Hard Boiled Egg Mystery

[ALB]

I love deviled eggs- I am tired after work and make them quite often.. so when this happened I was totally confused..

First the process:

I take eggs from the fridge and put them in room temp water with a pinch of salt and bring it to a boil. I throw the lid on and turn the burner off, and let them sit for 9 minutes 30 seconds. shock in cold water and let them cool for 10 minutes or so, peel and cook.

All 3 eggs (from the farmers market last saturday) were approximately the same size so how did I end up with this goldilocks mytery?

One egg was totally underdone and mushy. One egg was overcooked and too firm. and one was just right.

Can any donrockwellers out there help me? All were edible but I am so confused- how could this happen?

[mdt]

I love deviled eggs- I am tired after work and make them quite often.. so when this happened I was totally confused..

First the process:

I take eggs from the fridge and put them in room temp water with a pinch of salt and bring it to a boil. I throw the lid on and turn the burner off, and let them sit for 9 minutes 30 seconds. shock in cold water and let them cool for 10 minutes or so, peel and cook.

All 3 eggs (from the farmers market last saturday) were approximately the same size so how did I end up with this goldilocks mytery?

One egg was totally underdone and mushy. One egg was overcooked and too firm. and one was just right.

Can any donrockwellers out there help me? All were edible but I am so confused- how could this happen?

Very strange. Where were they stored in the fridge? The underdone one could have been slightly frozen from being too close to the back of the fridge or something.

[Anna Blume]

One egg was totally underdone and mushy. One egg was overcooked and too firm. and one was just right.

Can any donrockwellers out there help me? All were edible but I am so confused- how could this happen?

Hard to tell without knowing what type of pan you used, how much water, what sort of agitation affected the eggs prior to and during brief boil, and most importantly what kind of burner remained under said eggs while they were resting; unless you remove the pot from the stove, you're continuing to heat the eggs and often burners do not distribute heat evenly.

Other factors:

1) different breeds of hens of different ages laying eggs on different days

2) "birth" order of eggs; last egg out tends to cook softest

3) silent blonde home invaders

4) lunar cycle

Item Four is also significant since the phenomenon you just experienced happens once in a Blue Moon and once in between Blue Moons.

May 31, 2007 was the date of our most recent Blue Moon in the Western Hemisphere.

June 30, 2007 will be the date of the corresponding Blue Moon in the Eastern Hemisphere.

I.e. the Blue Moon--or second full moon of the month--on May 31 was seen on June 1 on the other side of the world, so their next full moon on June 30 will be a Blue Moon.

This kind of Yin/Yang symmetry is rare and has a strong effect on all animals, not just humans. You purchased your eggs virtually at the midpoint between the two blue moons.

BTW, "Yin" refers both to the feminine and to the moon. Anything female or orb-like in nature (such as the moon's counterpart, the egg, in this case) would be particularly susceptible and prone to anomolies such as the one you experienced. The fact that the egg is white (yes?) means it gives off Yang energy, balancing the Yin of the hen. However, if the burner was round like the moon and black (Double-Yin), it would throw off the balance as much as the indeterminate gender(s) of the chickens unborn.

[Drive-by Critic]

Aha. Something I actually do really well - boil eggs. I do it Julia's way, which sounds similar to the way you do it. Eggs go into room temp water (with the water covering the eggs by about an inch). Then remove from heat and let sit, covered, for 17 minutes. Put eggs in bowl of ice for 2 minutes. Dip eggs back into boiling water for about 10 seconds.

Makes perfect, creamy-yolked eggs without the dark lines or rubbery whites.

Now, without casting aspersions on your vendor, the fact that you bought them all on the same day doesn't mean they were all produced the same day. When eggs age, they lose moisture and would cook differently from fresher eggs.

Great. Masquerading as Julia Child and Harold McGee all at one time. Don't listen to a word I say, even though I am a first-born. And I do make great hard-boiled eggs.

