Egg Caviar

Every great French chef seems to have a signature egg dish. One of my favorites is Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Egg Caviar, which he inherited from his mentor Louis Outhier. The dish was created in 1978 and it is still great and remains on the menu at Jean-Georges' eponymous restaurant in New York City.

Since I can only go to Jean Georges now perhaps once a year, I don't get to eat the egg too often. I miss the dish, hence the only way to cure the craving is to make it myself. I served the dish as a first course for my recent dinner party. The recipe is in Jean-Georges' book, Simple to Spectacular, written with Mark Bittman. In fact, the dish is on the cover of the book.

The dish is actually not too difficult to make. Start by cutting off the tops of the eggs with an egg cutter. The empty shells are sterilized in boiling water, cooled, and placed on egg cups. Next, heavy cream is whipped and spiked with some vodka, cayenne pepper, and lemon juice, then placed in a piping bag. The eggs are then poured into a small pan, whisked constantly over medium heat with some butter and seasoning until just scrambled. The assembling starts with spooning the scrambled eggs into the empty egg shell, layering with a couple of rings of cold cream, and topping off with some caviar. Since I can't be regal and dollop with osetra caviar, I use the much cheaper oeufs de lompe instead. Nevertheless, it is a delicious and beautiful dish.