EniGGmatic....

I've made poached eggs three or four times since Joule first landed on my doorstep. I've tried various temps and times, the last attempt this morning using the Egg Calculator (found on CS). In that software I chose the measured size of the egg, the temp of the egg (room) and of course the results I wanted for both the white and the yolk. Even after trying the more scientific approach as well as the variations of time and temp, I'm still left with a quite runny white and a semi-firm yolk. My question is this: what will create a more firm white without messing up the nice, creamy yolk? Is it a higher temp or a longer cooking time -OR- a combo of both?

Please and thank you.

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Comments

meyer8863

Higher temp, definitely. The longer cook, will just give you a "fudgier" yolk. If you notice on the egg calculator, you can get a firm yolk, and runny whites with a low temp for a (really) long time. I would suggest 2 options. You can either drop the sous vide egg in boiling water for a few seconds after cooking, to firm up the white (this may make getting it out of the shell more difficult) or check out the 75 C egg.

I would suggest the latter first. Keep us posted!

brian_martin2001

I've tried the various techniques suggested by CS and I've not had much luck with them. The best guide I've found for cooking eggs is The Food Lab's Guide to Slow-Cooked, Sous Vide-Style Eggs. I prefer the 60°C-62.8°C. I would also recommend, for this, that fresher is better. You'll always get a little bit of white that doesn't congeal, but the older the egg, the more you get. I hope that helps.

ps2rocksout

Your right about the freshness of the egg. If you get local farm raised eggs they will be fresher than the supermarkets.

wolfiegirl

Very interesting read. Thank you!

wolfiegirl

I'm going to keep a record of each time/temp going forward. This morning, after using the CS egg calc'er, I cooked the eggs at 70 for 18 minutes. As I said, the yolk was creamy but the whites were far too loose. Still edible but loose. I'm trying to stay away from using the boiling water at the end because in my mind it defeats the whole sv egg thing.

Thank you for your input! It's truly appreciated!

brian_martin2001

For certain! Usually, by the time eggs get to the supermarket, they're pushing 2 weeks old. And that's before anyone even has a shot at buying them.

brian_martin2001

You bet!

FrankM_3301

I've had the best luck doing longer cooks at lower temps. I prefer the 63.5C for an hour to 90 min.. When time is up, I crack the egg into a small dish, because there is still some loose white, that I don't find pleasant. I pour that off, or remove the egg from the excess white with a spoon. While I've never tried it, I also read that you could give the slow cooked egg (before peeling) a dip in boiling water to firm up the remaining uncooked white. Of course, a higher temp will give you firmer whites, in my opinion, you compromise of the yolk consistency, which is what I tend to be most interested in.

Steve_Young_261783

I'd say higher temp... At the restaurant I worked at in California we would drop em in for like 20 minutes then shock them in ice bath... then for service we would throw it back in the circulator that was running at a higher temp for meats to heat them back up... I'd say 1 out of 20 was messed up but usually came out good... always cracked it into a spoon and knocked off the excess white.... I don't remember the Temps but yeah I'd say higher and shorter time might be worth a few tries...also shocking then heating again might help?

JasonWirth_68226

Have you even tried the steamed egg trick as an alternative to hard boiling eggs? If you cook them for about 5 minutes you'll get a hard white and an runny liquid yolk. Since the steam is about 100C this indicates that hard whites come from high temps. As Cheryl mentioned you might want to try a 2-stage method.

JasonWirth_68226

I use this technique. I don't think the yolks are compromised because the time in simmering water is so short. Also I drain the excess whites in cold water which helps keep the yolks consistent.

FrankM_3301

That's correct for the last minute dip. I was referring to an over all strategy that uses a higher temperature for a shorter time when cooking eggs.

wolfiegirl

You've all given me a lot to work with! As time progresses (one can only eat so many eggs in a week!) I'll report back on my findings. Not that I can get anywhere close to CS or the Food Lab technical aspect. I WILL get this right!!

AngelArs_240456

As Brian previously mentioned, I too seem to remember reading somewhere that the freshness of the egg also factors into cooking time. One of the things that I want to learn how to perfect is Sous Vide eggs, so I plan on keeping a journal on size / weight / freshness / temperature / cook time until I can dial in the perfect combination. I love eggs so I don't mind going through all these egg-tremes (pun intended)...

wolfiegirl

Freshness of the ova could be a challenge. I'm a city dweller so farm fresh isn't an option.

AngelArs_240456

That's OK. From what I've read here I think you're on the right track. Keep in mind that an older egg is not two parts; egg yolk and egg white, but 3 parts; egg yolk, tight white and loose white. The link that Brian posted explains it very well. It's the loose white variable that you won't be able to control so you'll need to get rid of (filter out) the older loose white part. The article will walk you through the easiest way to do this. I'll post a chart here of my findings once I get my Joule and I can gather some data.

wolfiegirl

Breakfast this morning....two eggs cold from the fridge using the Ramen egg app. Result was just as the photo reflects in the app: whites solid but tender and a creamy yolk. These eggs cooked at 90° for 8 minutes. Deducing that at that temp the whites are fully cooked, and at 75°/13 minutes they are still very runny, my next adventure will be to try 80°/10 minutes.

Getting closer!

meyer8863

Progress! Woohoo!

Duane_311356

I find a quick dip in just less than boiling water after cracking into a slotted spoon gives me a more pleasant thick albumen and allows the thin albumen to fall away.

One idea I'd like to try but have yet to do so is to pre-boil the egg for a short enough duration and high enough temp that the thin albumen that is in contact with the shell cooks without cooking the thick albumen which is not in contact with the shell. Followed by an ice bath prior to sous-vide.

rdj_245907

I used the Ramen app today for 3 large, out of the fridge eggs. Used a wok spider to lower and raise the eggs from the sous vide container. Eggs were just as advertised - firm whites and slightly runny yolks. Nice feature was the lack of attention I had to pay to the cooking eggs.

