Dirty Eggs

I'm not sure if this a regional thing or if I just met a bunch of folk that use the term "Dirty Eggs" when expressing how they want them cooked or somtimes not. I'll explain. The "dirty" is being fried in the bacon drippings with all that good stuff that sticks to the egg. Half the time it seems it was someone who did not want them that way as in "I don't want "dirty eggs". Southern Indiana parts of Kentucky and various southern spots are where I have heard this expression. Anyone else?

I love eggs cooked in bacon grease but I've never heard it called dirty eggs.

I have called them dirty eggs but I learned that expression from a girl who is from New Hampshire

Here in North Carolina, we didn't call them "dirty eggs," we called the brown, sort of burnt part of the grease that formed around the edge of the egg a "ruffle." My sister and I always asked for our egg without the ruffle.

Thats the way I cook them also! Love that flavor... But as for the term, no, never heard it before..

Never heard of that name, but they sho am good cooked that way.

Also never heard the name, but the best part of the fried egg IMHO is the crispy whites around the edges. Had some for breakfast several hours ago.

We call them "Lacy eggs" when the egg is fried in very hot grease it will buble like that. That is the ONLY way I like my fried eggs.

Haven't heard "dirty eggs" though. I always try to get the Ham/Sausage/Bacon pieces in the eggs.

Come to think of it, we always would say lacy eggs. I like my grease to be so hot that the lacy edges get a little brown.

When my daughter was young, she used to call over medium eggs, mash um eggs

quote:

Originally posted by Catracks

We call them "Lacy eggs" when the egg is fried in very hot grease it will buble like that. That is the ONLY way I like my fried eggs.

Haven't heard "dirty eggs" though. I always try to get the Ham/Sausage/Bacon pieces in the eggs.

We called them lacy eggs too. Yum.

Now I know what to call one of my favorite dishes. I cook up a tube of sausage, drain it, then dump the uncooked scrambled eggs over the sausage pieces and all the brown and black bits in the bottom of the pan. Since it's teflon, all the good stuff gets incorporated into the eggs. Serve with pico de gallo and fresh grilled flour tortillas and pig out.

I remember when dad would make them this way. we dont any more though. Trying to cut back of fat a bit.

Equinox, just use turkey sausage or bacon, still good!
Joe

Never heard dirty eggs...we always called the brown edges egg bacon.

I have heard them called dirty eggs.....I only make them on the boat or in the camper because I have to fry the bacon first, remove, then add the eggs. Zman and I don't like lacy eggs so I put the lid on the cast-iron skillet and let them cook slooooowly. Summer is the only time we eat bacon and eggs so we indulge.

quote:

Originally posted by emsmom

I love eggs cooked in bacon grease but I've never heard it called dirty eggs.

Ditto. and I'm from about 4 different parts of the South! It's just "the way it s'poseta be." (The goodies in the skillet are, I suppose, technically "fond"; but I'd never call them that in front of my grandmother!)

Anyhow, we keep a canister with a fine strainer on the stove for drippings. If we come up short, we just scrape the strainer! (I might add that peppered bacon makes for great goodies.)

A twist on "dirty eggs". Fry 1 pound of bacon, draining grease as you go along. Add back all the bacon grease, heat to medium high(wisps of smoke), add eggs, quickly spoon grease over eggs. If done properly, the white will bubble up and all of the white will be crispy and the yellow will still be runny. This makes a real mess of your stove and all surrounding areas, but well worth the cleanup.

I have heard them called dirty eggs. I never called them that, it is just normal to do it that way.

Coming into this discussion late, but from reading the posts, it seems to me like people are talking about two different things.

"Lacy eggs" are when the eggs have been cooked at high temps, and the protein in the whites get hard and brown. I personally hate when that happens, and I cut that off.

"Dirty eggs" are when you scramble eggs in the bacon grease and it all gets mixed up with grease and bacon bits.

Now, I realize there is always a difference in regional terminology, but I hope I've been able to shed some light on this subject.

No charge...

My mom used to baste fried eggs with the bacon juice instead of flipping them for once over eggs. Basically, I just called them eggs.

Darned good though
DT

I like mine over hard and broken with crispy edges. I may be crazy but hell, its my money and food so

quote:

Originally posted by Davwud

My mom used to baste fried eggs with the bacon juice instead of flipping them for once over eggs. Basically, I just called them eggs.

Darned good though
DT

That's how I do mine at home. When out I ask for over easy, I once got one over easy and one as hard as a rock. How the hell did they do that?

John

quote:

Originally posted by Davwud

My mom used to baste fried eggs with the bacon juice instead of flipping them for once over eggs. Basically, I just called them eggs.

Darned good though
DT

Same here & that's how I do mine. I'll eat just about any fried egg though. The "crispiness" factor with the whites is controlled with the temp. of the fat/oil being used and perhaps to an extent of the origin of the frying medium. As always, BACON FAT RULES.

In SE KY, we fry eggs in the grease from the meat we cook. We baste the eggs with the grease and never flip them...always called them DIRTY EGGS...
If you just want an egg and not meat...use the grease drippings you save..

Do Northeners save grease?

FLUFFY

Yes we do!!

Up on the farm in Iowa, my Dad always kept a coffee can on the stove and dumped his bacon grease in there after cooking. It was always used again for the next meal if needed.

The eggs were cooked in the grease and "basted" with it. No need to flip the egg and it always got that nice crispy brown edge to it. I didn't know there was another way until I was probably 10 or so...

I'd be hard pressed to name a genuine bona-fide foodaholic or self respecting cook who didn't save his(or her)drippin's!


Since I started this thread I have come across a couple more folks that refer to this term. One here in the mighty Bluegrass State. The other was a cook from Natchez Mississippi who remembered his granny asking if he wanted his eggs dirty.

It seems to be an interesting conversation starter in a greasy spoon when you ask if the cook can, or knows how to, rustle up some "dirty eggs".

What's really amazing is how the conversation can go on and on about all the intricate ways people like them, want them, and must have their eggs prepared. You can get a couple tables involved with hardly any effort at all!

I know I'm very picky and it would seem most everybody else is too when it comes the the egg.
I want it done just right. I also want it the way you can hardly get it these days. Dirty!
Now if we can start a movement for all breakfast joints to save those drippings like the old days. Only then will we be able to enjoy the Dirty Egg in public again! We'll not have to hide in health conscious disgrace in our darkened breakfast nooks.
I say we rise up and say...Nay demand...We Want Our Eggs and We Want Them Dirty!

I grew up with eggs cooked in bacon grease,and just loved the crispy edges and drippings basted egg(never over easy,always sunny side up)My dad even made scrambled eggs in a little bacon grease.Yum.Anyway,nice to have a name put to my favorite way of eating eggs!!!

It just seems natural, you've got the pan with the grease from the sausage or bacon already, why would you get out a new pan and fat for the eggs? Anyway, at times, we'd fry a piece of bread in the fat when we were done cooking the bacon and eggs. It was so good! It's so naughty to think about doing that now, I haven't done it in many years!

Do Northeners save grease?
You bet your sweet bippy we do. Liquid Gold. Chow Jim