Eggsperiments

I used some of the freshest eggs we had in the fridge, picked up from the farm on Friday, so they are probably 5-7 days old.

The oven temp must not regulate properly at the lower end. I might try it again tonight at 180 - 185 deg F, and with older eggs. Apparently, the egg interior becomes slightly more alkaline as it ages (according to Harold McGee) and this is why hard-boiled older eggs are easier to peel.

http://www.theilliterate.com/archives/illiterati/sm_egg.JPG

http://static.flickr.com/41/100152821_3237c5d9a0.jpg?v=0

I wonder about the 1/2 hour full boil - this is how I used to make hard-boiled eggs before I knew any better (well, boiling for 20 minutes, but sometimes you forget), and I don't remember anything like this happening.

Today I'm enjoying a tan egg sliced into a sandwich with some strong mustard.

I've unsuccessfully cooked 4 batches of these poor eggs. I left 4 from last night (whites consistent with batch 1, this morning) in the oven today, at 220 deg, which showed as 200 on the dial thermometer. The water in the pan had that "about to simmer" look this morning, but still unsolid whites. Maybe RJM is right and it is the pan (some sort of magic cast iron heat shield?).

I'm glad it's almost the weekend.

i wonder why i never thought of using my multimeter with a thermocouple...some of these DO have data logging capability, but you need to run them to a PC with the right software.

http://www.channelguidemag.com/brown/images/Brown_Alton_3.jpg

i do.

Time to pickle!

AaronK, I've never watched Alton Brown, but I think I will tivo him now. (I'm way behind the curve on TV chefs - I just watched Iron Chef for the first time in November and Rachel Ray a few weeks ago...)

That reminds me though - on Iron Chef US at Thanksgiving, someone made scotch eggs - another egg thing to try!

I found this compendium of recipes, including tasting notes. I'll check my cookbooks and mass of loose recipes later.

also, alton brown is wonderful, probably thte one thing i miss most about the food network.

We do get No reservations, the Bourdain show though and that's great, even if it's more a travel show than a food show.

The only way I really like whole eggs boiled is as a scotch egg, thre is an indian variation too which uses a highly spiced mince which would be a good idea to try.....

Porkpie - my father-in-law asked why I didn't cook hard-boiled eggs into the center of my raised pork pies. Is this a typical thing? I'm pretty happy with the results without egg twee-ness.

Mooro, who works in da catering trade, told me that commercial gala pies are made using a thing called Long Egg, which is made by separating the yolks and whites, then magically forming them into one long tube with the yolk running through the middle. The tube is then cut to the same length as the rectangular pie dish, thus ensures that every slice of gala pie has an equal amount of egg.

* 1 l. Ale
* 4 Eggs
* 3 tbsp. Sugar
* 1/2 tsp. Ground Nutmeg
* 1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
* 1/2 cup Haitian Rum
* Boiling Water

Heat ale in a pan on low heat. Beat eggs with ingredients and pour into a pitcher. Pour ale and egg mixture together and mix until frothy. Serves about 4. Be Sure to rinse everything with the boiling water before mixing!

Break a dozen or two of eggs and separate the whites from the yolks. Tie the yolks in a pig’s bladder, boil them hard, and remove them. In a larger pig’s bladder, place the whites. Into the midst of the whites, place the set wolks and tie the bladder tight. Boil the whole until the whites harden and then remove from the water. Serve the Monster Egg on a bed of spinach.

Come on, you know you want to.

With hollandaise sauce, natch. **arteries explode**

Google, for all your long egg sex toy needs :)

Today we are off to the Ranch & Home store for large-sized mason jars so I can start some egg pickling.

Jar 1 contains: 50/50 apple cider vinegar and water, peppercorns, cumin seed, celery seed, 2 anonymous dried chilis from the ristra, 1 tbsp. brown sugar, 1.5 tsp salt, 4 cloves

Jar 2 contains: 50/50 apple cider vinegar and water, peppercorns, cloves, anise seed, 2 anonymous dried chilis, 1 tbsp. brown sugar

Wikipedia has a nice photo and some info.

Are you following proper pickling HACCP procedure? That page reminds me of the wonderful pickled sausages a long-closed bar here used to serve.

btw, 2 dozen eggs were picked up this morning, and I processed 4 dozen today (1 dozen hard-boiled for weekday lunches, 2 dozen pickled, and a dozen made into custard and eaten for breakfast). We had a 2 dozen egg-deficit! We are down to 7 dozen raw eggs in the fridge!

I'd forgotten! My daughter is possibly going to be in Vancouver WA for spring break, so we may be over that way in a month.

If you're in town on April 15, I will be taking part in another reading then. Actually a huge marathon reading, 80 poets in 8 hours in 8 venues. The hour/venue that I'll be in should be pretty nice.

That weekend is a distinct possibility actually.

I think a nice light refreshing dessert would be in order after a meal of pickled eggs. Oeufs a la neige?

Have you tried the eggs yet, Jaq, or will you be taste-testing along with the guests?

There are 4 pints of various berry sorbets in the freezer from last year's crop, so that might be a good light dessert, maybe with some homemade shortbread.

The cassoulet tasted great, but was more the texture of french refried beans than trad cassoulet. Everyone ate it without complaint, and there's a huge amount left over. We drank Snipes Mountain porter and Cline Red Truck (also gin and apparently some vodka too).

After reading through Elizabeth David's Summer Cooking, I had to try making Oeufs en Cocotte, which now that I think about it are pretty much the same as shirred eggs: Butter a small ovensafe dish, break in an egg, float a tablespoon or so of cream on top, sprinkle with some herbs (I used tarragon), cover and bake (in a bain marie) in a moderate oven until set (5 min for a small, single egg dish at 350 deg F). I didn't have any single egg cocottes (but Le Creuset makes some adorable ones - for $50 apiece!), so I used a 4 cup ramekin and broke 4 eggs in. It needed to bake for about 20 minutes. The eggs were really yummy - sort of like a soft-boiled or very gently poached, only with extra creamy tarragon goodness. They would have been terrific served over toast.

Oh those days of surplus eggs :)

Ha! So, now I have an induction burner that will hold a pan of water at a fairly steady 140 deg F and thought I remembered how to do the long cooked eggs. How could I have forgotten how long those things really took? I should have looked up this thread before I cooked 18 for a mere 90 minutes at 140 last night. I sort of ate 2 for lunch today - the yolks are bland but beautiful, super creamy. But the whites were barely opaque and really not set at all so peeling was a disaster.

i was reading abt these in that new mcsweeneys food mag - wish i could try it!

I left them at 140/180 for about 5 hours after I got home from work last night - will be trying 2 more for lunch today. They may not have the pretzel-y deliciousness, but I'm hoping at least the whites will be set.