tony b Posted February 15, 2016 Author Report Posted February 15, 2016 Worth a shot, MacKenzie! Think I can pull off another dual experiment with this one. Don't think the boiling bath will cool off too much in 30 secs waiting for Egg #2.
MacKenzie Posted February 15, 2016 Report Posted February 15, 2016 Worth a shot, MacKenzie! Think I can pull off another dual experiment with this one. Don't think the boiling bath will cool off too much in 30 secs waiting for Egg #2. Yes, it will, guess you'll have to put two containers in the microwave.
tony b Posted February 15, 2016 Author Report Posted February 15, 2016 Well, I pulled off the double experiment this morning. Egg #1 in 166F SV bath for 13 minutes, then 1 minute in the boiling bath, then into the cold water bath. Egg #2 in 166F SV bath for 13 mins, 30 secs, then 45 secs in the boiling bath, then into the cold water bath. I did use the same boiling bath for both eggs, as there was only a 15 sec difference between Eggs 1 & 2. Results - it was almost a tie. Both had fairly tight whites (forkable), with partially runny yolks. Egg #1 was a tad runnier than #2, but not by a lot. I could live with either, but since Egg #1 was a tad simpler in execution. It might become my "standard." going forward. Pictures, you ask? I posted it in another thread here, since it was ultimately a redux of Eggs in the Sauce.
tony b Posted February 16, 2016 Author Report Posted February 16, 2016 Now, I just have to practice repeating it reliably.
cschaaf Posted February 16, 2016 Report Posted February 16, 2016 Tony Have you seen this? https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/the-egg-calculator You can use that to find a 100% SV temp for your eggs. Takes a bit longer than what you have now, but it's only one step.
Syzygies Posted February 17, 2016 Report Posted February 17, 2016 Have you seen this? https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/the-egg-calculator The calculator picks the single temp best suited to one's tastes, if one is going to use a single temp. It's in the nature of the beast that any single temp approach will be inferior to protocols like Tony is exploring. It's a hook shot, he needs English on the ball, because the whites and yolks have different needs.
tony b Posted February 17, 2016 Author Report Posted February 17, 2016 Thanks, cschaaf, but that's where I started. Actually, I originally started with the French Laundry technique of 142F for 50 minutes. PERFECT eggs, but who wants to wait over an hour for breakfast?? So, MacKenzie and I have been doing various trials to find good poached eggs for breakfast in a reasonable amount of time (15 minutes or less). As noted in the "calculator" the whites and yolks cook completely differently. It's a delicate balancing act to get runny yolks with firm whites. And by "firm whites," I mean ones you can eat with a fork and not require a spoon. MacKenzie is the one that came up with the boiling water bath to tighten up the whites without overcooking the yolks. Not that big of a complication - just put a bowl of water in the microwave a few minutes before the eggs are finished in the SV to set up the boiling water bath. A quick dunk in the hot tub and into the cold water bath to arrest the cooking and you're done. It was just a matter of figuring out the various times in each bath. Plus, the added variable of MacKenzie letting her eggs come up to room temperature and me taking mine straight out of the fridge.
tony b Posted February 17, 2016 Author Report Posted February 17, 2016 Thanks, Syz. You being a long time practitioner of advanced cooking techniques, I appreciate your acknowledgement of what we're trying to do here.
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