Let’s face it, as mighty as the ‘Incredible, Edible, Egg’ is, hard boiling one is an entirely different subject matter.  Cooking one egg isn’t easy, and cooking a whole lot?  Well, consistency from one egg to another might be difficult to come by.  I came across two methods for cooking up a mass of hard-boiled eggs.

The first method involves baking (yes, baking)  the eggs for half an hour at 325 degrees.  Full instructions can be found here.

The second method involves boiling the eggs quickly, covering and removing the pot from heat, and letting them cook in the residual heat for 17-20 minutes, depending on the size of the eggs.  I’ve cooked eggs using this method and the results are pretty consistent and as close to a perfect hard-boiled egg can get.  Take heed though, it seems like there are some serious requirements to meet in cooking a great hard-boiled egg.  Instructions here.

I woke up around 4AM this morning for work.  My colleagues overseas are working on a project and I’m just making sure everything is running on schedule.  When I woke up, I was extremely hungry, more so than when I wake up at the usual time.  Seeing that I’m working remotely and I do have a lot of time before I go into the office, I decided to make an omelet.  I didn’t have much to work with in the fridge, so I just used  onions, scallions, and spinach to accompany the eggs.  It felt nice to cook something decent in the morning, rather than just eat cereal and yogurt.

While I was stocking up on groceries at Whole Foods, there was a new section that sold farm fresh eggs, not just any eggs, but pheasant eggs, duck eggs, quail eggs, and the ginormous ostrich eggs.  I had never seen an ostrich egg in real life before, it’s pretty awesome.  From holding it, it had a hefty weight and the shell felt sturdy, but not sturdy enough to survive a drop to the ground…not that I dropped one on the ground.  Just one of these alone is enough to conjure up one mean omelet.  Cost:  $29.99 each.

~ Kin

Boon made his Steamed Soy Milk Custard the other day, and coincidentally, I had made my own version a few days before he did made his. My version is eaten hot right out of the steamer and is cooked with a slight variation. Here’s the recipe for my Ginger Steamed Eggs.

Ginger Steamed Eggs

Ingredients

• 2 Large eggs
• 3/4 Cup of water
• 1 Tablespoon of brown sugar
• Juice from a 2-inch knob of ginger
• 1/2 Teaspoon of orange zest

Prepare the steamer and make sure the heat is on low. High heat will cause too much steam and the egg is going to souffle, and then deflate. Beat the eggs lightly, the less bubbles the better. Mix in the brown sugar, ginger juice, orange zest, and water. Ginger is difficult to juice. I found that a garlic press works wonders. Keep the leftover ginger fibers and throw them into the mix as well. Transfer the mixture to regular-sized bowls or something that’s roughly the same size. Steam for about 20 minutes. Serve hot.

Make sure the egg is completely cooked before eating.

~ Kin

I’ve been cooking garlic steamed shrimp for a while now, and I was looking for new ways to present it. The idea for this dish came to me when I was at work. Once I was able to visualize it, I scribbled it on a small piece of scrap paper. I had some trouble with steaming the eggs though. It took me a while to find the correct egg to water ratio. After 11 eggs, I had found the consistency that I was looking for.

Steamed Shrimp and Eggs

Ingredients

• 6 pieces of shrimp, de-shelled, and de-veined (I used 26-30 size shrimp, if you can find bigger, go for it)
• 4 extra large eggs or 5 large eggs
• 100 ml of water
• 1 cup of uncooked short grain rice
• 2 scallion stalks, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 tbsp of rice vinegar
• dash of salt
• pinch of pepper

Rice
Cook the rice as you normally would. Make sure to use short grain rice, as the stickyness of it will help it hold the shape of the mold. Add a tablespoon of rice vinegar afterwards and mix well. Cover, and let the rice cool to room temperature. To make the rice discs, I packed the rice into a 1/4 dry measuring cup laced with nonstick spray. I then heated the bottom of the rice discs until it was brown and crunchy.

Steamed Egg
Add the water with the eggs and whisk, add in the 1 stalk of chopped scallions, salt, and pepper Pour the egg in an 8-inch steamer dish. The height of the mixture should be around half an inch. Make sure the heat is set to low when you steam it, or the egg is going to fluff out of control and overcook. It took me about 5 minutes to steam the egg. Check on it after 5 minutes to see if it is cooked. Remove the pan from the steamer and let it cool for a few minutes. Take a round cookie cutter and cut out the circular egg shapes.

Steamed Garlic Shrimp
Place the shrimp to a steamer pan and cover it liberally with the chopped scallions, minced garlic, and minced shallot. Steam the shrimp on low heat. It should take about 5-6 minutes. Do make sure to check up on it!

Stack the egg on the rice and the shrimp on the egg.

While this dish is simple to make, practice is important as the temperature of the steam used to cook the eggs can change the consistency.

As always, please make sure all food is thoroughly cooked before consumption to prevent food-borne illness.

~ Kin

I’m always amazed when I crack open an egg and two yolks fall out.  Double the fun, double the cholesterol.  Margaret Kessell’s egg discovery takes the cake on this one.  She bought an oversized egg from a grocery store, and when she cracked it open at home, a smaller egg fell out!  Another resident had the same experience last year.  She said the yolk inside the second egg was the same size as the yolk of larger egg.

Source:  stuff.co.nz

~ Kin