How To Order Eggs In Mexico

"I'll have the huevos al gusto, por favor"

The mouth-watering beauty of huevos a la cazuela

OK, let's take a break from politics and cleanse our palates with some good old fashioned huevos. More importantly, let's cleanse our palettes with good old fashioned huevos the way we like them.

So there you are, sitting in a breakfast restaurant staring at a menu that's written in Spanish. Fortunately, you understand just enough Spanish to know that when the menu says "huevos", it is saying "eggs". You notice that one of the items on the menu says "huevos al gusto". And you think to yourself - "Sure, why not? Might as well try one of the local dishes. And I can even pronounce that!" And the waiter comes by to take your order, and you confidently declare that you will have the huevos al gusto!

Unfortunately, you have just asked the waiter to read your mind. What you've basically said is "I'll have eggs the way I like them". Well, the waiter in all likelihood doesn't know how you like your eggs. So let's try not to keep the restaurant staff guessing; let's try to get a little more explicit about how you like your eggs in Mexico.

Eggs are a remarkably versatile dish. There are hundreds - if not trillions - of ways to prepare them. But I am on a deadline here, so I'm only going to focus on a few.

In most restaurants in the U.S. and Canada, you can order your breakfast eggs in one of 4 ways (I am focusing on just eggs alone here, not egg dishes like Eggs Benedict, omelettes, etc):

1. Scrambled

2. Sunny side up

3. Over easy/medium/hard

4. Poached

1 and 4 are easy, because there is little ambiguity in how the eggs are cooked in these cases. I will note, though, that poached eggs are uncommon in Mexico - unless you are ordering Eggs Benedict in a restaurant that caters to gringo tastes. But poached eggs by themselves are just not that common, and you will rarely see them on menus in real Mexican restaurants.

Nevertheless, in all fairness to eggs cooked in hot water, you would order poached eggs by saying "huevos pocheados". And scrambled eggs? "Huevos revueltos".

That wasn't too hard. Moving on, however, we find that numbers 2 and 3 are a bit more nuanced. These are all examples of fried eggs, the only difference being whether or not the eggs are flipped during cooking, and how long they are cooked. But we're here to solve your egg-ordering problems, and solutions you shall have. Sunny side up? Easy - this is a common way of cooking eggs in Mexico; just ask for "huevos estrellados".

Now on to 3. This one is tricky, as we are going to trod on ground that is somewhat unfamiliar to many Mexicans. Over easy/medium/hard eggs are fried eggs that are flipped. There is no easy "standard egg cooking" way of saying this in Mexico, because this style of cooking eggs is not native to Mexico. But you can describe what you want, and hope for the best. First, you will need to say "huevos fritos volteados" - effectively "flipped, fried eggs". If you just want your eggs over easy, "huevos fritos volteados" may be enough of a description to offer your waiter. However, if you want your eggs over medium or over hard, you're going to need to add some color commentary to fritos volteados; specifically, you're going to need to describe the desired consistency of the yolks. The Spanish word for an egg yoke is "yema"; so if you want your yokes runny, you would say "yema liquida"; for medium, you could try asking for soft yokes: "yema suave"; and for hard yokes: "yema duro".

Again, unless you are in a heavily-touristed area, you are going to have to hope for the best for eggs cooked over easy/medium/hard. Almost certainly, the restaurant will be accommodating to your custom egg cooking description, but since it will likely be new to them, you may not get exactly what you are accustomed to.

So back to our original list of breakfast eggs styles - here it is again with the Spanish translation/description included (and breaking out over easy/medium/hard to make it more readable):

1. Scrambled - huevos revueltos

2. Sunny side up - huevos estrellados

3. Over easy - huevos fritos volteados, yema liquida

4. Over medium - huevos fritos volteados, yema suave

5. Over hard - huevos fritos volteados, yema duro

6. Poached - huevos pocheados (good luck with this one)

Venturing off the beaten path

Hey, you're in Mexico - why not try some actual Mexican-style eggs? Just like in the U.S. and Canada, eggs are a popular breakfast item in Mexico, so of course Mexicans have their own take on breakfast eggs. Here is just a small sample of the many delicious egg dishes you can order in Mexico:

Huevos rancheros

Sunny side up (huevos estrellados) eggs served on top of tortillas. Depending on where you are, the tortillas may or may not be fried. The eggs are topped with salsa, or some sort of picante sauce. Sometimes cheese is added to the top of the eggs as well. Often served accompanied by refried beans.

Huevos divorciados

Literally, divorced eggs. These are two sunny side up eggs (huevos estrellados) served side-by-side; one of the eggs is smothered in red sauce, the other in green sauce (salsa rojo, salsa verde - both typically picante). The fact that the red and green sauces are separated is why these are referred to as "divorced eggs".

Machaca con huevos

Machaca is a way of cooking beef by marinating, cooking and shredding it. Traditionally the beef is dried after shredding, although access to refrigeration has largely rendered the drying step unnecessary. A common way of serving machaca is to re-hydrate it (if it has been dried) and (re-)cook it with diced onions, chiles, tomatoes and eggs - creating a kind of scrambled eggs with shredded beef and the vegetable ingredients. It is served with flour or corn tortillas that you can stuff with the machaca scramble to make little tacos. This is one of my favorite Mexican breakfast dishes, probably owing to the time I spent in Northern Mexico in my youth.

Huevos a la Mexicana

This is eggs that are cooked scrambled along with diced onions, chiles and tomatoes. So basically, machaca without the beef.

Huevos en cazuela, or huevos a la cazuela

The core component of this egg dish is an egg or two usually cooked sunny side up (huevos estrellados) in a cazuela, which is a pottery cooking pot, often made of fired clay. The eggs are cooked in a thick tomato-based broth, and are often topped with cilantro, onions, chorizo or bacon, avocado, etc. This is another one of my favorite breakfast dishes, which I often order when I am in central Mexico.

Again, the above is just a small sample of the dozens of regional egg dishes you can find in Mexico. So don't start the day on an empty stomach - get out there and order up some fresh and delicious huevos!