Baked egg in a beaten-white nest

Prepare the baking vessel and heat the oven first; a wider ramekin is easier to eat from than a small one.

Grease the dish with butter all the way up the sides, since the egg puffs.

Crack the egg into a bowl and lift out the yolk; set the yolk aside unbroken.

Add a shake of cream of tartar to the white to make the foam fluffier and less likely to collapse.

Whisk the white by hand to stiff peaks, about two minutes or more.

Season with salt, very lightly, and pepper; stir and transfer to the dish at once, as the foam starts collapsing almost immediately.

Make a hollow nest in the center, put in a small piece of butter, and slide in the yolk; scatter on thyme.

Bake at 350F (180C) about eight minutes, until the yolk jiggles like pudding when the dish is nudged, for a runny yolk.

Serve: break off a chunk of the meringue and drag it through the pierced yolk.