Breaking Eggs

Recently, I have begun a love affair with eggs. It has been on my mind enough to remember the blog I started almost 3 years ago to pay an homage to food. And so, here I am, back again, my triumphant return to the blogosphere..not for cheese, as one might think... but for eggs!

In their natural state, eggs seem incredibly feral without being made of actual meat. They are one of the oldest, most primitive food sources, and are a complete source of proteins and vitamins. Eggs are a food source and a life source. There is something primal and perverted about eating that which is the organism from which life springs. Enjoying that is one of the many reasons I can not even conceive of Veganism. When you eliminate the vitality of your ingredients, there is a lackluster feeling to the food...which is not to say there can't be delicious vegan-veggie-fruit dishes; but it is to say that all of those dishes would be MORE delicious with some kind of animal bi-product. To discount meat, eggs, and dairy is to reject balance. And balance, as in life, is equally important in cooking, plating, biting, eating...Eggs make me think of balance, of circles, of perfect proportions.

One of the things that is so remarkable about eggs is their versatility. Entire cookbooks are dedicated to different ways you can cook an egg. Entire cookbooks are dedicated to all different kinds of edible eggs. They can be the main element of a dish, the side, an appetizer, the base of a sauce, or the necessary delectable glue that holds sugar and butter together. One of my favorite ways to eat eggs, is the Benedict: eggs poached to a perfect level between easy and medium, enough to have the white firm, but the yolk still becomes an unctuous stream running into a river of Hollandaise sauce-a sauce whose richness is furthered by MORE eggs and butter.

And then we have the Deviled egg. My favorite egg hor d'oeurve. The egg white creates the perfect firm boat to a savory spread of yolk, mayonnaise (another egg creation), mustard, and other personally preferred accoutrements. I also love the way eggs bind to starches to create a decadent bite of dessert. Be it in a bread or noodle pudding, crisped with sugar and a sweet

boozy sauce, eggs are just as crucial to desserts as they are to breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Served on top of cinnamon and sugar sweetened, cubed bread, a fried egg with the Walking Man Brewery's Black Cherry Stout was a simple meal I accidentally crafted and fell in love with.

Eggs compliment the sweet and savory dichotomy to a tee. A cornmeal crusted poached egg nestles up to a braised pork belly, atop walnut waffle with dates and a maple syrup glaze, add a small microgreens salad to the plate: Perfection. Harmonious elements creating a balance. These are the moments when cooking and eating take on transcendental tones. An analogy for life and the universe can be made out, as I sink my fork over and over again in to these dishes, and drift further in to an abstraction of life created by food.

"the next time

I break an egg

I'll think of

you.

scramble with

fork

and then turn up

the flame

if I

have

one." -Nikki Giovanni