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Eggs - how do you like ´em?

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Re: Eggs - how do you like ´em?

Postby jeral » Sun Jan 24, 2021 6:50 pm

I sometimes drop whole egg yolks into brothy soup which is simmering. They cook through like little clods, sort of similar to dumplings and not at all unpleasant to eat, well unless you dislike egg yolks.

The egg yolk in custards I like in theory (e.g. tiramisu, zabaglione, boozy egg nog) aren't cooked through so I'm still wary. Thus I make custard with Bird's powder and there's no reason that egg yolks and cream and vanilla can't be stirred into that as it's boiled for a minute or two to cook out the cornflour and so the egg is cooked as well.

Almost anything using a whole egg can have another yolk added, but to be honest, if I got to 12, I'd look up the proper way to freeze them. I can't remember as the procedure is different for yolks than whites.

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Re: Eggs - how do you like ´em?

Postby jeral » Sun Jan 24, 2021 7:01 pm

ZeroCook wrote:...[clip]...

I can't see the Huffpost death by butter scrambled eggs recipe because I won't agree to their non privacy "agreement" :?

Er, why does anyone even want to bother looking at that? Car crash TV? It's like cheffy mashed spud, i.e. take a block of butter, then add a single grating of cooked spud - if you must ;)

As a PS to my earlier post about uncooked egg yolk, I imagine it'd be OK in a vinegary vinaigrette dressing, although 12 yolks could mean several pints of it!

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Re: Eggs - how do you like ´em?

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun Jan 24, 2021 7:27 pm

Did you look at it jeral? There are 9 other recipes, besides Mr Rogers', some of which look quite good

I'm of the Spanish revuelto school - heat something up, bung in beaten egg and stir until there's a nice savoury mixture

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Re: Eggs - how do you like ´em?

Postby jeral » Sun Jan 24, 2021 8:18 pm

Stokey Sue wrote:Did you look at it jeral? There are 9 other recipes, besides Mr Rogers', some of which look quite good

I'm of the Spanish revuelto school - heat something up, bung in beaten egg and stir until there's a nice savoury mixture

I didn't look at the site. I have great respect for Huff and I suppose I ought to. I was put off due to my being non-butter is all.

I made up a packet pumpkin broth soup last night mid evening as I knew I hadn't eaten enough calories yet again, adding whole beaten egg, cheese and bread and chilli slices. It was a right curdled mess but did taste very good. I might need help on the "nice savoury mixture" technique... Yolks plopped in is definitely more foolproof.

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Re: Eggs - how do you like ´em?

Postby Pepper Pig » Sat Feb 06, 2021 6:30 am


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Re: Eggs - how do you like ´em?

Postby scullion » Mon Feb 08, 2021 6:55 pm

that made me look up emu egg carving - there are some amazing images.

there's a recipe for a garlic and sorrel soup from the dordogne that is thickened with egg - you have to whisk the eggs (before you add them at the end of cooking) then whisk it into the soup very quickly to avoid blobs and strings.

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Re: Eggs - how do you like ´em?

Postby karadekoolaid » Thu May 20, 2021 2:29 pm

Just read on Chatter about how to crack open hard-boiled eggs.
But then I thought - how do you cook a hard-boiled egg? I bet everyone does it differently. Here´s my "method":
Put the eggs in cold water. Add a dash of vinegar (supposedly this keeps the shell from breaking).
Heat the eggs until the water boils then cook for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave in the hot water for 5 more minutes.
Put the pan under abundant cold water to cool. (Apparently the thermic shock makes the eggs "shrink" from the shell).
Crack the eggs all over, then started peeling from the "fat" end ( not the pointy end) - the shell should come away easily.

So how do you make them?

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Re: Eggs - how do you like ´em?

Postby Amyw » Thu May 20, 2021 3:11 pm

Pretty much the same as you apart from putting vinegar in the water and I don’t run under cold water to help with the peeling . I love hard boiled eggs and they make a good high protein snack too . I remember reading the Famous Five books when I was younger and they always took hard boiled eggs with a twist of salt and pepper with them on their picnics , which sounded wonderful so I always add a pinch of salt and pepper to them now.

I was very disappointed when I tried ginger beer inspired by them . Didn’t like it at all !!

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Re: Eggs - how do you like ´em?

Postby Gillthepainter » Thu May 20, 2021 3:29 pm

Simmering water, for 30mins. Seriously.
My husband won't have them any less. I'm used to it now, and if the water is on gentle, you don't get the blue ring of death round the yolk.

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Re: Eggs - how do you like ´em?

Postby karadekoolaid » Thu May 20, 2021 3:50 pm

Simmering water, for 30mins
:shock: :shock: Yikes!!
Each to their own. I´ve seen them done so many ways.

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Re: Eggs - how do you like ´em?

Postby Gillthepainter » Thu May 20, 2021 4:38 pm

Indeed.
When I poach eggs, I like them translucent. The ladies at the art school asked why is Gill eating raw eggs.
They're not quite, but they are dead soft and runny. Slurp.

As you say Amy, with hard boiled eggs.
I love 'em. In fact anything eggy I adore. I love them so much, I don't put salt or pepper on them.

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Re: Eggs - how do you like ´em?

Postby KeenCook2 » Thu May 20, 2021 5:09 pm

Gillthepainter wrote: if the water is on gentle, you don't get the blue ring of death round the yolk.


