When we first discovered farm fresh eggs down the street from our Island home back in Washington, my husband suggested it would be THE perfect opportunity to make Dippy Eggs and Soldiers. Huh? Flummoxed, I looked at him, scratching my head, and for the next 30 minutes, he recounted stories about who the legendary Soldiers were and why exactly these fine fellas would be joining us for Sunday breakfast.
I still didn’t get it.
But, nevertheless, decided to take his word for it. We dusted off the egg cups from the drawer of kitchen tchotchkes, in order to prep them for their on-screen debut. Weekend breakfast is taken rather seriously at our humble abode. The barometer for success falls into categories of leisurely, lengthy and lip-smacking goodness. Bracing myself for a spectacular letdown, I began to quietly devise a Plan B in my head. Brioche French Toast, Lemon Ricotta Pancakes, Maple Glazed Bacon…
Suddenly, my under-cover menu planning was interrupted. Breakfast was ready. The Soldiers had arrived. So soon? I swallowed nervously as I was presented with breakfast, perched atop its very own royal throne, looking ever so proud and suitably British. I’m not sure I ever felt so happy, to be proven so utterly wrong. Sure, I’ve had soft-boiled eggs in the past, but these tasted distinctly different. They were Runny, Dippy, Delectable Eggs. OH BOY. And the Soldiers! Those handsome Soldiers! Lightly buttered, standing at full attention, ready and willing to perform their predestined, exemplary dunking duties.
One dip into this perfectly cooked, gooey, thing of wonder — and, Hallelujah — I get it. I finally get it.
Don’t forget to set your timer when cooking these bad boys. The three minutes goes by in a blink of an eye. We used large eggs, so adjust time up/down if using smaller/larger eggs. I like my eggs super runny, so adjust time accordingly if you prefer yours less so. Instead of butter, shower Soldiers with grated Parmesan for a little decadence. Or for a gluten-free option, try roasted asparagus stalks as Soldiers. The variations are endless. Report back your favorites. Happy dipping!
Music Pairing: The Beatles, Love Me Do
Oh, this is my kind of food!! I grew up eating eggs like this in cups (still have them!) and love the soldiers. Breakfast this weekend.
Oh wow, these are perfect for a dainty Sunday breakfast. And so easy to make too! I never make 3 minute eggs, I don’t know why. I usually opt for the poached variety.
you make the simplest things gorgeous! that’s true talent.
And all along my fiancée has been referring to our sunny-side-up eggs as dip eggs. So many different names and different meanings. I’m digging your version, though. Love the toast sticks — that would’ve been a nice addition to our dip eggs this morning, although I wasn’t arguing with a bacon dipper!
Cheers,
*Heather*
One of my favorite things to eat for breakfast! I’m such a fan of eggs. They are so versatile. Gorgeous photos and great song selection! :)
This was a staple breakfast or snack in my house when I was little but I couldn’t say “soldiers” so it was “eggs and shoulders”. Yum.
GORGEOUS! This is one of my favorite breakfasts, and love the photos! :)
I am egg obsessed and have farm fresh in my fridge right now. That first photo is gorgeous!!! I’ve never had an egg cooked this way…will have to do it soon. Thanks G!
I love your photo repetition. It’s really unique and beautiful! I wish I could find some nice egg cups. I never see them anymore. This also makes me want a nice, runny egg-in-a-hole. Now I know what I’ll be making for breakfast tomorrow!
You have a wonderful way of making simple pleasures so appealing! Another beautiful post.
I eat these pretty much every morning. It’s an Australian favourite probably from our British counterparts, I’m sure :)
Looks lovely, but for a really British treat you need to butter the soldiers and then apply a light scraping Marmite on top of the butter. The egg than needs no salt, the marmite and butter melt together as they hit the hot yolk and create an eggy, creamy, salty, savoury delight!
A taste worth the effort to acquire.
Oh g, I just came back from Berlin with some egg snipers – perfect for chopping off the heads of these soldiers and making way for the liquid gold! Love, love, love your photos. Sigh.
As a kid my dad would make me these, and I’ve tried to remember how and have searched for recipes and never found anything. Thank you for posting this! It’s been a very long time since I’ve had them and they are now on the menu for tomorrow morning :)
Hi all! Happy Friday! Thanks for all the lovely comments.
Heather – Never, ever, would I argue with the use of a bacon dipper! :)
Angharad – Too, too cute!
Ashley – Hope you give it a whirl! They’re quite perfect for us egg obsessed.
Julian – My husband goes on about Marmite all the time. Looks like I know what I’ll be adding to our shopping list!
Kitchen Butterfly – Welcome back! Hope you had a lovely trip.
Jennifer – Hope they live up to your Dad’s version. Enjoy!!
This really is one of life’s simple pleasures. Love!
Ha, your eggs remind me of the eggs my mother used to make for me when I was a wee lass. Thanks for bringing me home!
I’d never heard of this breakfast dish before, so maybe someday, I’ll have the courage to try it out. Wonderful photographs! Such good composition.
Heh, for 2 years I believed my boyfriend when he told me that these were called “snow eggs” here in Austria where we live (and where he, but not I) am from. He said on the first big snow day of winter, everyone has them for breakfast. I only realised when I brought it up with his dad who looked at me in confusion that I’d been had…
Beautiful. Simple. Perfect. If you’ve ever read any of the Alexander McCall Smith series, The Sunday Philosophy Club, about Scottish philosopher of ethics Isabel Dalhousie, then you’ve run across soldiers and dippy eggs. She feeds them to her baby. Thanks for this elegant post. The photography is beautiful.
Sign me up– I’m a fan a runny egg. And these look yummy. I have some egg cups that I’ve never used, so this will be perfect. And before we know it asparagus will be in season.
“of” a runny egg. ; )
Growing up in England, this was known as Nursery Tea; soft boiled eggs with toast soldiers. The lightly salted & peppered, yummy centre gently spooned out onto the the soldier to be consumed faster than you can say Polly wants a cracker!
such simple, beautiful, elegance. i have been reading your blog for a while now, but never left a comment- perhaps now is the time do do so and say Hello & Happy New Year- i really enjoyed your post on Paris, too. x shayma
Dippy eggs will be my breakfast this morning… just because of your beautiful post and because you’ve remembered me how much I love them!! Thanks!
One of my all time favorite meals! I adore drippy eggs and buttereted toast. But I think most of the pleasure for me comes from getting to use my adorable little egg cups.
OMG I love this! It’s like the perfect way to access a soft-boiled egg in a cup! Why didn’t my mom do this when she served us soft-boiled eggs as kids?
Exactly what we had for breakfast this am, not a lot of people know it as Dip eggs & soldiers around our area of Florida. I have the cutest little chicken cups to serve them in too. Must salt & pepper the toast before cutting :)
This is fantastic! I love eggs…I actually had a poached egg over a salad for dinner last night. They are just versatile and easy to make- this is a great way to dress them up a big. Fabulous!
Boiled eggs and soldiers were a staple of my childhood and the perfect quick supper when my children were small. Of course you had to scrape out all the egg and when the shell was clean place it upside down in the egg cup and pretend that you hadn’t eaten it.
There is one big question – opening the eggs . Do you bash with a spoon and pick off the shell or cut off the tops with a serated knife (I have one of those egg topper devices too). This divides people as resolutely as the pronounciation of scone. You have been warned!
We have those quite often, but it is so very un-romantic calling them simply “soft boiled eggs”. I love your husband’s name better:)
I have always enjoyed the runny boiled eggs, and have passed the love back to my girls. And that gives me the excuse to shop for the cute egg cups:)
Great photos, as usual!
G,
Funny egg ‘coincidence’ at my house this morning, so I blogged about it:
http://www.fishtailsandpearls.com/2011/01/coincidental-egg-moment.html
Love this post, and next time I’ll try it for Ally.
Best, Laurie
I’ll have to try these. It gives me an excuse to go buy some egg cups. I’m always looking for an excuse to buy new things for the kitchen.
Just found your blog and so glad I did! It’s gorgeous and love your photography :) This is probably one of my favorite things for breakfast too. simple runny egg and toast!
This is our go to food when someone in my family is ill. My son had a stinking cold last week and all he wanted was dippy boiled eggs and soldiers, it’s the perfect pick-me-up comfort food, sunny eggs with buttered toast. Thank you for the post it made me smile!
Oooh oeufs mouillettes! My favorite way to serve eggs! I’ve noticed that eggs in France don’t smell and taste so good. Here in the U.S, eggs aren’ts as good :(
Great food photography by the way!
Beautiful photography! I like perspective on the first image of the eggs in the carton and the detail of the little drip of egg on the egg shell in the last pictures is lovely as well.
I’ve grown up eating these dippy eggs and soldiers, I just never knew what they were actually called. Our family has always named them egg dippers. I’m so glad I found your blog.
mmm…I love a good dip egg! Great photos!
I used to have these for breakfast all the time as a child, solely to eat out of an egg cup! The photos are beautiful, as always :)
Beautiful picture! I wish I owned some egg cups.
Beautiful. Makes me want breakfast!
How funny that I found this recipe on your blog this morning — it was exactly what I had for breakfast! Except I wish I had farm fresh eggs… we’re finally getting our own chickens once Spring rolls around, I can hardly wait.
Beautiful post as always G : )
I haven’t had breakfast yet. I’m making these!
Your photography is beyond amazing! Check out my food blog if you have the time! I’ll definitely be trying some of the recipes you posted :) Thanks for sharing! xo
I totally save your posts. I don’t read them immediately, I wait for a time when I can savor them. It happens to be Sunday morning and I am dying to make these. My kids are kind of hot and cold on eggs but I bet they would love to try this. Beautiful as always.
So clever, and really fancy! I love it!
Jess : )
Brilliantly simple. Dippy Eggs done properly were and still are a treat in my household. Marmite works a treat. Beautiful photography too :]
Zoey
These eggs are picture perfect. I can almost feel the warm dribble of the rich egg yolks on the crisp toast.
Who knew a blog about my favorite breakfast from my childhood would illicit 50 comments!? My mom used to make egg and soldiers at least three times a week and you’ve just brought back a wonderful memory for me. I think I will be breaking out my egg cup collection this weekend to show my girls how their british grandmother would serve me breakfast as a child. Shame on me for caving in to a standard bowl of cereal for far too long!
I grew up calling these “googy pushers”… yummy!
These look great! I love dippy eggs :)
OMG My picky daughter is going to love this! I just came across your blog this morning and had to add it to my reader. Love your photos and writing style. I look forward to seeing more!
These look like so much fun! And your pictures are absolutely stunning.
so simple & yet so gooooood !!!! thank’s for reminding me !!
mmm that made me feel soo hungry!
I used to have this allllll the time as a kid. Brings back great memories. :)
I totally relate to this post having grown up on dippy soldiers, as you say such a British breakfast
I never knew the proper name for this breakfast, but my mom used to make these for my every morning when i was a kid! so delicious…and now I have a name!
Ive never tried anything like this before but those eggs look so cute and delicious I definitely want to!
My father is a pretty traditional British man. He fed me soldiers as a child, in my special egg cup. I loved them! It was a shock to me that all my other Canadian friends had no idea what they were. Even now as an adult, and a professional cook, do I have trouble finding people in the kitchens I’ve worked and amongst the friends I have, who know what I’m talking about. Thank you for your post! I just discovered your blog tonight. So happy I did! I’ll most certainly be back! Katie
Dippy eggs! My favorite breakfast since childhood. I like how you call a simple meal like a dippy egg with toast (“dippy eggs with soldiers”)… it makes cooking fun… you make cooking fun… and that’s why I’ll be following your blog now.
I think I will rise early with the sun so I can make these tomorrow before work too!
Any idea where to find some adorable egg cups?
When I moved to Australia from the states I had no idea what toast soldiers were and my darling new husband thought I was clueless about food and table manners.
“Why you use your fork in your right hand?”
“Everyone does!”
“No, they don’t in the movies”
I now eat with my fork in my left hand and I can make dippy toast soldiers. This was 16 years ago – thanks for reminding me.
mmm this reminds me of my childhood! I haven’t had eggs & soldiers in AGES. I may have to reintroduce them into my diet. Thanks for the reminder!
[…] tried dippy eggs & soldiers last week and they might be my new […]
Yummm I love fresh eggs!
[…] “soldiers” to dip into my soft boiled egg, definitely going to keep doing that (update: this is the post that inspired this […]
[…] Dippy Eggs and Soldiers from Kiss My Spatula […]
Hello, hello! It’s been a while since my last visit. Just gorgeous food and photography here to greet me, once again!
This took me back to my childhood. I loved egg and soldiers. I may have to have this for breakfast tomorrow. :)
Yummy. And I’ve got some pretty cute egg cups also. I love the whole toast-soldier thing too! I’ve been trying to perfect the process and just can’t seem to get it right, though. Put the pot of water with the eggs already in it on high, wait til it boils before you turn it off, cover and wait. When you say ‘boil’, do you mean a full rolling boil, or just when the bubbles are coming up to the surface? I know this sounds anal but I just can’t seem to get this right and I’m determined! I sure hope you see my question. Thanks for a great site!