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Boiled and Pickled Eggs
Sep. 12th, 2011 10:41 amFirst off, the most exhaustive exploration of the question "How do I boil an egg?" as I have ever seen.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/10/the-food-lab-science-of-how-to-cook-perfect-boiled-eggs.html
I enjoyed the bit on soft boiled eggs, which the author attests, if done properly, will "get you laid."
Ha ha. Eggs, "laid," see what they did there?
Since we now know the minimum safe standard, you might be wondering what happens if an egg is boiled to the EXTREME!
Egyptian cuisine has the answer in Beid Hamine, or slow cooked eggs. These eggs are cooked at a low temperature over a long period of time. (Six to eight hours. In antiquity, the recipe probably called for the eggs to be nested in the embers of a campfire overnight.)
The maillard reaction turns the white of the egg into a rich caramel brown. I'm told that the flavor is somewhat caramel-ey as well.
Beid Hamine Egg (Long cooked egg)
http://egyptianfood.org/egyptian-slow-cooked-eggs-beid-hamine/
http://iheartkale.blogspot.com/2010/03/hamine-eggs-for-grandma-olga.html
The inclusion of tea or coffee to impart an aromatic or smoky flavor to Beid Hamine can probably trace its roots to the Chinese method of "marbling" boiled eggs by re-boiling them in a strong tea. The tannins in the tea can't permeate the eggshell unless it is cracked, and some chef in antiquity hit on the idea of cracking the shells just slightly... The resulting marbled texture is quite nice.
I've seen examples on the web using food coloring for a more severe effect.
Marbled Tea Eggs
http://whatscookingamerica.net/EllenEaston/TeaInfusedEggs.htm
http://steamykitchen.com/2147-chinese-tea-eggs-recipe.html
For a traditionally red egg, we can turn to the Germans, who have been pickling eggs in brine with beets for ever.
Beet Pickled Egg (German recipe involving beets)
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pickled_eggs/
For a less traditional slavic pickled egg, the Danes have a really interesting one.
Solæg (Danish pickled eggs)
http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/04/solaeg-pickled-eggs-from-south-jutland.html
In Solaeg, the pickling process causes the egg yolk to turn green, then grey, and then black-green, the longer it is in the pickling solution. The darkness of the yolk is a sign of the quality of the egg... The darker the better.
The transformation of the yolk from yellow to black in Solaeg is a controlled version of a process that sometimes occurs when boiling eggs normally.
The sulfur in the white reacts with iron in the yolk to make ferrous-sulfide (which is the blue grey band on the yolk,) and hydrogen sulfide, which may escape as a gas when you peel the egg, leading to a strong sulfurous smell in the kitchen.
Of course, if you want the whole egg to turn black, you'll need to turn once again to the true masters of the pickle, the Chinese, who take the cake for dubious preservation methods with the "Century Egg," or a black to the core pickled egg which carries the effect of the Solaeg further by use of a much stronger base, lye.
The egg is soaked in lye until the strong base has permeated the egg, and raises the pH. The egg is then wrapped to keep Oxygen out (which would lead to decay) and the low acidity chemically breaks down some of the long chain proteins into simpler, more flavorful compounds. The process is similar to curing a cheese or dry aging meat.
Thousand Year Egg (Pickled with quicklime)
http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/asia/chinese/preserved-duck-eggs1.html
http://www.camemberu.com/2008/02/century-egg-with-pickled-ginger.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_egg
The largest byproduct of the century egg's pickling process is ammonia, and the strong smell of the egg has led some cultures to call it the "horse urine egg," presumably because of the strong smell.
This has led other cultures to believe that urine is part of the pickling process, but it's a misnomer, because urine is chemically pretty neutral, and is not strong enough to pickle the egg.
But just because this particular pickle doesn't use urine, doesn't mean that someone hasn't gone there in the past...(link not for the faint of heart or soft of stomach...)
http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/10/the-food-lab-science-of-how-to-cook-perfect-boiled-eggs.html
I enjoyed the bit on soft boiled eggs, which the author attests, if done properly, will "get you laid."
Ha ha. Eggs, "laid," see what they did there?
Since we now know the minimum safe standard, you might be wondering what happens if an egg is boiled to the EXTREME!
Egyptian cuisine has the answer in Beid Hamine, or slow cooked eggs. These eggs are cooked at a low temperature over a long period of time. (Six to eight hours. In antiquity, the recipe probably called for the eggs to be nested in the embers of a campfire overnight.)
The maillard reaction turns the white of the egg into a rich caramel brown. I'm told that the flavor is somewhat caramel-ey as well.
Beid Hamine Egg (Long cooked egg)
http://egyptianfood.org/egyptian-slow-cooked-eggs-beid-hamine/
http://iheartkale.blogspot.com/2010/03/hamine-eggs-for-grandma-olga.html
The inclusion of tea or coffee to impart an aromatic or smoky flavor to Beid Hamine can probably trace its roots to the Chinese method of "marbling" boiled eggs by re-boiling them in a strong tea. The tannins in the tea can't permeate the eggshell unless it is cracked, and some chef in antiquity hit on the idea of cracking the shells just slightly... The resulting marbled texture is quite nice.
I've seen examples on the web using food coloring for a more severe effect.
Marbled Tea Eggs
http://whatscookingamerica.net/EllenEaston/TeaInfusedEggs.htm
http://steamykitchen.com/2147-chinese-tea-eggs-recipe.html
For a traditionally red egg, we can turn to the Germans, who have been pickling eggs in brine with beets for ever.
Beet Pickled Egg (German recipe involving beets)
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pickled_eggs/
For a less traditional slavic pickled egg, the Danes have a really interesting one.
Solæg (Danish pickled eggs)
http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/04/solaeg-pickled-eggs-from-south-jutland.html
In Solaeg, the pickling process causes the egg yolk to turn green, then grey, and then black-green, the longer it is in the pickling solution. The darkness of the yolk is a sign of the quality of the egg... The darker the better.
The transformation of the yolk from yellow to black in Solaeg is a controlled version of a process that sometimes occurs when boiling eggs normally.
The sulfur in the white reacts with iron in the yolk to make ferrous-sulfide (which is the blue grey band on the yolk,) and hydrogen sulfide, which may escape as a gas when you peel the egg, leading to a strong sulfurous smell in the kitchen.
Of course, if you want the whole egg to turn black, you'll need to turn once again to the true masters of the pickle, the Chinese, who take the cake for dubious preservation methods with the "Century Egg," or a black to the core pickled egg which carries the effect of the Solaeg further by use of a much stronger base, lye.
The egg is soaked in lye until the strong base has permeated the egg, and raises the pH. The egg is then wrapped to keep Oxygen out (which would lead to decay) and the low acidity chemically breaks down some of the long chain proteins into simpler, more flavorful compounds. The process is similar to curing a cheese or dry aging meat.
Thousand Year Egg (Pickled with quicklime)
http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/asia/chinese/preserved-duck-eggs1.html
http://www.camemberu.com/2008/02/century-egg-with-pickled-ginger.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_egg
The largest byproduct of the century egg's pickling process is ammonia, and the strong smell of the egg has led some cultures to call it the "horse urine egg," presumably because of the strong smell.
This has led other cultures to believe that urine is part of the pickling process, but it's a misnomer, because urine is chemically pretty neutral, and is not strong enough to pickle the egg.
But just because this particular pickle doesn't use urine, doesn't mean that someone hasn't gone there in the past...(link not for the faint of heart or soft of stomach...)
