If you want to make a good impression the morning after, learn to make these sexy-soft eggs in your new friend’s kitchen.
Originally appeared at The Trad.
Cowboy Curtis: Uh, size 12, double E.
Pee-wee: Boy, big feet.
Cowboy Curtis: Well, ya know what they say.
Pee-wee: No. What?
Cowboy Curtis: For big feet, big boots!
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I imagine most of you entitled snots were sitting on the floor in diapers with a piece of Zwieback sticking out of your drooling little mouth when this episode of Pee Wee’s Playhouse aired back in November of 1986. I was in bed with a hangover and a woman old enough to be your mother. Not my mother. Your mother.
That’s what some of your parents were doing in 1986. Laying in bed nursing hangovers and watching Pee Wee and Cowboy Curtis talk about wieners and big feet. I wonder how many obnoxious style bloggers were conceived during this episode? My spark was squeezed out while Jonathan Winters did ‘Boys of Spring’ on Jack Paar.
It’s Saturday or Sunday morning. Hell, it can be Monday morning if you’re highly evolved. You wake up with a throbbing head next to last night’s first date. And lets say you wanna stay. It happens. You not only wanna stay … you want to make an impression. Especially if you didn’t do so well last night. It happens … to you. Not to me.
Oeufs en Cocotte, my friend. It sounds (ee-noof en coe-kot) a helluva lot better than pancakes and bacon and it’s a whole lot easier to make. Ask your host if they have any ramekins. Most women and all gay men have at least two. Four is better. Then tell them to go back to sleep.
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Crack one egg over whatever you placed in the bottom of the ramekin and place the ramekins in a sauce pan of boiling water. Mark Bittman leaves the boiling water out. Why? Because his cook books suck, that’s why. You gotta have the boiling water step or, if you just stick the ramekins in an oven, you’re gonna get oeufs en cocotte hard as a hockey puck. It happens … especially to Mark Bittman
Transfer the ramekins in boiling water to a 400 degree oven and set your timer for 8-10 minutes. The real luxury here is the softness of the eggs. Sexy is a good word. I recommend taking a tray of ramekins back to bed and presenting them to your new best friend, perhaps with a warm blowy whisper in their ear, “ee-noof en ko-kot.” You can explain what cocotte means afterwards.
Mr Diaz- I usually look for their check books and tear out a deposit slip after checking their balance. Justin-= Thx for nice words here and on Face Book. My father passed a reel to reel tape of Jonathan Winters doing a private show for a friend of his in the army. It’s vulgar beyond belief and hysterical. I have no idea how to get it from tape to digital but will work on it. Can you post digital sound bites? Nick- Never admit to a double entendre. The recipe I use came from Craig Claiborne in an old issue… Read more »
Honest- I was looking for Driver’s License & hoping it was a CDL.
Sure can! Once you work out how to get it into a digital format, email it to me and I’ll load it up.
There is no “n” or “f” sound involved in the pronunciation of “œufs”. It sounds like “euh”, not “en-oof”.
Sorry. Extreme francophile and language Nazi here. I know it’s anal of me, but I just can’t countenance the perpetuation of incorrect pronunciation.
There may be an eff sound when you make the liaison with ‘en’ after it (I believe there is a north/south divide on this, however). I was curious about the en sound as well, and assumed he was pronouncing “un œuf en cocotte” rather than “œufs en cocotte.”
Yeah, I’m with Nick, I’ve never heard a french speaker drop the “f”.
Since the host is in possession of two (or four) cocottes what explanation is necessary? Peut-être que vous vouliez dire une «pute?» Personne ne dit «cocotte» plus.
I assume these eggs are unfertilized.
I don’t know French, but Google assures me that these are “eggs in pots.” The recipe does not specify, so I think you have to go with whatever your host has on hand. As for ramekins, any oven-safe bowls will do.
Trust me, I’m well outfitted with ramekins. They’re absolutely necessary for making pots de crème, crème brûlée, and the ever popular molten chocolate babycakes (although for the latter I’ve also used mouse rings).
I just figured he was making a double-entendre about cocotte. Why else would someone have to explain its meaning? Funny enough, probably the most common meaning for cocotte is “chicken” which comes from feminizing coq rather than using the word poule.
Me too 🙂 Sadly they often get used as ashtrays by the less culinary minded.
There’s something about Jonathan Winters, and this Paar appearance helps explain it. (Go watch the linked video!) I’m old enough that I stole my little sister’s Pee-Wee T-shirt in high school, and my introduction to Winters was on some horrible children’s program my son watched when he was a toddler in the mid 90s. (I can’t even find it on IMDb.)
Jeepers I’m not ready to start dating again- ramekins?
Sounds better than the morning I was going through her purse, be cause I couldn’t remember her name.
Did you note the recipe? You might need it. I hear your story is getting you noticed.