Jeremy_131558

I also follow the longer cook time lower temp method.

https://youtu.be/GpvbNG1Dzhk Helpful video as well.

wolfiegirl

New egg-speriment this morning. This time large cold eggs, 80° for 15 minutes. Result: solid white and yolk. Nearly hard boiled and a whole lot of fun trying to peel. SO....next time I'll use 80° again but for 10 minutes.

meyer8863

You're gonnna have this dialed in by the time I get my joule!!!

wolfiegirl

Eventually I'll run out of time and temperature combinations...or eggs...but I won't quit until I get it spot on! Hopefully you'll have your Joule by the time I have it all figured out. Not too far off now!!

fisher23

Looking forward to it.

#eggs

wolfiegirl

A couple days ago, while I was minding my own business puttering around, I had a flash in my brain. From somewhere deep in the recesses therein, I had a thought "why not make a poached egg in a mason jar?". You'd be able to see the progress of the cook and at the end, no hot shells to handle. In preparation, I lightly buttered the inside of each jar (4 oz) added the egg (room temp) and sprinkled lightly with s&p.

In checking my progress chart of egg cooking, I saw it was time to try 80° for 10 minutes. As a reference, I added one whole egg to the cook to compare results. After all, the previous tests have only included eggs in shells. Didn't want to skew the ongoing temp/time tests.

Watching the whites become solid....

After 10 minutes I removed the whole egg and the jars. The eggs in the jar seemed a bit too wobbly so they went back into the water bath for 1.5 additional minutes.

As they continued to cook I opened the whole egg. I was VERY pleased with the results!! Fully cooked white but still soft and moist and a creamy center!!

After a total of 11-1/2 minutes, the jar of eggs came out. I was not displeased at all! The whites were a tiny bit runny around the edges and the yolk was perfectly oozy and beautiful!

A tiny dot of butter on the top of the egg and it was ready to serve right from the jar. And onto a warm sourdough (homemade) English muffin!

So using large eggs at room temp, the cook temp seems to be 80°/10 minutes. For the eggs in a jar, 11-1/2 minutes although I think 11 minutes would do the trick as well. As for ease of serving, I think I might just be sticking with the jar technique. Next time I might try two eggs in a jar just for grins.

tshewman

Not sure how I missed this before, but did this a while ago and it's even better if the oil/butter is flavored (e.g. coffee for this one). You can do just the yolks (and then cure them if you want or eat as is), or precook in shell, get rid of the yucky white and reheat in the flavored oil.

fisher23

Humm, I think eggs are becoming a topic that would be deserving of a book, lol. I can see it now, "EniGGmatic Eggs, a sous vide primer", cool!

wolfiegirl

I call dibs on the copyrights! LOL!!

(no really...I call dibs....)

Fletcher_260205

Attempted the 80 degree eggs for 10 minutes this morning, ran into the same problem as before. The outer whites had solidified enough to hold onto the shell, ripping the whites from the yolk. Dang these eggs!

wolfiegirl

Well, here it is 12/12/16 and I'm still trying to find perfection. While I know that the eggs themselves have a part to play (size, grade, freshness, starting temp), I think I can say with confidence I believe I have finally hit that 'EUREKA' moment.

First all these cooks were done in 4 ounce mason jars. I tried 80°c at various time, the longest being 11.5 minutes; the yolks and whites were always too runny. Still edible and toast-dipping good, but not what I was looking for. About three weeks ago I upped the temp to 85° and began more testing times. Started out with 12 minutes (still runny yolks and loose whites around the yolk); today I upped the time to 15 minutes. Whoa. FAR too long. The whites were fully cooked as were the yolks. No toast dipping here. This time I wasn't going to wait another couple of weeks for another Sunday breakfast so I prepped another jar with olive oil (found it works better than butter for releasing the eggs from the sides of the glass), cracked in a pretty much cold from the fridge large grade A egg, and set Bob's timer for 13 minutes. When the time was up, I waited about a minute (as I had with the other eggs) before opening the jar. I think, by jove (as they say), the egg was about as close to what I've been looking for all these weeks and months. The egg whites where set with just a bit of softness in the center around the yolk. And the yolk was warm but still nice and creamy and runny.

EUREKA! Give it a try....85°c 13 minutes. I think you'll be nicely rewarded.

#egg

meyer8863

Just yesterday I did extra large eggs at 75 C for 13 minutes. The yolk was perfect, but the white was still a little soft for me. That's interesting that you got your desired result at a much higher temp than me. Personally, I'm looking for a poached egg white (but not rubbery), with a thick but runny yolk. What's your perfect egg?!?

wolfiegirl

Good question! One man's snotty egg is another man's perfection! (ewwww)

Anyway, my perfect egg is soft, somewhat oozy white towards the middle with a nice, creamy liquid yolk.

torridice_498271

Was asked to add to this conversation - The idea of some french scrambled eggs. Little bit of background. You are looking to hit that magical portion of temp and time where you get sort of scrambled eggs, but not the large rubbery curds Americans are familiar with. Eggs carry many different proteins that all coagulate at different temps so sous vide is a great way to experiment! It'll make a sort of light egg mouse. It's best to use these to top toast or fold into a crepe or something like that. Here is the recipe I've used twice to perfect results. Basically 167°F for 8-10 mins. Then you massage the bag a little to break things up and back in for another 8-10 mins. Good luck!

And some pics.

Melinda_416613

I'd love to know how your two eggs in a jar experiment worked out. That's exactly what I'm hoping to perfect.