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I used the same few ingredients to batch prepare eggs three ways, testing each method’s results.
During the experiment, I baked egg muffins, cooked a large omelette, and made a sheet pan of eggs.
I’d skip the egg muffins and omelette next time but gladly repeat the sheet-pan method.
Every morning, at least one person in my family cooks eggs.
Whether they make them scrambled or sunny-side-up, the results tend to be inconsistent. One day, the eggs are runny; the next, they’re sticky. It’s a complete gamble.
In search of a fail-proof method for making eggs that allows me to avoid chaotic, messy morning breakfasts, I attempted to meal-prep them three different ways: baking them as muffins, frying them into an omelette, and cooking them in the oven on a sheet pan.
For each method, I used the same ingredients — six eggs, ¾ cup egg whites, 1 cup of chopped red bell peppers, a small onion, and 2 ounces of crumbled feta cheese. Each batch yielded between eight and 12 servings.
Here’s how the eggs stacked up in terms of flavor, texture, and cook time.
Oven-baked egg muffins seemed like an easy-to-prep meal.
I divided the ingredients into 12 sections using the muffin pan. Jennifer Messineo
I combined all the ingredients in a bowl, then used a ladle to distribute them evenly into a 12-cup muffin pan.
It proved difficult to distribute the ingredients evenly between the cups without making a mess. Some ended up with extra feta, and others got more peppers.
I planned to cook the muffins for 20 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, but they were done after 15.
After this test, I’ll never make these egg muffins again.
My muffins were too puffy and had too many air pockets. Jennifer Messineo
I used to make eggs in a muffin tin sometimes, and the results from this test reminded me why I stopped.
Although I liked that they cooked quickly and were easy to portion, the muffins puffed up more than I expected, creating a fluffy egg with a few too many air pockets.
Also, the ingredients didn’t distribute evenly (disappointingly, I had a bite with no cheese!).
The cleanup wasn’t ideal either, as most of the egg stuck to the pan. After soaking it for days, I considered throwing it out.
By the time I finally got it clean, I’d lost the time I saved cooking eggs to scrubbing the muffin pan.
Cooking the eggs into one big omelette should’ve been straightforward.
I kept the eggs cooking over very low heat. Jennifer Messineo
When it came time to use the stovetop, I decided to make a large omelette in a 12-inch pan using the same five ingredients.
I poured the mixture into the hot, buttered pan and realized how tricky it would be to manage. To accelerate the cooking process and create a fluffy, layered dish, I tilted the pan to lift the edge of the omelette, letting the uncooked egg flow underneath.
I kept the heat low so the bottom wouldn’t overcook. After 10 to 15 minutes, I covered the pan so the center would cook through. Then, I cooked it for about 10 more minutes until the center looked firm.
I ended up having a hard time handling so many eggs in one pan.
The omelette’s consistency and flavor left much to be desired. Jennifer Messineo
Lesson learned: Omelettes aren’t meant to be batch-cooked.
I knew cooking a large volume of eggs might be an issue on the stovetop, but I was still surprised that this method took the longest, clocking in at almost 25 minutes from start to finish.
It had an overcooked, eggy smell and taste, and the texture was inconsistent, with a crispy bottom layer and soft center.
Even though I usually fry my eggs on the stovetop, this test made me reevaluate my ways. I also found it difficult to portion the omelette into equal pieces for storage.
I didn’t know what to expect when I pulled out the sheet pan.
The ingredients spread out evenly in the pan. Jennifer Messineo
Before this test, I’d never made eggs in a sheet pan. I poured the combined ingredients into the greased, stainless-steel pan and was pleased to see the vegetables and cheese spread evenly.
After baking it for 18 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, the mixture was cooked through.
It was by far my favorite way to meal-prep eggs.
I found it easy to portion and store the sheet-pan eggs. Jennifer Messineo
The eggs cooked evenly in the sheet pan, and the results had a perfect consistency.
