TIPS: So, how do you boil an egg? (HINTS, RECIPES)

[Guest guest]

So, how do you boil an egg?

by VICTORIA MOORE, Daily Mail

22:15pm 31st July 2006

The question has vexed cooks for decades. But now experts at the British

Egg Information Service say they have devised a foolproof way to tell

when an egg is boiled to perfection: a high-tech ink logo stamped onto

the shell that indicates when the egg is soft, medium or hard-boiled.

But can a complex culinary art really be reduced to a science? Looking

at the advice of leading chefs, it seems the answer is that no two can

agree on a single method — and Delia actually offers two . . .

Michel Roux Britain’s longest-serving three Michelin star chef:

The secret is not to boil it at all. Growing up in the South of France

after the war, we only had eggs as a treat on Sundays as they were very

expensive.

My mother would place the eggs in a small saucepan and cover them with

cold water. Then she put them on a medium heat. As soon as the water

began to simmer — not boil — she would remove the eggs. They would be

cooked perfectly and were never rubbery.

If you like your eggs done a little more, then take the pan off the heat

as soon as the water begins to simmer and leave the eggs in the hot

water for around 30 seconds.

Jean-Christophe Novelli:

Michelin-starred chef and star of Hell’s Kitchen Boiling an egg is not

easy and if you can master it, then you are officially in a position to

cook. I prefer to start the way my mother and my grandmother did — by

putting the egg straight into boiling water.

Use a metal basket — for example, a deep sieve — to lower the eggs into

the water together. That way, if you are cooking more than one, they

will all be ready at the same time.

Plus, you are less likely to burn yourself on the hot water and steam or

break the eggs by throwing them in too fast.

Leave the eggs in the pan for precisely three minutes. Then take them

out and plunge them into another container filled with iced water, and

you will have the perfect soft-boiled egg.

Anton Edelman Former head chef at the Savoy:

Put the egg in cold water, bring it to the boil and boil for exactly two

minutes and 30 seconds. Then transfer to iced water for ten seconds. The

cold water sets the membrane so the egg can be easily peeled. This is a

very useful trick when peeling quail’s eggs for salads.

Delia Her book, How To Cook, devotes two pages to the art of

cooking eggs.:

She says you must never boil an egg that has come straight from the

fridge as it is likely to crack. (Incidentally, three Michelin star chef

Heston Blumenthal suggests putting cold eggs in hot — not boiling —

water for a couple of minutes first.)

Use a small saucepan to prevent the eggs knocking into each other and

breaking. Also, always make a pinprick in the rounded end to prevent

pressure building up in the air-pocket, which would crack the shell.

Delia has two methods for producing an egg with a perfectly runny,

golden centre.

Method One: Use a small saucepan filled with enough simmering water to

cover the eggs by about half an inch. Quickly, but gently, lower the

eggs into the water, one at a time, using a tablespoon.

Simmer for one minute, remove the pan from the heat and put a lid on it.

Leave the eggs in the pan for six more minutes for a soft, fairly liquid

yolk and a white that is just set but still quite wobbly. Or for seven

minutes if you like a firmer, more creamy yolk with a white that is

completely set.

Method Two: Place the pan with the eggs in cold water on a high heat.

When they reach boiling point, reduce to a simmer and cook for three

minutes if you like a really soft-boiled egg; four minutes for a white

that is just set and a creamy yolk; five minutes for a white and yolk

perfectly set with a bit of ‘squidgy’ in the centre.

Mrs Beeton:

In her seminal 1861 kitchen authority, Mrs Beeton’s Book Of Household

Management, Isabella Beeton exhorts: ‘Eggs are much better when new-laid

than a day or two afterwards. ‘The usual time allotted for boiling eggs

in the shell is three to 3.25 minutes: less time will not be sufficient

to solidify the white, whereas longer will make the yolk less

digestible. Great care should be employed in putting them into the

water, to prevent cracking the shell.’

Alan son The late food writer and author, According to his Oxford

Companion To Food:

‘Boiled eggs call for little comment, except for the admittedly

fundamental one that it is best not to boil them.

‘If they are put in simmering water, just below boiling point, the risk

of overcooking the white before the yolk is reduced; and so is the risk

of the egg being bumped around by violent agitation of the water.

‘If hard-boiling eggs, do not choose absolutely fresh eggs, in which the

white adheres closely to the shell, making it more difficult to remove

the latter.

‘The eggs should be rinsed under cold water after removal from the pan;

this halts the cooking process, which would otherwise continue for a

while and leave a dark green colour where the yolk meets the white.’

Fritz Blank American chef

This is the most dramatic approach — using crushed ice. He boils an egg

for just two minutes, which makes it hot enough to complete the cooking

process if the egg isn’t eaten for a further ten minutes.

During this time, he rolls the egg in crushed ice so the white doesn’t

overheat and become leathery, and so some of the heat is drawn to the

outside of the egg, instead of overcooking the yolk.

He claims this prevents the unappetising grey layer that sometimes

develops between the white and the yolk.

.. . . and finally, what do scientists suggest?

Dr A physicist from Exeter University:

Dr has worked out a formula for the perfect boiled egg based on

the ‘heat-diffusion equation for spherical objects’.

According to his findings, a medium egg weighing 1.75oz (50g) taken

straight from a 4c fridge needs four minutes and 30 seconds in boiling

water to give it a perfect soft centre.

A smaller egg of 1.5oz (43g) from the fridge takes four minutes 15

seconds to cook and a larger one — 2.25oz (63g)— takes five minutes 30

seconds.

A medium egg stored at room temperature (21c) takes a few seconds under

four minutes.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=3985\

26 & in_page_id=1770

***