Cooking eggs

This thread is going to get me in to so much trouble.

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Sorryā€¦not sorry!

Iā€™ve been using this template for my frittata rotations, almost always with potatoes and onions, and usually with cheese.

So obviously I looked into the key differences between frittatas and tortillas ( of the Spanish persuasion). How about this?

The Gourmand Mom

"The main difference between a tortilla and a frittata is in how the eggs are finished. Both preparations begin with the eggs and filling, cooked stovetop in a frying pan. But whereas the frittata is finished in the oven, Spanish tortillas are flipped and finished on the stovetop.

Traditionally, the potatoes in a Spanish tortilla are peeled and lightly fried in a generous amount of oil prior to composing the tortilla. .".

Or on Food 52

ā€œThey are similar but not identical. A spanish tortilla is always based on eggs and potato whereas a frittata is merely based on eggs. The flip method can be done with both, but these days Italian cooks will finish a frittata under a broiler or salamander.One of my chef friends came up with an ingenious version of the tortilla. She first cooks the potatoes in olive oil (that part is obligatory). Adds that to the beaten eggs, along with seasonings. But then she pours the whole mix into a springform pan and bakes it. The result is a tortilla that holds its shape and can be cut into serving size pieces. Iā€™ve done it myself and itā€™s outstanding, and you donā€™t risk tossing half your tortilla onto the cook top.ā€

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Less effective if youā€™re batch cooking, but for one or two Iā€™ll use bon appetitā€™s microwave poached eggs method - not perfect like a SV egg, but pretty close (and quick!)
https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/inside-our-kitchen/article/for-perfectly-poached-eggs-the-microwave-is-your-friend

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I donā€™t want to forget input on deviled eggs.

From that thread, for easy access

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Apparently my Yahoo Mail account knows Iā€™m researching cooking eggs and included this in my ā€œcurated streamā€.

Adding it here for fun. I could count on one hand the number of prince stories Iā€™ve read, not counting ā€œthe artist formerly known asā€.

I make a dozen hardboiled every weekā€¦its quick easy protein for any meal. (Iā€™m also on Weight Watchers and eggs are easy on the program)

I start in cold water, then bring to a boil. 5 minutes to boil, then remove from the heat,cover, and let rest 5 minutes. Cool water bath and into the fridge. I get very little to no dark ring at all.

I make tortilla espanol all the time as a lazy night supperā€¦my biggest shortcut is to use a bag of Simply Potatoes hash browns as theyā€™re already shredded and precooked. (Key word is lazy hereā€¦). Some diced ham and sliced sweet onion and I have supper and lunch. Its tasty cold or warmed gently.

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This idea of using the microwave sounds terrific too! Iā€™ll have to give it a go this weekend!

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Our son gave us a microwave earlier this year. We never owned one. So I just tried the egg poaching method described in the link at 1, 1.5, 2 min intervals in a 1000 watt box.

The convenience is useful; in my case travel wise very useful. I preferred the 1.5 min egg. More soft boiled than poached. One min was too runny and 2 mins was to firm and spongey yolk.

Looking forward to your experiments using a 'wave.

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I have kids, so we do a fair amount of toad in the hole :slight_smile: which frankly I love. But otherwise, people here vary on their egg prefs. Iā€™ve taught my kids to like the runny yolk (good parenting!) so I think they both prefer the over-easy. My older one I taught too well, so he does not like scrambled. My husband doesnā€™t like runny yolk. Heā€™s weird. So when he eats eggs, theyā€™re always scrambled well done. God forbid they should be moist at all. My younger one is the most flexible eating-wise, and will eat the over easy, the toad, the scramble, the omelette. Heā€™s my favorite :slight_smile:

The most reliable egg prep chez me is the clafoutis, because everyone gets behind it. I loosely follow the recipe in Gourmetā€™s big yellow book, and almost always do a sweet version. My husband (donā€™t ask me to be logical) will not eat literally the same base with savory ingredients that he otherwise likes. Our go-to is cherry clafoutis, which I think is the original French version anyway, with pits!

Every year usually, we go u-pick cherries, and grab up about 60-80 lbs. We have a pitting party (see what I did there?) for the ones we donā€™t eat fresh, and turn those into jams or freeze them for smoothies and cobblers. But at some point, we get fully sick of pitting, and have a bag or two for the freezer of unpitted. Thatā€™s what gets used in the clafoutis.

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And while weā€™re on eggs, I am adding a subtopic on peeling hard-boiled eggs. Iā€™ve read that older eggs are easier to peel, but itā€™s not like I have a lot of control over that. My method, which I picked up in various research, is to boil, then drain, then crack them a bit and put them in an ice bath. Supposedly this makes the egg shrink away from the shell and makes shell peeling easier. Well. Maybe 1/2 the time it works, and the remainder, a lot of white comes off too, because the shell hasnā€™t let go. Itā€™s frustrating to lose so much, and also, it makes the eggs not pretty and the work hard. So if anyone has an alternate method that is more reliable than my current one, please please enlighten me.

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We might be married to the same guy!

Iā€™ve read that steamed eggs, including in an electric pressure cooker, peel easily, and I have had good luck with that in my Instantpot , and on the stove in a steamer, but Iā€™ve typically had times when something seems the answer, and then a fail.

Dang. You always see that in movies about the guy with 2 families, and all those business trips. :slight_smile:

However, we probably are safe, since mine will eat his beef medium.

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I have switched to steaming and putting the cooked eggs into cold, not icy, water and since I have, there has only been one egg* that did not peel easily. Kenji Lopez-Alt cooked something like 700 eggs to come up with this (probably behind a paywall). There is also a Bon Appetit article on steaming eggs which I found useful. I use a steamer rack above water and either an Instant Pot or much more often a pot on the stove. I like my ā€œhard boiledā€ eggs to be slightly fudgy in the center for some applications but cooked through for others and find that for large eggs 12 minutes has a slightly fudgy yolk (at sea level).

*The problem with that one egg was that I did not get under the membrane before ripping off the shell and so it stuck.

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Thanks. Iā€™m trying this next. Iā€™ve never steamed eggs before. Do you crack them a little before immersing in cold water? And how long do you let them sit before peeling?

No I donā€™t crack them. If Iā€™m making jammy eggs for ramen (about 6.5 minutes) I take them out of the water as soon as I can bear to touch them. I leave them till cooler for hard ā€œboiledā€. I have had no luck leaving them in their shells, BTW, they always get that grey ring, but peeled and stored in a covered container they are good for days.

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My favs are soft boiled eggs. Will cook 6 at a time, 5 minutes once the water comes to a boil.
Cold (not icy) bath till I can handle them.
If I can peel them whole, will leave for salads or burgers or something. If they break, into the bowl they go with butter and s&p with toast.
Usually get 4 peeled, 2 to eat. Sometimes 3 to keep and 3 to eat. Its a sacrifice I am willing to make.

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Everything you wanted to know and more about steaming eggs by Kenji. No paywall.

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My Turkish eggs. Never thought Iā€™d say this, but too much butter.

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You can control a lot of itā€¦buy eggs that have the soonest expiration date. Buy them as far in advance as you can (I know Iā€™m boiling a dozen a week, so I know to buy them about halfway through the current carton)

Iā€™ve found that letting them rest in the fridge after cooking helpsā€¦overnight at a minimum, but I notice them getting harder to peel towards the end of the week.

I also thoroughly crack my 2 for breakfast, then put them in a small resealable plastic container with a little water and shake GENTLYā€¦the shells peel right off.

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