Chrissy Teigen is no stranger to being in the middle of a fierce Twitter debate, whether she's weighing in on a new favorite reality series or clapping back after being given unsolicited pregnancy advice.
The latest dispute she's sparked, however, revolves around a pretty common breakfast staple: sunny side up eggs.
In a series of videos posted to Twitter Monday night, Teigen showcased her preferred frying technique for making eggs, which she used to top a Cajun-spiced catfish.
In one video, Teigen is seen cracking two eggs into a small bowl. Then she adds a layer of olive oil to her pan. After gently adding the eggs into the heated pan, she covers it with a lid and lets the eggs fry before finishing them with a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper. The finished eggs then easily slide out of the pan onto the fish fillet.
Teigen captioned her post "perfect sunny eggs tutorial!" but what ensued was a surprisingly divisive discussion over her decision to use olive oil.
Many, many people were appalled that she would choose olive oil over butter.
Some were at least kind to the "Cravings" author in their disapproval of her liberal usage of olive oil.
But plenty of people were just mean.
Many touted butter as the preferred fat in which to fry eggs,
Others championed the wonders of bacon grease.
Teigen's egg frying video racked up over 33,000 likes and more than 1,500 comments in less than 24 hours.
But does Teigen's cooking method really warrant all the hoopla?
It turns out that the pros are also divided on the oil vs. butter debate, too.
"I like to use a heavy weighted nonstick skillet on low to medium heat with a high-temp oil to reduce burning the edges,” Blake Hartley, executive chef at Lapeer's in Atlanta, told TODAY. “Once the white has fully solidified, you’re good.”
Instead of using olive oil, Hartley prefers using canola or vegetable oil which, unlike olive oil, can be heated to much higher temperatures.
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Others think that a mix of oil and butter is actually the best solution because you'll get that buttery flavor combined with the frying power of an oil.
Luis Geronimo, chef at Sol Sazon in New Jersey, advised home cooks to add one or two teaspoons of oil into a pan and then, when it starts to heat up, add a tablespoon spoon of butter and let it melt (but not burn!) before adding in your eggs. “This gives you a butter taste without burning the butter," said the chef.
Whatever fat you use, most chefs agreed that using a nonstick pan is the ideal cooking apparatus for ensuring that your beautiful egg comes out in one piece.
However divisive the topic of frying fat might be, it looks like Teigen is getting the last laugh on this one.
On Tuesday, award-winning celebrity chef and humanitarian José Andrés took to Twitter to declare his support for the cookbook author's sunny side up eggs.
"Those are probably the best ever(and looking like tasty!)sunny side eggs ever filmed! What is he talking about?....@chrissyteigen keep it up!" he posted.
