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Sous Vide Things - Eggs
Oct. 3rd, 2012 10:09 pmHaving been inspired by Cooking for Geeks I recently (well, probably 3 months now) bought a 15L temperature controlled water bath, and have never looked back...
Why a water bath you say? Because you can do really cool things really easily with it! For more info, Google sous vide, because I can't be bothered explaining it.
ANYWAY.
Sous vide makes egg cooking both super delicious and easy, so this post will focus on some adventures in egging that I did.
Firstly, and super simply, we have slow cooked eggs. Essentially, you just carefully place eggs into the water bath, set to 63°C, and leave it for about half an hour. What you then do is crack the egg, like you would an uncooked one, but very carefully. Remove as much of the shell as possible, and it should fall out like an uncooked egg, except it should be lovely and soft and partially cooked.
Notice how the egg is lovely and white and soft. I find it soo much easier to make these than to poach eggs. Also, they require very minimal work, just a bit of time. The white can be considered undercooked, but you can put it under a grill to firm it up. Quite delicious!
The above photo is basically an incomplete eggs benedict. All it lacks for is hollandaise. WHAT A SURPRISE!? I used my water bath to make it! :D
To make the sauce, I basically followed this recipe. But used cracked pepper instead of mustard powder. However, when I first took the sauce out of the bath and blended it, it was separating. So I added another egg yolk and put it in the water bath for a bit longer and gave it another blend and it formed a lovely thick sauce!
Hollandaise sauce will probably kill me. It's a thick, rich, buttery sauce that goes well with eggs, spinach, asparagus (white especially) and heart attacks. Soo goood...
Anyway, that was basically the least skill-requiring Eggs Benedict you could find...
Next, I made crème brûlée. Again, the water bath makes this simpler. From the same site as the one above, I used this recipe.
Basically, heat cream until it simmers. Whip sugar into egg yolks. Add cream to yolks, slowly, keep whisking.
Then you put it into your buttered ramekins, cover them in Al Foil (make sure it's very securely sealed!). And then put them in the water bath at 90-91°C for an hour. It might be difficult ensuring that the water is at the right level on the ramekins (While you should have made a good seal with the Al Foil, it's not perfect, so you don't want to submerge them).
Once it's out of the water bath put the ramekins into the fridge. Make sure you remove the Al Foil! I didn't and there was a tonne of condensation on the custard which is not ideal. (I solved it with more sugar!)
The next step is the fun step. Cover with brown sugar, flatten with the back of a spoon then FIRE! Try and get nice brown/ gold colour, it takes a bit of practice, but as long as you keep the flame moving, you should be fine.
Notice the nice caramel colour of it? If you do it right, you should have a wonderful crack from the sugar to the custard and a lovely play of textures and flavours - hard and soft, sweet and creamy.
I will try post some other sous vide success things that I've done!
Until then, stay cooked!
Why a water bath you say? Because you can do really cool things really easily with it! For more info, Google sous vide, because I can't be bothered explaining it.
ANYWAY.
Sous vide makes egg cooking both super delicious and easy, so this post will focus on some adventures in egging that I did.
Firstly, and super simply, we have slow cooked eggs. Essentially, you just carefully place eggs into the water bath, set to 63°C, and leave it for about half an hour. What you then do is crack the egg, like you would an uncooked one, but very carefully. Remove as much of the shell as possible, and it should fall out like an uncooked egg, except it should be lovely and soft and partially cooked.
 |
| Water Bath Eggs - From Food! |
Notice how the egg is lovely and white and soft. I find it soo much easier to make these than to poach eggs. Also, they require very minimal work, just a bit of time. The white can be considered undercooked, but you can put it under a grill to firm it up. Quite delicious!
The above photo is basically an incomplete eggs benedict. All it lacks for is hollandaise. WHAT A SURPRISE!? I used my water bath to make it! :D
To make the sauce, I basically followed this recipe. But used cracked pepper instead of mustard powder. However, when I first took the sauce out of the bath and blended it, it was separating. So I added another egg yolk and put it in the water bath for a bit longer and gave it another blend and it formed a lovely thick sauce!
 |
| Eggs Benedict and Asparagus - From Food! |
Hollandaise sauce will probably kill me. It's a thick, rich, buttery sauce that goes well with eggs, spinach, asparagus (white especially) and heart attacks. Soo goood...
Anyway, that was basically the least skill-requiring Eggs Benedict you could find...
Next, I made crème brûlée. Again, the water bath makes this simpler. From the same site as the one above, I used this recipe.
Basically, heat cream until it simmers. Whip sugar into egg yolks. Add cream to yolks, slowly, keep whisking.
Then you put it into your buttered ramekins, cover them in Al Foil (make sure it's very securely sealed!). And then put them in the water bath at 90-91°C for an hour. It might be difficult ensuring that the water is at the right level on the ramekins (While you should have made a good seal with the Al Foil, it's not perfect, so you don't want to submerge them).
Once it's out of the water bath put the ramekins into the fridge. Make sure you remove the Al Foil! I didn't and there was a tonne of condensation on the custard which is not ideal. (I solved it with more sugar!)
 |
| Crème Brûlée Custard - From Food! |
The next step is the fun step. Cover with brown sugar, flatten with the back of a spoon then FIRE! Try and get nice brown/ gold colour, it takes a bit of practice, but as long as you keep the flame moving, you should be fine.
 |
| Completed Crème Brûlée From Food! |
Notice the nice caramel colour of it? If you do it right, you should have a wonderful crack from the sugar to the custard and a lovely play of textures and flavours - hard and soft, sweet and creamy.
I will try post some other sous vide success things that I've done!
Until then, stay cooked!