How To: Fry an Egg in a Sandwich Toaster

I don't know if this ever happens to you (and if there's one thing I've learned as I've proceeded through life, it's that an alarming number of things are unique to me), but the other week I took a craving for something, and couldn't work out what it was.  I knew what it tasted like, roughly, and I knew that it wasn't a healthy thing, but beyond that I couldn't figure out what it was.  Anyway, long story short, it turned out I was craving a fried egg sandwich.  Which is odd, because I'm fairly sure I've never had  a fried egg sandwich before.  Go figure.

By what can only be described as fortuitous coincidence, my sister had just that week bought a box of eggs entirely to take a photo of them (because she's doing teacher training), and they were still in the fridge.  So I toyed with frying one of them, but realised I couldn't be bothered getting the frying pan out, heating it blah blah blah oh the hassle.

So life moved on, the craving went away, and in all honesty I'd almost forgotten the incident entirely, when I perchanced to be listening to the excellent Dave Gorman podcast, which you should probably all subscribe to.  They had a discussion about things that could be used as other things, and hark! if one suggestion was not about using a toasted sandwich maker to fry eggs. 

So I thought I'd give this a go, because it sounded a lot less messy and less hassle than the regular frying pan method, and although the fried egg sandwich craving had long since been replaced by the more regularly-scheduled chocolate craving, it still seemed a worthwhile way to spend a few minutes, in the interests of journalistic research.

And so it is that I can now proudly explain the ins and outs of frying eggs in sandwich toaster.

Step 1: Retrieve sandwich toaster from back of cupboard.  Recoil in disgust at caked-on dirt from last time it was used and you didn't bother cleaning it.  Spend some time removing an amount of surface dirt.  Decide it'll do.  Switch it on and wait for it to heat up.

Step 2: Break eggs into sandwich toaster.  If possible, and assuming you have the option, you should use the grill plates with edges to prevent the egg running out the sides.  Also, you may find you can fit 2 eggs into one side of the toaster, thus allowing you to cook 4 eggs at once.

Step 3: Close the lid, and wait for a while.  After several minutes, lift the lid and poke the eggs a bit to see if they're cooked.  Repeat until they are.

Step 4: Remove eggs from sandwich toaster and eat.

Step 5: Clean sandwich toaster.  Wish that, at step 2, you had thought to add a little oil or grease or something.