Boiled eggs are simple, useful and a great way to use up some eggs quickly. There are many ways to boil eggs, but I find the best to be to put your eggs in a pot of cold water on the stove and then bring it to a medium boil. This ensures that the eggs come to temperature with the water and there are no surprises. If you poke a tiny hole, with a thumbtack, into the larger end of the egg, it will allow sulfur gas to escape while the eggs cook. That is not necessary, but it prevents any “boiled egg” odors or greenness in the yolk. How long your eggs take to boil depends on your elevation. But except in the high mountains, a soft boiled egg may be cooked in about 3-3 ½ minutes. A hard boiled egg may be cooked in 10 - 12 minutes. You can cook anything to your taste and for your intended use in between. Soft boiled eggs are traditionally served with just part of the shell removed, so you can dip toast sticks into the still liquid yolk and then eat the rest with a spoon. Hard boiled eggs may be eaten out of hand with salt and pepper, mashed and mixed with mayonnaise, salt and pepper to make egg salad, or used any number of ways. Simply sliced and served on a tossed salad, especially with quality sardines, boiled eggs are delicious. They also go very well on spinach salads. To make deviled eggs, cool and slice in half, lengthwise. Remove the yellows and mix with mayo, a little chopped dill pickle or relish, a bit of mustard and the herbs and seasonings of your choice. Mash and blend into a paste and fill the paste back into the hollow of the white with a spoon or piping bag. A dash of paprika or chili powder will give them a nice color. My grandfather loved pickled hard boiled eggs. To make these, bring to a simmer and cool whatever vinegar you like with a little water - say, 3 cups vinegar to 1 cup water. Add the herbs and spices you like - tarragon, dill, celery leaf or seed, coriander, mustard seeds, generic pickling spices, peppercorns… whatever. Dissolve in salt to taste - about the salinity of seawater is the average. Traditionally, either beet juice or a couple of slices of beets are included for color. I think a few cloves of garlic or slices of onion are always a nice addition. Cool. You can add sugar if you feel you have to… I don’t. Peel off the shells and fill a jar with the eggs. Cover with your vinegar brine and fill the jar. Put a lid on. Due to the vinegar, I don’t refrigerate such pickles, but most “authorities” say you should. The eggs will pickle in a couple of weeks or so.
Poaching eggs, as I described earlier is fairly easy. You can crack the egg directly into gently simmering water into which a bit of vinegar has been added, or gently lower it in using a big serving spoon or a special little simmering cup type device. I crack them straight in. The egg sinks, then floats to the top. You can spoon some of the hot water over the top if you like. The white of the egg will form a tender envelope over the still liquid inside. These are usually served on toast or with a salad, as I have explained. There are fancier versions, that I rarely (if ever) do. Another Nero Wolfe favorite was eggs poached in red wine and beef stock - this is a classic French technique from the Burgundy region. I am not liberal enough with wine to do this. I will add a glass or two of wine to a dish if I can enjoy it in the dish. But, to use wine as simply a liquid for simmering eggs is a bit too rich for my blood… if I did that, I would only be able to think of the shame of not drinking it! You can also poach eggs in oil. This is a very nice technique if you have oil for deep frying and will be using it for other purposes. Sometimes, eggs poached in oil are called “nests”. They are very good for serving small amounts of salad or fish, roe, etc., on. The oil gives them crispy edges, while the inside may still be as soft as you please. Another classic presentation is the Eggs Benedict, which is simply a poached egg and a piece of cooked ham on an English muffin. If you add cooked spinach, it becomes Eggs Florentine. I think both benefit from a little cheese.
Shirred Eggs are much like eggs cocotte, except that they are baked in the oven instead of in simmering water. You either beat the eggs or leave the yolks whole, plop them into buttered ramekins and bake until they are done to taste. This can be very convenient as you can use the heat of the same oven in which you have just baked break or biscuits, and even cook your bacon or sausage in the oven, along with the eggs.
This article is an excerpt from
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