Hot butter, crisp bread, one egg, and the dignity of feeding yourself.
There is a meal that happens after the house has gone quiet, after dinner has become history and hunger has returned with no manners. This is that meal.
Toast the bread in butter. Fry the egg in more butter. Salt it like you mean to stay alive. The yolk breaks over the toast and suddenly the evening has a second act.
This is not sad food. It is a tiny cooked thing. There is a difference.
Toast in butter. Melt butter in a small pan. Fry the bread on both sides until crisp and golden. Move to a plate.
Fry the egg. Add a little more butter. Crack in the egg. Salt it. Spoon hot butter over the white until set.
Keep the yolk soft. Stop before the yolk firms. The yolk is the sauce, and the sauce has rights.
Assemble. Put egg on toast. Pepper. Hot sauce if needed. Eat immediately.
Frying bread in butter gives better browning than a dry toaster because fat carries heat into every uneven surface.
Basting the egg sets the white without overcooking the yolk.
Salt on the egg while it cooks seasons the surface and wakes up the butter.