Alice Waters’s Egg in a Spoon Recipe
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Oct 26, 2021 • 2 min read
Chef Alice Waters’s iconic egg in a spoon recipe requires not just eggs, but an open fire and a special iron spoon on a long handle. While some unique tools and techniques are necessary for this recipe, the result is a perfectly-cooked egg with a unique smoky flavor that is worth the investment.
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The History of Chef Alice Waters's Egg in a Spoon Recipe
Alice Waters—chef, cookbook author, food activist, and the founder and owner of Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California—received a cookbook called The Magic of Fire: Hearth Cooking, which featured a recipe for an egg cooked on a long spoon. She asked master blacksmith Angelo Garro of the Renaissance Forge in San Francisco to make her a long spoon to use in her fireplace. Alice Waters began to practice the recipe and, once she mastered it, the egg in a spoon became one of her signature dishes.
How to Build a Fire to Cook Your Egg in a Spoon
To cook an egg on a spoon over an open fire, you will need to build the fire to function like the broiler in your oven—heat has to come from the top as well as the bottom. Build the fire with some of the logs on the top grate and some on the bottom, so that heat will reach the egg from both directions. The logs will take about 40 minutes to cook down to be ready to cook the egg.
Chef Alice Waters’s Egg in a Spoon Recipe
makes
prep time
40 mintotal time
44 mincook time
4 minIngredients
- 1
Crack the egg into a bowl without breaking the yolk to ensure no pieces of shell end up on the spoon. Season with salt and Marash pepper (an aromatic, mild dried red chile from Turkey).
- 2
Coat the spoon with olive oil to prevent the egg from sticking. Gently pour the cracked egg into the spoon and carefully lift the spoon into the fire. The whites will begin to puff up. If any ash falls onto the egg from the wood above just pull it off when you are done cooking.
- 3
The egg is ready to come out of the fire when the top of the egg browns—it’s a quick process. Pull the spoon out of the fire and quickly loosen the sides of the egg from the spoon. Slide the egg onto the toast and top with more Marash pepper. Serve alongside a simple green salad.
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