Hangover Eggs

Ingredients

• Tony Chachere's
• Green onions
• Olive oil
• French bread
• Eggs
• Tabasco
• Beer

Method

Heat a cast-iron pan over medium-high until the surface is visibly hot—you're aiming for a gentle shimmer when you add oil, not smoke. The cast iron's cast-iron-pan thermal mass holds the temperature steady and develops fond that seasons the bread later. Pour in enough olive oil to coat the base—roughly 15ml—and let it warm for 30 seconds. While the pan comes up to temperature, tear the bread into pieces slightly larger than your fist, one piece per egg. Rustic sourdough or a day-old baguette works best; fresh bread will collapse into oil-logged paste.

Once the oil shimmers and smells sharp (not acrid—you want fragrance, not scorch), crack your eggs directly into the pan. Immediately reduce the heat to medium. The initial high temperature sets the whites through rapid protein coagulation; dropping the heat prevents the yolk from toughening before the whites fully opaque. This is egg-cookery: temperature control is the entire technique. As the whites turn pale, roughly four minutes in, the yolks should still jiggle slightly when you shake the pan. Transfer the eggs to a plate and scatter the chopped green onions and a dash of Tabasco beneath them—the heat of the eggs will soften the alliums slightly.

Immediately return the pan to medium-high with another 10ml of oil and add your bread pieces. They'll hit the hot oil with purpose and begin toasting at once. Work them constantly with a fork, turning every 20 seconds, until they're deep golden-brown with darkened edges—around three to four minutes total. The bread acts as an edible scoop and absorbs the bread-toasting oil infused with egg residue and fond. When you pull the pieces out, sprinkle the eggs generously with Tony Chachere's. The Creole seasoning's salt amplifies the yolk's richness while the cayenne cuts through the oil.

Serve the bread alongside the eggs on the same plate. The traditional move—breaking a piece of toast, dragging it through the yolk, and eating it whole—requires no fork and no pretence. Pour an ice-cold beer alongside.