I was just wondering about that! I thought it was something to do with not immediately putting them under/into cold water.

As the OP with the peeling eggs problem, what I did yesterday was prick the egg at both ends with an egg prick, put it into cold water, bring it to the boil and give it about 10 mins.
I then kept immersing it in cold water until it was cool enough to peel - at which point it just wouldn't come off. In the end the entire membrane around the egg beneath the shell was completely intact and so I then had to peel that off too. (It didn't have the blue ring of death, at least!)

Hrrumph, I simply couldn't believe how stubbornly the shell was sticking to the egg :evil: :lol: :oops:

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Re: Eggs - how do you like ´em?

Postby Stokey Sue » Thu May 20, 2021 7:54 pm

karadekoolaid wrote:Add a dash of vinegar (supposedly this keeps the shell from breaking).

I have been told it sets the white if the shell is cracked and it oozes a bit

I doubt this (just not enough acid I think) but I put the vinegar in because it definitely stops the minerals in the shell from forming a hard layer on the surface of the pan

Put in cold water, cover with transparent lid, bring to full boil, turn off heat, leave 2 min for soft boiled, 4-5 for set with a slightly fudgy yolk, a bit more for set hard for sandwiches

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Re: Eggs - how do you like ´em?

Postby Earthmaiden » Thu May 20, 2021 8:19 pm

Amyw wrote:I remember reading the Famous Five books when I was younger and they always took hard boiled eggs with a twist of salt and pepper with them on their picnics ,


They were a must on school trips or picnics where we took our own lunch. We'd bang them on our heads to crack them and thought it funny (I tried it recently - it hurt!). They always peeled perfectly. It was the 80s before I first experienced eggs that didn't peel perfectly and nowadays its more often than not. The shell is glued to the membrane and peeling takes off a thin layer of egg white and looks messy (even if you start to peel from the air sac end). Then, every so often you get one that peels perfectly. It doesn't seem to matter how you cook it or cool it. I have come to the conclusion it is either the age of the egg, the temperature, or a quirk of modern eggs. It never happened before I lived with a fridge so that's why I think egg temperature might matter.

I cook hard boiled eggs by boiling a bit longer than I would a boiled egg, cracking the shell and cooling in cold water. I used to do the turning the pan off and leaving thing when I used electric as heat stayed in the ring but have had gas for years and heat is not retained so well.

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Re: Eggs - how do you like ´em?

Postby miss mouse » Fri May 21, 2021 9:01 am

Isn't it connected with the age of the eggs? Freshly laid ones are impossible to peel, older ones are much easier.

I too dislike ginger beer.

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Re: Eggs - how do you like ´em?

Postby Suffs » Fri May 21, 2021 9:11 am

Yes ... the older the egg the more air has permeated the shell and ‘loosened’ the membrane ... on the farm our eggs were always ‘new laid that day’ and impossible to peel ... Ma would plan ahead and save a few for a week or so to hardboil for salads and sandwiches (usually Sunday tea).

The theory behind a dash of vinegar in the boiling water is to set the albumen should the eggshell crack. The same principle lead to the addition of a dash of vinegar in poaching water especially if the eggs were less than fresh.

I use one of these to time my soft and hardboiled eggs https://www.dunelm.com/product/colour-c ... 1000069403. Obtainable at many outlets online and in hardware and ‘Pound’ shops (made by Tala amongst others).

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Re: Eggs - how do you like ´em?

Postby Earthmaiden » Fri May 21, 2021 10:04 am

Thank you Suffs. A plausible answer!
It seems odd that I have, and have had, the most trouble with supermarket eggs. I often keep them a while whereas eggs collected from a local farm in my childhood, which I know were very fresh, never posed a problem.

I am going to try bringing the eggs to room temperature next time just to see if it helps.

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Re: Eggs - how do you like ´em?

Postby Gruney2 » Fri May 21, 2021 10:18 am

Suffs wrote:The theory behind a dash of vinegar in the boiling water is to set the albumen should the eggshell crack. The same principle lead to the addition of a dash of vinegar in poaching water especially if the eggs were less than fresh.


That's what my mother used to do. She was in service, when she was young, and I assume that's what she was taught.

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Re: Eggs - how do you like ´em?

Postby Stokey Sue » Fri May 21, 2021 10:39 am

Yes that’s the theory, but having used measured amounts of acid to coagulate protein I really doubt there’s enough in a dash of vinegar to help the set

I certainly don’t use vinegar in poaching, I honestly don’t think it does anything except stink and perhaps stop the egg staining aluminium pans

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Re: Eggs - how do you like ´em?

Postby scullion » Fri May 21, 2021 11:20 am

Amyw wrote:I was very disappointed when I tried ginger beer inspired by them . Didn’t like it at all !!


we love ginger beer - i have about four litres brewing at the moment.
mind you, i'm not so keen on the alcoholic versions you can get nor a lot of the synthetically sweetened, canned ones.

as for eggs - fried egg sandwich with a bit of salt and black pepper - hmmmm.
maybe next time i will try it with a little msg. the food programme, last weekend, was very interesting in their use of it in scrambled eggs and i'm pretty sure i have some at the back of the cupboard. (crystal umami rather than crystal meth!) - although i usually use powdered, dried kelp or mushroom stock cubes for umami.

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