Fried Eggs with Ham or Bacon

Two lines of instruction that assume you already know Ranhofer's method for œufs frits, which is not the American skillet egg. The rest is timing and salt.

• "Fried eggs" means deep-friedRanhofer's oeufs frits are slipped into hot fat, not fried flat in a pan, and the white is rolled over the yolk with a spoon until it sets into a compact oval with a crisp edge. He gives no depth or temperature; modern practice is a shallow bath of oil hot enough to set the white on contact. If you fry them flat instead, you have a perfectly good breakfast but not the dish Ranhofer numbered.
• Petit saléNot bacon in the American cured-and-smoked sense but pork belly or shoulder cured in salt only, unsmoked. Slab bacon or a thick-cut pancetta is the nearest supermarket equivalent; blanch it briefly if it tastes aggressively salty.
• "Broil on a slow fire"A gentle grill, not a blast. Modern equivalent: a moderate pan or a broiler rack set low, so the fat renders and the meat colours without curling and scorching at the edges. Thick slices, about 1/4 inch, hold up best.
• Order of workThe meat goes on the dish first and the eggs over it, so cook the ham to the point of resting and fry the eggs last. A deep-fried egg collapses quickly; it wants to reach the table within a minute or two.
• SeasoningRanhofer says nothing about salt; the ham or petit sale will already be salty. Season the eggs with pepper, then taste before adding anything more.
• YieldFigure two eggs and one or two slices of meat per person. The recipe scales directly, but fry the eggs no more than two at a time or the oil temperature drops and the whites spread.