sous vide poached egg

Here's a quick sous vide poach, and it works quite well. 167 degrees for 12 minutes, then ice bath to arrest cooking. The eggs can be cracked directly onto toast, or perhaps into a bowl if you want to scrape off the unset whites. But I was pretty impressed. Very little egg left in the shell.

Marinated Eggs

 I am trying to perfect soft boiled eggs, which have been difficult. I have found that following the sous vide instructions does not work, because eight minutes at 194 degrees produces eggs where the whites are too loose. It won't extract from the peel, and it is generally a mess.

Today I tried six eggs, 194 degrees, for ten minutes. Specifically, I add the eggs, then start the timer. I add the eggs one at a time in a slotted spoon, so it takes a few seconds. I have to be very careful, or risk cracking the eggs when they go in. 

The result was interesting. Several of the eggs peeled rather easily, but still seemed soft enough to be truly soft boiled. Several still had adolescent whites, clinging to the shell. There must be a thirty second window around the ten minute mark, given that some of the eggs had to have cooked longer, and I could not tell you which ones they were. 

Marinade (a totally made-up recipe on my part):

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup mirin
  
• 1/8 tsp cayenne
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 star anise

The Max Eastman Flip, Part 2

 So, here is the recipe for the holiday alternative to rum and eggnog.

For 2 cocktails (who mixes just one?)

in a Boston shaker, mix

2 oz. bourbon (Bulleit, or Woodford or Maker's)

1 1/2 oz. vermouth (Dolin with Bulleit; Cocchi with Woodford)

1 1/2 oz. half and half (whipping cream if you have it)

2 egg yolks

2 barspoons powdered sugar

ice

While it sits, prepare a small cocktail glass, either a coup or a small roly poly. Place a single cocktail cherry at the bottom. 

 Shake the drink for at least one minute, preferably two. 

Pour out immediately in stages, reserving froth for both glasses.

Weeknight Ramen

Ramen ought to be an easy meal. I'm not there yet. Here is where I am so far.




STEP 1: THE BROTH

2 quarts water
2 strips kelp
1/2 cup bonita flakes

Simmer the kelp in the water for ten minutes, then add the bonita flakes, simmer another five. Strain out the kelp and bonita flakes. Turn off heat and over.

STEP 2: PROTEINS

I used a sous vide preparation for soft boiled eggs at six minutes, 194 degrees followed by an iced water bath. Then I cracked the eggs and dunked them in warm water and peeled. It was a disaster. The eggs were almost formless. NEXT TIME: cook a touch longer then let them rest at room temperature.

UPDATE: skip the ice bath, and it works really, really well. Eggs were a little too firm, if anything, so maybe a warm water bath?

STEP 3: THE SOUP BASE

the base

2 tsp microplaned ginger
3 tsp microplaned garlic
2 tsp sesame seed oil
3 tbsp soy sauce (low sodium, as it happens)
2 tbsp mirin




Add the base to the broth and heat on low.
Then add: Shitake mushrooms

This is our broth.


STEP 4: FINISHING

Cook noodles (we tried cooking them in the broth and it predictably ate up lots of the broth.)

We added greens to make it a one pot meal.

sous vide escapades, vol. 1: poached eggs

My wife is skeptical of my sous vide stick. Perhaps not for the normal reasons (cooking in plastic? heating water?) but because it strikes her as grossly redundant. You want vegetables? Broil or saute them. You want beets? Boil them? Perfect steak? Warm the meet and then use your big green egg to work its magic.

It did not help that my first forays into sous vide land were utter disasters. I tried Broccoli, which would not sink. The result was mushy and tasteless. I cooked it too long. The beets I did not cook long enough. The asparagus turned out quite well. It was well cooked but retained some crunch. I finished it in oil flavored with lemon zest, salt, pepper, and garlic.

She was not impressed. It was missing the charred flavor that comes with broiling with olive oil and salt and pepper. "Well," I said, "you can always finish it in the pan to char it." But by then I had lost the argument--if you are going to finish with heat, why not start with it?

So today I tried eggs. This was roundly ridiculed. You need a $200 sous vide stick to boil an egg? Not boil--poach. I have tried and never succeeded at poaching eggs on the stove top. Now I had a chance to try something new.

I used the Chefsteps Sous Vide recipe, which was

147.1 degrees for 1 hour.
Dunk the eggs in cold water for a minute or two
crack them over a spoon on a plate, in order to separate the unset whites from the set whites.

The eggs slipped right out of the spoon. They picked up easily and could be served without a problem. They were also delicious and beautiful. Just like actual poached eggs.

It would be nice if the whites were a little more set--I felt like I lost a lot of the egg. There is a shorter cook time at higher heat that is supposed to achieve this:

167 degrees for 15 minutes.

