Egg in a Spoon

Make the perfect fried egg in a fireplace or over a gas flame, in just a few minutes! In 2004, when Chez Panisse founder Alice Waters read William Rubel’s The Magic of Fire: Hearth Cooking, she asked a blacksmith friend to make a spoon to cook an egg in the coals.

Egg in a Spoon recipe:

  • Crack an egg into a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
  • Stovetop: Turn your burner to medium, grease your egg spoon with olive oil and pour in the egg. Hold just above the flame until the whites have cooked through (about 3 mins).
  • Fire: Build a wood fire. When you have smoldering coals and glowing logs, arrange them to create a kind of oven, throwing heat from all sides. Grease the egg spoon with olive oil, pour in the egg, and position in the fire until the egg is puffed up and browned.
  • Remove from heat and use a smaller spoon to loosen and flip the egg to crisp the top briefly, then slide onto a piece of garlic toast.