon chewy or crispy as shown on the next page. 3. Place up to 4 bacon pieces (pork or turkey) without the bacon pieces overlapping on the paper towel covered plate (a). Then cover the
22 Chewy Bacon Crispy Bacon Pork Bacon Turkey Bacon Pork Bacon Turkey Bacon (1) Set the microwave timer for 3 minutes if you re cooking 4 pieces of bacon (or 45 seconds per bacon piece if you re cooking fewer than 4 pieces) (1) Set the microwave timer for 2 1/2 minutes if you re cooking 4 pieces of bacon (or 40 seconds per bacon piece if you re cooking fewer than 4 pieces) (1) Set the microwave timer for 4 minutes if you re cooking 4 pieces of bacon (or 1 minute per bacon piece if you re cooking fewer than 4 pieces) (1) Set the microwave timer for 3 minutes if you re cooking 4 pieces of bacon (or 45 seconds per bacon piece if you re cooking fewer than 4 pieces) (2) After cooking time has elapsed, remove the bacon from the microwave oven with a potholder if needed and check for doneness as shown in (3). (Note the amount of fat absorbed by the paper towels.) fat absorbed by paper towels (3) Chewy pork bacon is cooked to doneness when it looks about like this: meat and fat slightly browned while... (3) Chewy turkey bacon is cooked to doneness when it looks about like this: slightly browned while... (3) Crispy pork bacon is cooked to doneness when it looks about like this: meat and fat more darkly browned and... (3) Crispy turkey bacon is cooked to doneness when it looks about like this: more darkly browned and...
Chewy Bacon (Cont d) Crispy Bacon (Cont d) 23 Pork Bacon Turkey Bacon Pork Bacon Turkey Bacon...still pliable when bent in half as shown here....breaks when bent in half as shown here....still pliable when bent in half as shown here....breaks when bent in half as shown here. NOTE: If, however, your pork bacon looks more like the photo below: meat still pink and fat still white, cook until shown in the previous 2 photos. NOTE: If, however, your turkey bacon looks more like the photo below: meat still pink and fat still white, cook until shown in the previous 2 photos. NOTE: If, however, your pork bacon looks more like the photo below: meat still pink and fat still white, cook until shown in the previous 2 photos. NOTE: If, however, your turkey bacon looks more like the photo below: meat still pink and fat still white, cook until shown in the previous 2 photos. 5. To clean up, throw out the paper towel (a) and either put the dish you used in the dishwasher (b) or clean with warm water and dish soap. (a) (b)
Microwave Oven Cooked Breakfast Sausage 24 pork sausages turkey sausages (Cooking instructions in this recipe apply to breakfast sausages made from any kind of meat.) NOTE: There are 3 good reasons to cook breakfast sausage in the microwave oven: 1. Less cooking time. 2. Less fat (and no splatter) - the paper towel absorbs fat incredibly efficiently. 3. Less clean up - fat absorbed paper towel goes in the trash. No pan to cool, wipe clean with a paper towel and then later clean with soap and warm water. Cooking Time: 5 minutes for 6 breakfast sausages Ingredients 1-3 (or more) Pieces of Breakfast Sausage Per Person Equipment Microwave Oven Microwave Oven Safe Plate (large enough to hold bacon pieces) Large Frying Pan (only for defrosting bacon, if needed) Pot Holder Paper Towels Sharp Knife (to check sausages for doneness) only needed if sausages are frozen
1. If the sausages are already defrosted, skip to step 2. Otherwise, put the sealed sausage package in a large frying pan and fill with WARM (not HOT) water as shown. Defrosting will take 10-20 minutes. NOTE: Do NOT use a microwave oven to defrost frozen sausages (or any other food) still in its plastic packaging as research has shown some of the plastic, when exposed to high microwave heat, can melt and leech into the sausages (or other food). 3. Put the plate in the microwave and... 25...cook for 5 minutes on HIGH heat. 2. Tear off a 2 piece section of paper towel and lay one piece of paper towel on a microwave oven safe plate. Then... 4. After cooking time has elapsed, remove the sausages from the microwave oven with a potholder if needed. (Note the amount of fat and water absorbed by the paper towels.) fat & water absorbed by paper towels...place up to 6 breakfast sausages on the paper towel covered plate (a) and cover the sausages with the second piece of paper towel (b). (a) (b) 5. To check for doneness, first make sure the cooked breakfast sausages are browned on the outside as shown below. Then... pork sausage turkey sausage turkey sausages pork sausages
...use a sharp knife to cut into the middle of the thickest sausage and... 26...compare what you have with the Done (left) and Not Done (right) photos below. Done browned throughout Not Done still pink Sausages are done when the meat is browned throughout as shown above. These sausages, though browned on the outside, are still undercooked and pink in the middle. If your sausages look like this, keep cooking until the meat in the middle is browned throughout. 6. To clean up, throw out the paper towel (a) and either put the dish you used in the dishwasher (b) or clean with warm water and dish soap. (a) (b)