Two Methods for Frying an Egg

There are 2 methods of frying an egg that are worthy of note. The first I learned from Jacques Pepin's TV show. When frying an egg put a little water in the pan and cover it. The steam will cook the film of whites that covers the yolk so there will be no need to flip the egg to make it over easy. The cooking is very uniform and gives a very smooth appearance to the pseudo-over easy fried egg. Given this option, providing one has a cover to the pan, and access to water, I don't see why one would use the over easy approach. Secondly, if one is fortunate enough to have fried some bacon in the pan, then fry the egg in the bacon fat. The key here is to "baste" the egg, particularly the yolk, almost continuously with the bacon fat. I tilt the pan to make the bacon fat pool on one side, then use a spoon to collect it and baste the yolk. This is a very nice option, especially if the pan doesn't have a cover.

I have 2 pans. When I make bacon I use the larger pan as  the bacon strips are too long to fit in the smaller pan. The larger pan doesn't have a cover so I can't use the former method. When I don't make bacon I use the smaller pan and use the former method. Both methods are good, but the resulting egg using the bacon fat method is tastier, of course.