I liked their texture, as they were fluffy but still denser than the airy muffins and omelette. The vegetables weren’t quite as soft as they were in the other methods, but they tasted fine.
I also found it so easy to remove the egg from the pan. The stainless-steel sheet’s surface distributed heat evenly and prevented any crusty edges from sticking to the pan, so cleanup was very easy.
Moving forward, I’ll skip the muffins and omelette and stick with the sheet-pan eggs.
I didn’t have to clean very much after making sheet-pan eggs, which I consider a huge bonus. Jennifer Messineo
As I expected, this test reinforced my belief that eggs are tricky to prepare.
The large omelette I made on the stovetop tasted overcooked and lacked the height I got from the oven. All factors considered, it was my least favorite (although I was nearly as disappointed by the airy, messy egg muffins).
After extensive testing, I can confidently say the sheet-pan eggs were the meal-prep winner. They stayed firm, were easy to divide into 12 even squares, and stayed in one piece when I transferred them to the freezer.
Spoilers ahead for “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” season one, episode six, “The Morrow,” and the book “The World of Ice & Fire.”
HBO’s “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” stuck the landing on Sunday after a highly praised first season.
The prequel show, which was meticulously adapted from George R. R. Martin’s “Tales of Dunk and Egg” series, managed to toe the line between faithfully bringing Martin’s characters to the screen and adding a few new twists.
That was especially true of the season one finale, “The Morrow,” which features several key scenes that don’t exist in Martin’s original novella “The Hedge Knight” — two of which have major implications for the show’s plucky duo and their many adventures to come.
Dunk’s flashback scene implies that he’s lying about his knighthood
Peter Claffey as Dunk and Danny Webb as Ser Arlan in “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.”
Steffan Hill/HBO
“The Morrow” includes a flashback to Dunk’s recent past, when he was a squire for Ser Arlan of Pennytree.
As Arlan is propped against a tree, pale and babbling and apparently dying, Dunk asks, “Why did you never knight me? Did you think I’d leave you? I wouldn’t have. Or was it something else?” He doesn’t get an answer.
The scene is filmed in the same place as the season opener — on the hillside where Dunk buries Arlan’s body.
Book readers have long suspected that Dunk is lying about his knighthood. He tells people that Arlan knighted him just before he died, with “only a robin, up in a thorn tree” to bear witness. When Dunk tries to enter the jousting tournament at Ashford Meadow, he’s told to find a lord or another knight to vouch for him, but no one can verify his claim. Hardly anyone even remembers that Arlan existed.
Privately, Dunk struggles with his identity and how he presents himself to the world. In “The Hedge Knight,” after it’s revealed that Egg is a Targaryen prince in disguise, Dunk is shocked and embarrassed for having been deceived, but he also feels a twinge of compassion and solidarity: “He knew what it was like to want something so badly that you would tell a monstrous lie just to get near it.”
“A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” showrunner Ira Parker told Business Insider that he wanted the scene to be up for interpretation.
“A lot of the exposition around whether or not Dunk was knighted is internal thoughts in his head. And we get pretty, pretty close to him coming out and just saying it. It’s just like, what else could he be thinking of? What else could he mean by this?” Parker explained. “But it’s not said in black and white.”
Peter Claffey as Dunk in “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.”
Steffan Hill/HBO
Throughout season one, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” drops subtle hints that Dunk was only ever a squire — that he’s lying to give himself a fighting chance at a better future. When he meets Egg in the premiere, the boy tells him plainly, “You don’t look to be a knight.” In episode four, Dunk hesitates when Raymun Fossoway asks to be knighted so he can fight in Dunk’s Trial of Seven.
“Go on, Ser Duncan,” Lyonel Baratheon urges. “Any knight can make a knight.”
