Fascinating:

According to Rulhman, who won a James Beard Foundation Award in 2012, the (hen) egg towers above the other foods in your kitchen because of its versatility. (Check out this amazing egg flow chart, a poster version of which comes folded inside the book.)

He writes:

"In the kitchen, the egg is neither ingredient nor finished dish, but rather a singularity with 1,000 ends. Scrambled eggs and angel food cake and ice cream and aioli and popovers and gougeres and macaroons and a gin fizz aren't separate entities. They're all part of the egg continuum. They are all one thing. The egg is a lens through which to view the entire craft of cooking. By working our way through the egg, we become powerful cooks. "

Its role in the potato, onion and cheese frittata is as unifier to other ingredients. "The egg combines them, makes them whole," he says.

In another dish featured in the book, the seafood roulade, the egg white is a binder, which gives the dish a smooth texture.

But often, Ruhlman argues, we don't treat our eggs very well. Take scrambled eggs. "It's one of the most overcooked dishes in America," he says. "We kill our eggs with heat."

Instead, we need, in most instances, to give the egg gentle heat. "When you cook them very slowly over very gentle heat, the curds form. And as you sit, the rest of the egg sort of warms but doesn't fully cook and becomes a sauce for the curds. So it should be a creamy and delicious and delicate preparation."

See the article for the recipe to Michael Ruhlman's Potato, Onion, and Cheese Frittata.

Amazing egg flow chart: