Heroes for Hire #7 (2007)
Written by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, Zeb Wells
Artwork by Alvaro Rio
Inks by Tom Palmer & Terry Pallot, Colors by Brad Anderson
Chef’s Note: Yes, I want an egg hat, M’Baku! Or, I would want an “egg hat” – if I knew what one was. It’s always a thrill as a scholar to encounter novel culinary creations.
Unfortunately, M’Baku’s creation does not reveal much about the nature of the dish, at least visually speaking:
Bunch of scrambled eggs, right? Doesn’t look anything like a hat either.
Even this scene of fancy pan & spatula work doesn’t tell us much – again just a bunch of jiggly eggs being tossed about.
My initial research into this mystery revealed mostly wearable fiber creations, not culinary ones. Who knew there were so many people who fancy wearing hats that look like fried eggs?
But eventually I discovered that an egg hat is just another name for a dish I know very well:
An official recipe called “egg with a hat” first made an appearance in the Boston Cooking School Cookbook by Fannie Farmer in the 1890s, calling for a two-and-a-half-inch cookie cutter to remove the bread’s center, which, served atop the cooked egg, becomes the “hat.”
Yes, it’s another name for a one-eyed jack / egg-in-a-hole / egg-in-a-basket – one of my personal favorites.
Not that one can tell at all from the artistic rendering here – it’s a bit disappointing to realize it took three different artists to not get this right.
Because that’s just a bunch of scrambled eggs, Alvaro, Tom, and Terry. Where’s the hat?
Chef’s Note: I did also want to note that this scene reveals that supervillains apparently also suffer from meal-interruptus just as much as superheroes. It must be very disruptive to be making breakfast for folks and then get karate kicked in the face at the same time by not just one, but TWO, superheroes.
C’mon now.