As a caterer, I often have to scale recipes up or down, or cook for large numbers, and that’s where these hints and tips come into their own – knowing how much an egg weighs, or what quantity of pastry you need to line a certain size flan tin frees you as a cook from recipe-dependence and opens the door to real cookery creativity.
So here it is. I’m going to use the Forkful Food blog to create what will become a really useful cookery resource for myself – and I hope for you too – one that reflects the approach we at Forkful take to our cookery lessons, which is send you away full of useful and practical cooking tips and great, achievable recipes with a focus on seasonal ingredients.
I didn’t have to think twice about what my first subject would be… boiling the perfect egg (and other useful eggy facts and techniques).
Yup. While I can confidently turn my hand to most things, the ability to consistently produce perfect boiled eggs has eluded me. You know the ones – where the whites are just set with absolutely no slimey, mucousy underdone bits, and the yolks are perfectly runny. Sometimes I get it right, but all too often get it wrong. And there’s nothing to get the tastebuds going in the morning than the thought of a perfect egg with buttery soldiers. Mr Forkful and the Forkful children agree, and there are few sadder sights than their disappointed little faces when they slice off the top of their eggs expecting yummy yolky drippiness and find… a dip-resistant, hard, powdery yolk…
But before we go on to boiling, poaching and whisking, here are some great eggy facts which I guarantee you will find useful:
How to tell if an egg is fresh:
As eggs age the white begins to deteriorate and become more watery, while the air sac at the round end of the shell enlarges. There are two easy ways to detect egg freshness. First, crack an egg onto a plate and if the white has body, doesn’t spread too much and the yolk is domed and stands proudly over the white, the egg is really fresh. Alternatively, you can place the eggs in a bowl of water. If the egg lies flat on the bottom, it’s very fresh; if the egg stands up and bobs on the bottom of the bowl, its older and probably best used for hard boiling, scrambling or baking. If it floats to the surface, throw it away.
Why its good to know how fresh your egg is:
You need to use the freshest eggs possible for poached eggs, and fresh is also better for fried eggs – this is because as eggs age the white becomes more watery and the yolk’s membrane weakens which means they won’t hold together so well. However, older eggs are perfect for scrambling, and positively better for whisking because the thinner egg whites produce a greater volume of foam.
How much do eggs weigh?
A medium hen’s egg weighs 55g – with the yolk weighing in at 25g and the white at 30g. It’s useful to know this for those times when you lose count of how many eggs you have cracked into a bowl, or when you are following a recipe which calls for medium eggs but you only have extra large ones – simply calculate the weight of eggs needed and weigh them out (use the weight method if you are replacing hens eggs with duck eggs). It’s also a really useful thing to know for when you’ve got egg whites left over, but don’t know how many. Egg whites freeze extremely well, and in fact egg whites become more glutinous on freezing making them better for whisked dishes like meringues and soufflés. You can also calculate the number of whites by volume – 250ml = 8 medium egg whites.
What is the Lion Quality Mark?
The Lion Quality Mark indicates eggs produced by hens which have been kept to a higher standard than the EU requires. The hens are vaccinated against salmonella, and the eggs stamped with a best before date. Each egg also has a code indicating how the eggs have been produced (0=organic, 1=free-range, 2= barn eggs, 3=caged). If you are making raw egg products (eg mayonnaise or hollandaise sauce) it’s a good idea to use Lion eggs – but they should still be avoided by vulnerable groups such as the very old, very young, and pregnant women.
How should you store eggs?
Contrary to popular belief, you should store eggs pointed-end down as this helps keep the yolk centred (yolks tend to migrate towards the air sac as eggs age). Always store them in the fridge, and get rid of any that are cracked or damaged.
Other types of eggs:
As well as hen’s eggs, quail, duck and goose eggs are readily available. Duck eggs (which weigh around 90g) have a higher fat content than hen’s eggs giving them a richer taste. They can pretty much be used as for hen’s eggs, and their large, rich yolks make them particularly good soft boiled. Goose eggs are great in sponge cakes, and quails eggs (15-20g) make delicious canapés hard boiled and served with celery salt, and are also often fried and poached.