Ellen

[hillvalley]

3) silent blonde home invaders

What's a silent blonde home invader?

May 31, 2007 was the date of our most recent Blue Moon in the Western Hemisphere.

June 30, 2007 will be the date of the corresponding Blue Moon in the Eastern Hemisphere.

I.e. the Blue Moon--or second full moon of the month--on May 31 was seen on June 1 on the other side of the world, so their next full moon on June 30 will be a Blue Moon.

This kind of Yin/Yang symmetry is rare and has a strong effect on all animals, not just humans. You purchased your eggs virtually at the midpoint between the two blue moons.

Actually, technically they are not blue moons. (Sorry for the off topic comment Don but I finally had a useless piece of knowledge to use around here.)

[agm]

What's a silent blonde home invader?

Goldilocks?

[Al Dente]

When exactly did you do this? It may have been the exact moment of the true summer solstice and the combined energy of several thousand ultra-feminist wiccans may have caused some sort of disturbance in the egg force.

[monavano]

In case it's a matter of eggs of different ages, you can tell a bit about how old an egg is by how it orients itself in water. Basically, fill a vessel up with water and submerge an egg. The more horizontal it is, the younger it is. If it orients itself more vertically, it is older as the air bubble in it increases.

Hope that helps.

[ol_ironstomach]

In case it's a matter of eggs of different ages, ... it is older as the air bubble in it increases.

I suspect this may have some relevance, as the internal pressure in each egg would vary during cooking with the amount of gas expansion volume available.

Jacques Pepin's technique includes poking a gas-escape pinhole in the rounder (less-pointy) end of the egg, where the air cavity is. Did you do that? I find that eggs cooked his way are very uniform - if I've undercooked one slightly, the whole batch turns out more or less identically undercooked. Etc etc.

[legant]

Y'all nothing but a bunch of food geeks. And I love ya for it.

[Barbara]

Between Jacques and Julia, you will have a tough time going wrong.

[The Hersch]

Actually, technically they are not blue moons. (Sorry for the off topic comment Don but I finally had a useless piece of knowledge to use around here.)

Actually, both of these explanations of the expression "blue moon" -- the second full moon in a month or the (loopy) third full moon in a "season" usually encompassing four (who even knows what that means?) -- are utter hooey. What would make either of them BLUE? They're both attempts to make sense of an expression ("blue moon") outside its context "once in a blue moon", the only context in which it ever occurs. It's sort of like the misguided attempts to explain "third world" by trying to define "first world" and "second world" and even "fourth world", none of which means anything ("third world" having been formed by analogy with "tiers etat"). There's no such thing as a "blue moon", there's only "once in a blue moon", which means "once in a great while". Now eat your porridge.

[Anna Blume]

There's no such thing as a "blue moon", there's only "once in a blue moon", which means "once in a great while". Now eat your porridge.

Somebody's chair is too hard.

Hillvalley, I missed that story, so thanks for link! As for Jacques's technique, that's my mother's. She told me it deterred cracking. As for different ages of eggs, see my explanation #1. Nonetheless, I doubt the eggs at the farmers market wait around as long as the ones you buy at the supermarket.

[ALB]

Thanks all. I appreciate all of your answers and amusing deviations. If the line weren't so long- I would ask the egg man what he thought. Maybe after he sells out next week.

[Al Dente]

If the line weren't so long- I would ask the egg man what he thought. Maybe after he sells out next week.

They are the egg men, I am the walrus... googoogajoob.

He's selling out again? I thought he already took it to new levels with that Starbucks deal.

[DonRocks]

He's selling out again? I thought he already took it to new levels with that Starbucks deal.

He sold out here for sure.

That having been said, the Starbucks deal is the ultimate sellout.

[silentbob]

Not related to the mystery, but this seems to be as good of a place to post as any -- I am making a Ming Tsai recipe that appears to require the soft, then hard-boiling of eggs.

The egg part of the recipe states:

"Soft boil the eggs to the just-coagulated stage, and placed immediately in cold water.

