Soft Cooked Eggs

[rich]

I have a Jaques Pepin recipe for his Codfish Brandade and he suggests serving it with soft-cooked eggs, peeled and sliced in half.

Steven (FG) wrote in his egg "blog" how difficult it is to peel a soft-cooked egg. He mentioned watching a professional kitchen staff member who was successful one of four times.

After doing research, I know the perfect way to soft cook an egg (older, bring water to quick boil covered, remove from heat let sit 1-3 minutes and plunge into cold water), but peeling was not mentioned anywhere.

Has anyone had success in this area? Does the same hard-cooked method work, ie. cracking after removing from hot water and peeling under running water?

Thanks for your help.

Edited April 12, 2005 by rich (log)

[Wolfert]

I have had luck with the following method: After removing the eggs from simmering water, cover, and let rest a few minutes before placing in cold water. One by one, drain, gently roll on a hard surface to crackle the shell, then peel, beginning at the larger side of the egg. Dip occasionally into cool water to facilitate peeling.

Edited April 13, 2005 by Wolfert (log)

[Tim Z]

I put about tablespoon of salt in the in the water to make the peeling process easier, of course you still have to let the eggs cool a little. It doesn't effect the flavour of the egg.

[Jinmyo]

I use the handle of a small spoon, tap, turn the egg in the left hand. For quail eggs, a crochet hook. I lose about one out of every four dozen eggs (and eat it).

[mharpo]

I use the handle of a small spoon, tap, turn the egg in the left hand. For quail eggs, a crochet hook. I lose about one out of every four dozen eggs (and eat it).

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Don't forget to use a push pin and poke a hole in the larger end before cooking...

[rich]

I use the handle of a small spoon, tap, turn the egg in the left hand. For quail eggs, a crochet hook. I lose about one out of every four dozen eggs (and eat it).

←

Jin, how do you soft cook quail eggs? Is it place in cold water, bring to simmer quickly (covered), remove from heat, let sit 20-30 seconds and drop in ice water?

How do you use the crochet hook?

Thanks.

Rich

[Jinmyo]

Yes.

The same as the spoon handle: insert beneath the shell and peel around in a spiral fashion.

[k43]

If you're going to halve the eggs anyway, use my mother's method. She would give the egg a sharp rap with the edge of a spoon, break it in half around the equator and scoop each half out with the spoon.