- ouef à la coque: a 2-3min semi-liquid egg
- My 3min egg matched the perfectly, and it tasted interesting, like a rich soup. It would be better if not chilled by the ice water
- soft boiled: a 3-5min egg with three distinct parts (hard outer white, liquid inner white, liquid yolk)
- My 4min egg was exactly like this, and I enjoyed it quite a bit
- mollet egg: a 5-6min egg with a liquid yolk but hard white
- My 5min egg was this dead on, and was the first egg I could peel. It reminded me of a poached egg, with a less watery white
- hard boiled egg: a 10-15 min egg that is solid throughout
- This wide time span seemed strange to me, so I wanted to see what changes happened in there. based on my 10-15min eggs the yolk changes color, but surprisingly, not texture, which went from 1/2 liquid 1/2 gelatinous at 9min directly to standard HB texture at 10min.
According to my book the egg white semi-solidifies at 65C as ovotransferin coagulates, then becomes firm at 80C as albumin coagulates, and the yolk harden between 65 and 70C. So maybe I need to try cooking an egg at exactly 65C to get the yolk I like. (Or maybe I am over-thinking this).
It was both kind of neat and a little annoying to get boring as-predicted results. Since I prefer poached eggs to soft-boiled, the big take home for me was that 11min is where I want to stop boiling eggs for deviled eggs.
Hmm, now off to go make egg salad.
To me, the most important step is the ice water, which a lot of cooks neglect. Part of the pleasure of eating boiled eggs is visual: a color contrast between purest white and cheery yellow. To allow a gray ring to form around the outside of the yolk spoils it for me.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite texture is poached, and I love eggs benedict... there's a trick in getting that hollandaise jussst right.
Man, now I want to make eggs benedict. . . maybe next weekend
DeleteI actually find it awesome that you did this, because I have a horror of undercooked HB eggs but have never found time to experiment with exactly how long I need to cook them to make sure that doesn't happen. As a result, I just boil them for way too long. This is really useful! :) --Nina
ReplyDeleteThis is really neat.
ReplyDeleteI think you're totally right about cooking at a lower temperature to get exactly the consistency you want--poaching it in the shell, as it were (not what is meant by poached eggs, but more like what poached chicken means versus boiled chicken). I hope you experiment with it some more and let us know what you find. :) --Adam
It is very ironic that you just posted this, as I am currently frustrated at having boiled eggs for deviled eggs for 9 minutes, per the NYT recipe, and they are more soft-boiled than good for deviled. Currently trying to reboil them for two minutes in hope?
ReplyDeleteAll the hard boiled egg-cooking recipes I know have you start the eggs in the water and heat them up together.
ReplyDeleteCook's Illustrated method:
Place 6 - 12 eggs in medium saucepan, cover with 1 inch of water, and bring to boil over high heat. Remove pan from heat, cover, and let sit for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, fill a medium bowl with 1 quart water and 1 tray of ice cubes (or equivalent). Transfer eggs to ice water bath with slotted spoon; let sit 5 minutes. Peel and use as desired.
Soft boiled however would probably benefit from the dropping into boiling water method, since the heat would get to the white first.
Anise, did you put the eggs in the water after it was boiling, or did you start with eggs and cold water in the pan?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I have a Perfect-Egg thingy that tells you when eggs are cooked by color change pigment inside a solid chunk of polycarbonate. (Which of course probably releases all sorts of BPA when boiled?)