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Eggstatic about eggs


liuzhou

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Eggs

 

Is there a more versatile food? Eggs give us life, literally. And they feed us.

 

Boiled, poached, fried, baked, roasted, scrambled, raw. Omelets. Fish roe. Caviar.

 

Cakes and batters and everywhere.

 

So, I wonder, what do you do with eggs that I might not know, Probably a lot. Recipes, techniques?

 

What kind of eggs? Chicken, ducks, quail, goose, of course. Any others?

Edited by liuzhou (log)

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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I usually poach or soft-cook them. Occasionally will make omelettes or have them sunny-side up. I haven't heard of roasting them though, that is a new one to me.

Baked eggs are divine. Keep meaning to try doing soufflés, but those intimidate me.

Might make an egg and potato curry this weekend. We'll see.

Wild turkey eggs will be available at the market soon. They're slightly larger than your standard large chicken eggs, have a somewhat tougher shell and a "gamier" flavor when cooked.

Re hard-cooked eggs, I've heard of the 5 minute method. Bring a pot of water to a boil, add your eggs and boil for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and have the eggs sit until the water has completely cooled down. Peel, then eat. I haven't tested this method yet, but supposedly it works.

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Edited by SobaAddict70 (log)
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I usually poach or soft-cook them. Occasionally will make omelettes or have them sunny-side up. I haven't heard of roasting them though, that is a new one to me.

Baked eggs are divine. Keep meaning to try doing soufflés, but those intimidate me.

Might make an egg and potato curry this weekend. We'll see.

Wild turkey eggs will be available at the market soon. They're slightly larger than your standard large chicken eggs, have a somewhat tougher shell and a "gamier" flavor when cooked.

Re hard-cooked eggs, I've heard of the 5 minute method. Bring a pot of water to a boil, add your eggs and boil for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and have the eggs sit until the water has completely cooled down. Peel, then eat. I haven't tested this method yet, but supposedly it works.

 

See here: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/146719-breakfast-2014/page-4?p=1955871#entry1955871

 

Re: the "5 minute method" - more correctly it might be "bring eggs to boiling in a pan/pot of water, shut off heat, leave for 10 minutes".  It works, quite nicely, for "hard boiled eggs".  Crack the end of the egg afterwards before resting in cold water and before peeling, to allow the sulfur-derivative gases to escape and avoid the grey ring around the yolk.

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Nothing new or exciting from this post.  Just a chance to say that DH and I love Egg Foo Yung and eat it regularly with our home-cooked simple Chinese food.  As in today's lunch.

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Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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The Guardian newspaper has collected its ten best egg recipes:

 

Arancini eggs

Burmese duck egg curry

Souffled egg and bacon tart

Sabich sandwich Brunch hash

Nicoise salad with tuna sauce

Coffee caramel custards

Overnight French toast

Texan migas

Pastéis de nata – Portuguese custard pies

Edited by Plantes Vertes (log)
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Some time back, maybe two or three years ago, I posted my method of scrambled eggs - which was a staple when I was a child, for a very large family, prepared and served in a chafer without becoming tough and inedible.

 

My grandpa's cook made them this way.  I learned how and have always made them this way and people rave about them. 

 

Scrambled Eggs

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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I love various egg + porridge combos:

Century egg + salted pork ribs porridge

Boiled salted duck egg + plain porridge

Raw egg yolk (chicken or quail egg) + beef porridge

 

Love marinated soft boiled eggs. Like the ones serve with ramen. Or any boiled eggs in stew.

 

Steamed water eggs is a childhood favorite.

 

Runny egg yolk + pasta is also lovely.

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I talked a bit about some of my egg preferences in this topic and in the following post there.

 

Additionally, another thing I frequently do is to break a couple of eggs directly into the broth/soup mixture of whatever "instant noodles/ramen" I am cooking and gussying up, in a single pot, and poaching them in situ.  Sometimes I'll poach them separately then add them to the bowl of gussied-up stuff, or even non-gussied-up stuff as the case may be.

 

Nobody seems to have mentioned Fried Rice?  Of course you would be perfectly acquainted with all manner of variations on this wide-ranging dish, I imagine.  For myself I tend to "scramble the eggs in situ" while the rice is being made, in the same pan.  Sometimes I'll cook it separately as a plain omelette, bubbly and browned (in the SE/E Asian manner) then chop it up into strips and add it to the fried rice as it is being finished - I'll do this with Yeung Chow fried rice (Cantonese style), for example.

 

ETA: Oh, Pasta carbonara, of course, done the "traditional way" with just egg yolks, Pecorino Romano, guanciale, pepper.

I haven't done it for a while but have also made one or other of the various Cantonese-type (or otherwise) "steamed egg with xxx" dishes - e.g. minced pork stirred w/ beaten eggs and then steamed in a suitable dish and variations thereof; or some variation of chawanmushi with xxx added to it.  I'm sure I'm leaving out lots of others I do...

Edited by huiray (log)
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Nothing new or exciting from this post.  Just a chance to say that DH and I love Egg Foo Yung and eat it regularly with our home-cooked simple Chinese food.  As in today's lunch.

 

I like a good egg foo, yet many recipes are just gooey glops of brown sauce over eggs mixed with assorted veggies or meat.  Have you got an especially good, nice, vibrant recipe you'd care to share?

Edited by Shel_B (log)

 ... Shel


 

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My mother taught me to fry eggs for myself when I was six. My wife and I passed that on to our kids. Not long after that she taught me to make what she called "Buck Rogers," or "Flying Saucer" eggs. It was the basic egg in a hole in bread, but the name made it more interesting.

