The Fangs of the Delicious Potion

Manus, who had never been particularly fond of fried eggs, took a deep breath.

The Maillard reaction and caramelization between amino acids and sugars at high temperatures seemed to have occurred with exceptional perfection in this fried egg.

Moreover, the volatile compounds produced by lipid oxidation and the trace volatile sulfur compounds produced by the breakdown of sulfur-containing amino acids had also achieved an exquisite balance, becoming the finishing touch to the fried egg's aroma.

"Record... Fried Egg No. 2."

Manus swallowed the saliva naturally gathering in his mouth, speared the fried egg with his fork, and still finished it in two bites.

"An exceptionally delicious fried egg. The heat, texture, and flavor are all just right. It could be called perfect."

After all, he was frying seven eggs at once. Manus could not possibly control the doneness of every fried egg perfectly, nor did he need to. That was part of the test.

"Most importantly... the eggy smell is gone."

Counterintuitively, runny eggs did not contain more sulfur compounds than fully cooked eggs. It was merely that the shorter heating time prevented those sulfur compounds from dispersing into the air, trapping them inside the yolk membrane instead.

The instant one bit into the yolk, those sulfur compounds burst directly into the mouth at a higher concentration, unlike in fully cooked eggs, where they dispersed and were smelled at a low concentration. That was why runny eggs felt eggier.

This should have been unavoidable. Even professional chefs could only use seasoning to cover it up, or perhaps it was simply one of the signature flavors of runny eggs. If one could not stand it, choosing fully cooked eggs was the proper solution.

Yet this runny fried egg did not carry any so-called eggy smell... Manus had not even added salt.