I’ve known Jerry Lynott almost as long as I’ve been at the paper, a veteran ink-stained journalist with even more years than my 25 at the paper. Well-regarded as a go-to guy for utter reliability and a wry wit, Jerry married former staffer Jean LaCoe, another hard worker who spent years — even after leaving the paper — serving as announcer for the annual regional spelling bee we used to sponsor.
The couple moved to a farm and had daughter Sarah who has always melted my heart with a disarming smile and a real appreciation for Legos, having visited our home (pre-pandemic) a few times to see my somewhat large annual layouts under the Christmas Tree.
Sarah took after her mom and started raising chickens and selling eggs, dubbing the enterprise “Sarah’s Coop,” and as a guy who opened his own bike shop at the age of 20 I’m a bit jealous: She’s 10. (For the record, I sold the shop in 1985, 10 years before I came to the Times Leader).
MT acquired a dozen of Sarah’s eggs and we both eagerly figured ways to sample them. Eggs have such great versatility — if you take time to learn all their uses — that the ideas quickly exceeded the number of yolks and whites.
I settled on a basic 2-egg cheese omelet and some French toast. I’ve been making omelets since my teens, and making French Toast since Sunday.
I pause here to point out a potential paradox, or perhaps more importantly to again rebut MT’s oft-repeated claim that I cook complicated stuff while she likes to keep it simple. I made an omelet with two ingredients and French toast with four; she made a quiche that required baking a crust and chopping a boat load of vegetables. Mind you, if I was serving special guests I’d go for her quiche every time, it was delicious (and healthier). But I believe the omelet and toast I concocted tasted very good as well, and whether it was real or psychological, I thought they tasted even better with eggs from Sarah’s Coop than they ever did with a store-bought dozen.
The recipes are so simple you could do this at camp over an open fire — as long as you can safely transport the eggs — and I’ve seen it happen. Ages ago in my early teen Boy Scout days my next door neighbor, Boy Scout tent mate and lifelong friend (as well as current optometrist), John toted a few eggs, milk and whatever else he used out to what we call “ye olde campsite,” a then-wooded area reclaimed by nature where strip mining once occurred (alas, much of that area has been stripped of trees for expansion of an industrial park).
I never knew how French toast was made until John whipped up a few slices in our boy scout “mess kit” pans with the hinged handles. And despite the fact that I’ve often been happy to order French toast at restaurants, I never felt inclined to try it at home until now.
I doubt there’s a need to give an omelet recipe, it’s very much a Shakespearean thing. You know, “As you like it.” Two or three eggs depending on how hungry you are, scrambled in a bowl or in a small pan with a little butter, salt and pepper to taste. Cook until pretty solid and either flip and fill with cheese, folding in half, or just fill and fold sans flipping.
I’ve always whisked the eggs in a bowl or cup first and added a little milk and pepper. The traditional American method is to cook uncovered and keep lifting the sides and letting uncooked egg run underneath the cooked stuff. Thanks to a tip from that very non-cooking show “The Big Bang Theory,” I modified my method (please don’t call or email me about why I should hate the show, I make my own decisions on that sort of thing, and its run is done, anyway).
Raj bragged about making fluffy omelets by whisking whites separately before adding the yolks. It’s extra work with no real impact on flavor, but I like the results and usually do it. I also cook the eggs covered anymore, firming up the top more quickly and reducing or eliminating the need to lift the sides to let the uncooked stuff run underneath. I flip the omelet before adding cheese and folding it over.
French toast? I pulled a recipe from my first cookbook, “Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book,” so new it’s copyrighted 1989. My only comment on the recipe below: If you use whole wheat or other whole grain breads most of the time, don’t change to white bread just for this. I used the “Arnold 12 grain” we happened to have on hand and thought it tasted better than white bread versions I’ve had in the past.
Of course, that may have been the result not of the bread, but of the eggs from Sarah’s Coop!
Dobru Chut!
French Toast (Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book)
2 beaten eggs
½ cup milk
¼ teaspoon vanilla
⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 thick slices French bread or 6 sliced dry white bread.
In a bowl shallow enough to fit the bread your using, beat the eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Dip each slice of bread into mixture, coating both sides. If your using french bread, let it soak in the mixture for up to 30 seconds to get a more custard-like center. Heat some margarine in a skillet over medium heat and add the bread, cooking 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown.