All About Eggs: Everything We Know About the World’s Most Important Food

This collection of essays centers on the ubiquitous egg and includes recipes from around the world, including Scotch eggs, huevos en rabo de mestiza, and China Café’s egg foo young. For those who need the basics covered, have no fear: Khong, a contributing editor for Lucky Peach, explains how to make soft- and hard-boiled eggs, poached eggs in the style of Julia Child and Jacques Pepin, and the spectrum of fried eggs (over easy, over hard, and sunny side up). The essays are truly standouts. Aralyn Beaumont contributes an essay and recipe on the poulard omelet (“puffy, souffle-like outsides are folded over runny, buttery, lightly cooked eggs that ooze out onto the plate like a sauce”); in “The Hardboiled Detective,” Harold McGee offers lessons on peeling eggs, such as the oral method, in which “you place your mouth on the narrow end [of a partly peeled egg] and blow the egg through the other.” Those who sometimes cook and bake without eggs will appreciate the full egg substitute guide. In usual Lucky Peach style, this well-rounded, informative cookbook has a hip vibe and quirky illustrations. It will be at home on everyone’s shelf. Photos. (Apr.)