I cooked a mess of eggs and left several in their shells in the fridge. I want to try them cold, and reheated, just to see if they work out either way.

Reheating should occur at:

140 degrees for 15 minutes to one hour.

So, eggs are my first big success. Next comes duck, so let's hope that one goes in the win column.

UPDATE:

Reheated the eggs and it worked just fine.

scrambling the egg

It turns out there is an art to scrambling. I had, hitherto, treated scrambled eggs much like I treated omelets, cooking them over high heat for a short amount of time with one tablespoon of butter. But research conducted before a Sunday brunch for visiting family shamed me--I've been doing it wrong. The differences between omelet and scramble are, it turns out, great.

Omelets proceed from lightly beaten eggs--no more than forty strokes. Scrambles benefit from aeration, so it is preferable to whisk them into submission. I prefer in both situations to allow the eggs to rise to room temperature before cooking, should time allow.

The high heat used in omelet preparation helps establish shape and consistency in a single omelet. The texture it returns is fluffy, but it is also a decided and whole structure. Even without filling, the omelet still tastes like a sandwich to me, and this gastronomic metaphor actually helps one evaluate omelets. I dined the other week at Murphy's, a Virginia-Highlands mainstay that has usually returned palatable fare during my time in Atlanta. I believe, in fact, that it was the first restaurant I ever went to, back when I interviewed. I ordered the special omelet, which promised Berkshire ham and, well, something else that I can't remember now. The ham was great. The eggs... not so much. It was flat, slightly browned, and far too big. The result was joyless eggs, much like a sandwich on wonderbread. I picked the ham out.

For a scramble, the heat should be medium low. I've experimented with my front burners between 4 and 6, and found that 6 is definitely too high. (Note: try the back burners, where low heat can be controlled better.) Once the butter has melted in the pan (1 tbsp for 2-3 eggs), add the eggs. Then start whisking, and prepare to whisk for 3-4 minutes. As the eggs cook, they will separate into curds. The whisking helps aerate and keep the curds small. The result is not fluffy, but creamy. The texture is something more akin to polenta than an omelet. They are phenomenally good this way, and they can be dressed after completion with butter, chives, or any other herb.

The best scramble I have made so far I did in my metal saute pan. I stuck to metal because it allowed me to use a metal whisk. When I used the nonstick pan, I used a rubber spoon and swirled the eggs. The curds were larger when I did this, and although the eggs were tender, they were not as good.

There are two drawbacks to cooking eggs in this French fashion. The first is specific to the scramble, and is merely the trouble of cleaning a metal pan in which eggs stick. The second problem covers both, and is a problem of texture and taste. Once you begin to realize how heat, applied in different ways, alters the same core ingredient to produce variation, you become aware of how awful most eateries really are. I am reminded of a scene in Grosse Point Blank where John Cusack orders a plain, egg-white omelet at a diner while in a silent standoff with Dan Akroyd, who has just ordered poached eggs. The waitress, oblivious to the fact that the two are pointing guns at each other under the table, asks Cusack what he wants in his omelet. Cusack asks for it plain, and the waitress objects that it can't technically be an omelet without a filling. I can't do the scene comedic justice, but it says something about the quality of the writing that I can only now appreciate its humor fully. Omelets are not about filling. They are about eggs. And my recent disappointment at Murphy's is all thanks to understanding just how different are different kinds of egg preparation. Alas!

Board Night Omlettes

So-called because the last Thursday of every month is my volunteer board meeting, which means I must leave the house by 6:30 and my wife teaches until 6 (at the house). This leaves me little time to prepare food. I usually arrive with my daughter circa 5:50, and we quietly crack eggs into bowls, defrost bread for toast, and get ready to run three omlettes down the assembly line and onto the table. Board Night Omlettes are typically smoked salmon and cream cheese, giving the whole thing a rather snooty feel to it. Decadent at least. Notes about my ongoing quest to perfect the Omlette:

1) subtracting yolks may be nice on cholesterol count, but is bad for the texture. One omelette had two yolks; the others had one. Two yolks produced a custard-like texture; one yolk tasted thinner and rubbery by comparison.

2) heat must be carefully regulated. Contrary to Julia Child's video instructions, the omlette pan need not be as hot as you can get it. That tends to burn the butter instantly, imparting bad color to the eggs. It also cooks the eggs too fast, resulting in a tough outer skin. The pan must be hot, but not smoking hot. The butter must be able to melt and turn a nice golden brown before the eggs go in. I've also found that turning the pan off after flipping allows for even cooking while you add the filling. It also cools the pan just enough for the second round, before you apply high heat. The dial setting on my stove that seems to work best is 8, with a preheat of about thirty seconds (or as long as it takes me to put the predone toast down to reheat).