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Website: Serious Eats
Pefect Boiled Eggs
Page: www.seriouseats.com/2009/10/the-food-lab-science-of-how-to-cook-perfect-boiled-eggs.html
| Course Type: Breakfast/Brunch
Recipe Review
friederike from Berlin,
As expected, the most difficult part was to get the water exactly on temperature, and then to keep it that way until the egg was boiled. I managed to keep it between 80° and 85°C (175 and 185°F) - it should have been 82°C (180°F). Not too bad, you would think. However, the egg was still undercooked.
Yet, it's still too early to call - I tried Heston Blumenthal's recipe at least three times before giving up. I'm still considering what went wrong - was it too short? The water too cold? I noticed that I wasn't able to see any bubbles in the water - it should have looked like the upper right of these images. Surely this isn't due to altitude, right? For heaven's sake, I'm in Amsterdam and not in Bogotá!
Take 2:
Of course, my day started with a soft boiled egg. One of the commenters (on 23 April 2011) mentions steaming an egg. It seemed simple enough, so I gave it a try - obviously this had nothing to do with the method described in Serious Eats. Unfortunately, my egg was overcooked, the egg white was rubbery and even the egg yolk had begun to set.
I tried another one, reverting back to the Serious Eats method, adding one minute extra. It was nearly perfect, the egg white was just a bit undercooked. I have to add, though, that I had forgotten to put the eggs back into the fridge, so in reality you might have to add a few seconds to get this effect. 8 minutes then?
And there were tiny bubbles this time, I believe it was just too dark to see (the pan had blue enamel on the inside).
Comments
Queezle_Sister - 11th January 2013
I really like serious eats! And while I'm also not in Bogotá, I am at 5000 ft. Lately I've been playing around with using my pressure cooker for boiled eggs - if you have a fancy pressure cooker with a low pressure setting it seems to work well for me.
http://www.hippressurecooking.com/2011/04/hip-modernist-soft-medium-and-hard.html
friederike - 12th January 2013
I don't have a pressure cooker, but it sounds interesting! Is it worth it having one?
Since experimenting with soft boiled eggs, I'm actually thinking about one of these egg cookers. I always thought it silly to buy a machine that has one only sole function if you can actually do the same thing in even the most basic kitchen. But then again I have an ice cream machine, even if you could achieve (nearly) the same thing with a freezer and a whisk.
Zosia - 19th January 2013
I don't know what steaming method you used but I came across the Cook's Illustrated version that you may want to try.
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/detail.asp?docid=38650
I must admit that I rely on Henrietta to cook my eggs....she's not great at poaching them but she's been producing perfect soft and hard cooked eggs for me for over 10 years. (Lot's of mixed reviews on Amazon though)
friederike - 19th January 2013
Yes, it was pretty much that, but then 7 instead of 6 1/2 minutes. Hmm, maybe I really should try one of those egg cookers. Are there big differences between different brands, as far as you know?
Queezle_Sister - 20th January 2013
I used to have one of those dedicated egg cookers. It worked great, but didn't see much use (we mostly eat our eggs fried). I agree that making perfect boiled eggs by other means is technically challenging.
Zosia - 20th January 2013
I'm afraid I've never really looked into egg cookers.....Henrietta was a gift from my husband who by that Christmas had run out of kitchen appliances to buy me and was feeling quite desperate ;).
Product reviews, especially those published in reputable magazines or on websites that have actually tested the item (somewhat scientifically) may be of some help.
Queezle_Sister - 21st January 2013
I think the one I used to have is similar to this one on amazon.
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