 

Shortly after leaving college, I was renting space in an old farm house with some other folks. One of them tried raising chickens and ducks. The ducks managed to escape the pen. From there it was a short waddle to a stream, and away they went. But they still hung out around the farm property, and would raid the garden. I lost many rows of pea sprouts.

 

But, I found that during early spring they would come up around the house, and sit under the warm parked cars during the cold nights. I got up one morning, and found 2 fresh eggs. Yum. This continued for some time, and the best egg dish I've ever had were fresh really free range duck eggs, fried over easy, and plopped onto grated fried potatoes from the same garden the ducks raided.

 

A stall at the local farmer's market has duck eggs each spring, and so its a special treat, tho' they are not quite as rich as the foraging ducks laid.

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We eat a lot of eggs.  Usually have them in omelets since the possibilities are endless there.  Usually only have chicken eggs on hand.  We do scrambled eggs from time to time and also love to do make ahead breakfast casseroles.

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I usually buy duck eggs. They are available year round. When perfectly fresh, I usually poach them, but sometimes boil or whatever. Chicken eggs I buy less frequently. No particular reason, I just prefer duck eggs. 

 

I often also buy quail eggs to boil or poach and drop into bowls of noodle soup. I also use them to make Scotch eggs with a 50:50 mix of pork and the local blood sausage.

 

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Then there are the preserved eggs. (皮蛋 pí dàn, century eggs, 100-year old eggs, 1000-year old. Whatever you call them.) Usually duck. 

 

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Occasionally, I will buy tea eggs. Chicken eggs usually, boiled in tea and spices for hours. The shells are then cracked and crazed then the eggs soak for hours more.

 

The local supermarket has goose eggs and I did buy them out of curiosity, but although they were enjoyable enough, they are a bit too large to be practical for me.

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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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I was thinking of curing yolks in salt, so I was wondering if any of you- that have already done it- want to share your experiences.

 

Also I'd like to cure them in miso, maybe cook them at 65 C first. I already read THIS and THIS

 

I am really undecided for the cured yolk on the ratio of sugar/salt and timings. Any tip is appreciated.

Edited by Franci (log)
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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

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"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

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I also use them to make Scotch eggs with a 50:50 mix of pork and the local blood sausage.

 

 

 

We call this a meatball peekaboo in Holland. Although we're not adding the blood sausage in it, but just the mince to make a meatball. 

Waste Watcher

Spreading knowledge about anti-food waste.

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  • 5 months later...

I wondered if there was a topic when my present observation would fit. This egg topic seems like a good match.

image.jpg

Observe these egg halves. (This photo was previously posted in the dinner topic.) The remarkable thing about these egg halves is that the yolk is almost perfectly centred. This is not easily done without some futzing around ranging from turning the eggs upside down in storage to carefully moving them around in the water as they cook. But I simply brought these to a rapid boil and turned off the heat. The "magic" was in the heat source.

I have an induction range. Normally I would bring the eggs to a boil gradually. On this occasion however I was pressed for time and brought them to a boil on the highest setting. I watched the eggs as the water came to a rapid boil and they tumbled gently in the swirling water. It occurred to me even before I peeled them and cut them in half that there was a good likelihood the yolk would be well centered and sure enough it was. Anyone else found this to be true?

I'm guessing it's due to the nature of induction heating in which molecules are forced into rapid movement. And this movement is transmitted to the water and hence to whatever is in the water. I'm sure my science stinks so please feel free to correct me. I just know I will make use of this phenomenon when I have to hard boil eggs for deviled eggs and it is important that the yolk is in the centre.

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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Occasionally, I will buy tea eggs. Chicken eggs usually, boiled in tea and spices for hours. The shells are then cracked and crazed then the eggs soak for hours more.

 

The local supermarket has goose eggs and I did buy them out of curiosity, but although they were enjoyable enough, they are a bit too large to be practical for me.

 

I never heard before about boiled eggs in tea. Can you explain this technique in details, I am very eager to try it?

member of London's Fantastic Services - oven cleaning branch

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I never heard before about boiled eggs in tea. Can you explain this technique in details, I am very eager to try it?

 

They are everywhere in China. In small convenience stores and from street vendors. Most restaurants will find some, too.

 

Basically the eggs (chicken or duck) are hard boiled as normal, or somewhat longer than normal. They are then allowed to cool and the shells are cracked but not removed. A second boiling (actually more of a simmering) then takes place in a spiced, black tea mix. The spicing varies regionally. Often soy sauce is also added to the tea mix. After a minimum of  20 minutes but probably much longer, the heat is turned off and the eggs left to steep in the tea liquid for several hours. 

 

Mr Google has many recipes. With many variations. I like this one.

Edited by liuzhou (log)
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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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They are everywhere in China. In small convenience stores and from street vendors. Most restaurants will find some, too.

 

Basically the eggs (chicken or duck) are hard boiled as normal, or somewhat longer than normal. They are then allowed to cool and the shells are cracked but not removed. A second boiling (actually more of a simmering) then takes place in a spiced, black tea mix. The spicing varies regionally. Often soy sauce is also added to the tea mix. After a minimum of  20 minutes but probably much longer, the heat is turned off and the eggs left to steep in the tea liquid for several hours. 

 

Mr Google has many recipes. With many variations. I like this one.

 

Thanks for the details! I will definitely try it. I guess Chinese don't have much recipes without soy sauce, if there are any :) 

member of London's Fantastic Services - oven cleaning branch

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On 10/09/2014 at 8:49 PM, polbishop25 said:

Thanks for the details! I will definitely try it. I guess Chinese don't have much recipes without soy sauce, if there are any :) 

 

There are many, but perhaps not a majority.

 

Edited by liuzhou (log)

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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