Still, Dunk doesn’t draw his sword to fulfill the request. Is that because he doesn’t want his friend to die in a dangerous trial by combat? Or because he doesn’t know the words to recite if he never heard them himself? (“In the name of the warrior, I charge you to be brave. In the name of the father, I charge you to be just,” etc.) It’s also possible that Dunk doesn’t want to risk Raymun’s honor with a knighting ceremony by a fake knight.
During his loaded pause, Lyonel gives Dunk a searching look, but these questions remain unasked.
Parker said he made sure to preserve the ambiguity surrounding Dunk’s knighthood, which is “100% the way George would like it.”
In the finale’s flashback scene, just when it seems like Arlan is gone forever, he startles awake. We never actually watch the old man die, so it’s still possible that he knighted Dunk offscreen.
“It is just as wide open as it ever was,” Parker said. “So that was very important to maintain, but also — it’s just fun. And I know fans of the book are going to be thinking about that question, so we’re just trying to enjoy ourselves as much as possible with it. And it’s a little bit of a tease.”
The irony, of course, is that Dunk is a truer knight than most, even if he never took the sacred vows. He’s brave and just, and he risks his own life to protect the innocent — quite unlike the dishonesty and bloodthirst of his Trial of Seven opponents. These characters ask us to consider what real honor looks like in a place like Westeros, and to question the substance of titles like “ser,” “lord,” and even “prince.”
In turn, Egg lies about getting his father’s blessing to travel with Dunk
Dexter Sol Ansell as Egg in “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.”
Steffan Hill/HBO
After the Trial of Seven is over, Egg’s father, Maekar, asks Dunk to pledge himself to House Targaryen and return with their family to Summerhall. He says that Egg has grown fond of Dunk and wishes to serve as his squire.
Dunk offers instead to bring Egg on his travels. He believes that growing up among smallfolk rather than servants will help Egg learn compassion and humility.
Naturally, Maekar says no. He’s not about to let his youngest son, the latest in a long line of royal Aegons, wander around Westeros with only a hedge knight to protect him. “Princes are not made for sleeping in ditches and eating hard salt beef,” he tells Dunk in the book.
Dunk counters that Egg’s older brothers, who are known as Daeron the Drunken and Aerion the Monstrous, never slept beneath the stars or ate less-than-perfect food. Maekar leaves without saying another word.
Then, as Dunk is readying his horses to leave Ashford, Egg suddenly reappears.
“My lord father says I am to serve you,” Egg says, and they ride off together, heading south toward Dorne.
Why and when does Maekar have a change of heart? In the book, it remains a mystery, but the show offers a plainer explanation: He didn’t.
Sam Spruell as Maekar and Peter Claffey as Dunk in “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.”
Steffan Hill/HBO
The final scene of the episode shows Maekar riding away from Ashford with the rest of the Targaryens. When he realizes Egg is nowhere to be seen, he begins panicking and shouting for his son.
Parker said he created the scene because it makes sense for the character of Egg. “[The story] started by him sneaking off and getting into trouble. And of course, he just goes and he does the same thing, because we all make the same mistakes over and over and over again, and then we die.”
As for Maekar, the added scene reflects his stubbornness as a father and his pride as a Targaryen.
“He’s just a curmudgeon, and probably a shitty father, but I actually do think he really does love his children. I do think he cares about them, even though he’s not able to raise them well, he still wants to,” Parker said of Maekar. “The idea of letting Egg go off with someone else just felt like too much for me. It felt like he could reasonably say no in this moment, even though he knows it would be better for Egg.”
Although the show’s version of events doesn’t directly contradict the book, it does add a troubling wrinkle to Egg’s family lore. Maekar eventually becomes king of Westeros, and he may not take kindly to Dunk’s absconding with his heir. He may even misinterpret the event as a treasonous kidnapping.
“We’ll never be in Maekar’s POV, but this will rear its head at some point,” Parker hinted for future seasons. “Many ways were discussed about how to deal with this. Hopefully, people like the way we’ve chosen.”
The second season of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” adapted from Martin’s “The Sworn Sword,” is slated for a 2027 release.