Tap eggs gently all over to cover with cracks.

Add the eggs to pot filled with 1 cup soy sauce and 1 cup water (enough to cover 6 eggs), 1 slice of ginger, and half teaspoon of five-spice powder. Simmer over low heat for 25 to 30 minutes, then let steep for another 1/2 hour.

Crack open the eggs and peel them, then slice into wedges."

1) How long do I boil the eggs so that they are "just-coagulated"?

2) Do I tap the eggs gently on a table or with a kitchen utensil?

3) What does "steep" mean as written above?

Thanks in advance for the help. My eggs are usually scrambled or sunny-side up so I am a total noob at boiling them.

[Pat]

Not related to the mystery, but this seems to be as good of a place to post as any -- I am making a Ming Tsai recipe that appears to require the soft, then hard-boiling of eggs.

The egg part of the recipe states:

"Soft boil the eggs to the just-coagulated stage, and placed immediately in cold water.

Tap eggs gently all over to cover with cracks.

Add the eggs to pot filled with 1 cup soy sauce and 1 cup water (enough to cover 6 eggs), 1 slice of ginger, and half teaspoon of five-spice powder. Simmer over low heat for 25 to 30 minutes, then let steep for another 1/2 hour.

Crack open the eggs and peel them, then slice into wedges."

1) How long do I boil the eggs so that they are "just-coagulated"?

2) Do I tap the eggs gently on a table or with a kitchen utensil?

3) What does "steep" mean as written above?

Thanks in advance for the help. My eggs are usually scrambled or sunny-side up so I am a total noob at boiling them.

These sound like Chinese tea eggs. I've only heard of them but haven't made them. You want to marble them and infuse them with flavor. I'd say do the first boil for 3 minutes or so.

I think I'd just tap them on the counter or in the empty pan to crack the shells. Steep should mean turn the heat off and let them sit in the water.

[deangold]

Offered in the spirit of the abovre answers....

1) How long do I boil the eggs so that they are "just-coagulated"?

According to NPR a hard boiled egg when spun on its side will wobble and then spin on its end. A non hard boiled egg will roll off the table and break. So a just coagulated egg will spin to a 45 degree angle.

2) Do I tap the eggs gently on a table or with a kitchen utensil?

To crack the shell on her eggs, Elizabeth Miller usually runs into them with her Mini

Cooper, wrapped in several layers of plastic wrap, at speeds over 100 mph. FOr gently cracking an eggshel, I would suggest speeds under 100 mph. And maybe wrap the car with an old terrycloth robe.

3) What does "steep" mean as written above?

opposite of flat?

Thanks in advance for the help. My eggs are usually scrambled or sunny-side up so I am a total noob at boiling them.

If you want to know about hard boiling eggs, speak to Kay, shes an expert with them. I, however, cannot hard boil and egg to save my life.

[synaesthesia]

My dad makes these all the time.

Tapping them on the counter does the trick. As for timing. Heh... apparently his daughter doesn't pay quite enough attention to what he was doing. =D

Basically I think the idea is that (1) you want to make sure the whites are somewhat firm so they don't leak out; (2) not hard-boiled so you don't overcook them. I personally don't think that it matters too much at what point you happen to catch them in terms of just-coagulated. The tendency is that the flavor soaks mostly into the white, and doesn't really reach the yolk.

And obviously the longer you leave them in the concoction the more likely the flavors will penetrate the white. I think that they are more permeable while the eggs are warmer so turn off the heat but keep them on the stove.

[silentbob]

I tried and failed.

The similarities between Ming's version and Chinese tea eggs (which my mom also made all the time while my sister and I grew up) had completely eluded me. But apparently, the cracks that I made before cooking in the were not at all sufficient. I actually boiled the eggs before bed on Saturday and let them soak overnight, but they were still fairly white and not particularly flavorful once I opened them for my brunch yesterday.

Apparently the lesson is that I should not be afraid to create deeper and wider cracks in the eggs after the soft boil.