Topping with an egg is 'in'

For several years, leading chefs here and there have been moving the affordable, comforting and homey egg onto their lunch and dinner menus - a tiny poached quail egg nestled in a fancy hash or on a pizza, for example - but now the technique is widespread enough to be called a bona fide trend.

At Osteria on North Broad Street, the popular Lombarda pizza is fashioned of cheeses, sausage and a poached egg.

Nicholas LoBianco of LoBianco New American Cuisine in Collingswood has morphed the traditional American breakfast of a poached egg on corned-beef hash into an elegant first course of duck confit served in a crock that has the diameter of its poached-egg hat.

And on the winter menu of James on 8th Street in Philadelphia's Bella Vista neighborhood, sole is wrapped in microscopically thin, sliced potatoes and finished with a slow-poached egg yolk. Like many chefs, James Burke poaches the egg rather than frying it, to achieve a more sophisticated look and a more tender bite. (He also eliminates the egg white in this presentation.)

"I love anything with a runny egg on it, and I've found that it strikes a chord with just about everybody. You break into the runny yolk and it automatically gives you a great rich sauce for whatever it is on top of," he says.

"Eggs add richness and decadence," says LoBianco, who adds he undoubtedly will add a different dish that incorporates a fried or poached egg when his menu changes with the seasons.

Unlike some culinary trends - I'm thinking truffles, foie gras, deep-frying, making your own sausage or bread, and sous vide - this is something that is easy and inexpensive enough to duplicate at home.

Put a fried egg on top of roasted or steamed asparagus and ratatouille. Float a poached egg in chicken broth or other soups, or bake a few nestled in spinach puree and serve with grilled or toasted bread.

It also indicates a loosening of national fear about the safety and nutrition of eggs - they no longer carry the stigma of raising cholesterol (studies have disproven that), and we know that continuously refrigerated raw eggs cooked to 140 degrees for 21/2 minutes will have thickened, not hard, yolks and be free of bacteria.

None of this is to imply that using eggs as scatter rugs is an innovation.

In German kitchens, laubskaus is a hamburger-sort of dish made of corned beef, herring, potatoes and onions and topped with a fried egg. "A la Holstein" means that a breaded chicken or veal cutlet has an egg on top. The traditional French salade Lyonnaise combines frisee, bacon, Dijon vinaigrette and a poached egg.

My family's favorite use of a fried-egg topping is in the form of Korean bibimbap, which is a staple and heavenly offering at many Korean restaurants.

Bibimbap is a comfort-food rice dish - perfect for winter - that features various vegetables, rice and sometimes beef topped with a fried egg. It often comes to the table in a clay pot. Before serving, you break the egg yolk and stir it into the rest of the dish, some of which is rice made crusty from contact with the intense heat of the clay pot, which is lightly coated with sesame oil.

Of course, serving a trendy dish is not chic unless it is done well.

Bibimbap and other dishes enhanced by an egg topper require paying attention to cooking eggs perfectly. A fried or poached egg with a hard yolk simply will not do.

In her book, The Good Egg (Houghton Mifflin, 2006), Marie Simmons offers these tips for frying an egg perfectly:

Choose a heavy pan, preferably nonstick and with sloping sides. For a single egg, use a six-inch pan; scale up the pan size to 10 inches if frying three to four.

Use only one teaspoon of butter or oil for each egg.

Heat the pan slowly over medium-low heat.

Break the eggs into a bowl, then slide them into the pan.

For sunny-side up, cook until the white begins to set, about one minute. You can cover the pan and cook over low heat for five minutes, or leave it uncovered and cook over medium and medium-low for four to five minutes.

Bacon and Egg Caesar Salad

Makes 2 to 3 servings