On a recent flight back to Cleveland I sat next to surgical resident who admitted to me that he didn’t know how to cook an egg. Actually…it was worse than that. He first admitted that he didn’t know how to boil pasta. He said that his pasta always comes out looking like “sushi” (personally, I had a hard time picturing that). We did a little trouble shooting and quickly realized that he was adding his pasta to cold water and then boiling everything at once. At first I was shocked…Having grown up in a (we-like-to-pretend-that-we’re) Italian family, pasta was the first thing I ever learned how to make on my own. I won’t argue that it’s engrained in my DNA, but my obsession with cooking at least stems from some sort of epigenetic process. I’m not a master chef by any means, but I think I can cook pretty well, and something as “basic” as cooking pasta (or an egg) feels as natural as breathing. But did it always feel that way?
When we first entered medical school, we were told to be careful not to start speaking “medical-ese” in front of our patients. The first time you hear that, you can’t help but scoff and think to yourself “Are you kidding me?! I won’t ever do that! I totally understand what it means to not understand what the doctor is saying. I would never be so insensitive!”…Three years later, you’re sitting in front of a patient telling them about some sort of disease process, and realize that they’re staring at you like you’ve grown an extra head. Oops.
I guess that as you become more comfortable with whatever new skill or information you’re attempting to learn, you forget what is was like to not understand the “basics”. It’s not that you never struggled with it yourself, it’s just that you’ve reached the point where you’re struggling with the “next step”. And as exciting as it is to master each new step in the learning process, it never hurts to take a step back, acknowledge how far you’ve come, and appreciate that you know how to cook a pound of pasta…or an egg.
(Adapted from Apron Strings)
What you need:
- 1 large onion (the larger the better so the egg doesn’t spill out)
- eggs
- 1/2 tbs butter
- salt and cracked pepper, to taste
What you need to do:
- Cut your onion into thick 1/2 inch slices and pick out the largest rings for your eggs.
- Melt the butter in a large frying pan and lay out your onions as pictured above.
- Sauté the onions on medium heat until the bottom side is slightly browned.
- Flip the onions over and continue sautéing for 2-3 minutes.
- Turn down the heat to medium-low, and crack your eggs into the center of the rings (it’s okay if the egg spills over the edge).
- Sprinkle a little water in the pan and cover.
- Continue cooking the eggs until they reach the desired consistency.
- Sprinkle on some kosher salt and cracked pepper, and enjoy!