RECIPES:
BOILED EGGS:
How to boil an egg:
Its not as straightforward as you might think . Not all eggs are boiled – I think simmering the eggs produces a better result as cooking the whites too vigorously makes them rubbery. But to cut to the chase, here are two approaches to cooking eggs in their shells – cold water start and boiling water start. Each is very simple, but do require careful timing, so get your soldiers in the toaster, plates and egg cups ready before you begin.
Cold water start – boiling water:
Place room temperature eggs in a small saucepan and bring the water up to the boil over a medium heat. As soon as the water boils, set your timer to:
- 60 seconds for a lightly set white and runny yolk
- 90 seconds for a firmly set white and runny yolk
Cold water start – simmering water:
Alternatively, you can “coddle” the eggs. Put room temperature eggs in a pan, cover with water and heat over a medium heat. Once the water starts simmering, reduce the heat to maintain the simmer and time for:
- 3 minutes for a perfectly set white and a runny yolk
- 6 minutes for a hard boiled egg with a set white and a set but still moist yolk
Boiling Water Start:
Here you bring the water to a fast boil, then add the eggs and cook them at a gentle simmer for:
- 4 ½ minutes for a just set white and runny yolk
- 6 minutes for a well-set white and runny yolk
- 8 minutes for a hard-boiled egg with a yolk that is just set but still moist
- 12 minutes for a hard-boiled egg with a dry yolk
- For quail eggs, boil for 2 minutes for a set white and runny yolk and 3 minutes for a set white and softly set yolk
Some other useful egg-boiling tips:
- Don’t pierce the shells of fresh eggs as they will crack
- Do pierce the shells of older eggs – this will release air from the air sac which would otherwise expand and crack the egg
- Add an extra 30 seconds cooking time if you are using eggs straight from the fridge
- Very fresh eggs can take longer to cook – increase the cooking time by up to 1 minute
- Don’t cook hard boiled eggs at a fast boil as this will make the whites go rubbery
- Don’t overcook boiled eggs as this will cause a green ring to form around the yolk
- Always cool hard boiled eggs in iced water (or under a running tap) to halt further cooking (this will also help prevent the green ring)
- For hard boiled eggs its best to use older eggs. Very fresh eggs (less than 5 days from packing date) can be hard to peel, so crack the shell of a hard boiled egg before cooling in water
POACHED EGGS:
As long as you use the freshest eggs possible, poaching eggs is in many ways easier to get right than boiling simply because you can see how far they have cooked. What a lot of people don’t know is that you can prepare poached eggs up to 2 days before you use them. Simply cool the poached egg in iced water and store in the fridge in a lidded container covered in cold water. When you want to use them, simply warm them through for 30 seconds in boiled (but not boiling) water.
When it comes to poaching eggs, I’m a fan of adding vinegar to the water, while Mr Forkful (who excels at egg-poaching) prefers the whirlpool approach.
So here are guidelines for both:
Poaching eggs with vinegar added to the water:
For this method, the water needs to be boiling. Fill a wide saucepan to about 10cm deep and add 3 tbsp of white wine vinegar. Bring the water to the boil to the point where bubbles are breaking on the surface, but before it gets to a rolling boil. Break an egg into a small cup and tip it gently into the water at the point where the water is bubbling. Poach for 1 ½ – 3 minutes, lifting the egg out after 1 ½ minutes to check to see if it’s cooked. Lift the egg out of the water with a slotted spoon, drain, and trim any raggedy bits of white from the egg, and either serve immediately or cool in iced water to use later.
Poaching eggs in a whirlpool:
For this method, the water needs to be simmering. Fill a wide saucepan to about 10cm deep and bring the water to simmering point. Break an egg into a small cup. Swirl the water to make a whirlpool, and as the whirlpool slows and almost disappears, slide the egg into its centre. Increase the heat so that the water bubbles very gently, and poach for 2-3 minutes. Lift the egg out of the water with a slotted spoon, drain, and trim any raggedy bits of white from the egg, and either serve immediately or cool in iced water to use later.
Poaching Quail Eggs:
Using a knife, crack the eggs into a bowl of white wine vinegar and leave for a few minutes. The vinegar will help the white to hold its shape. Pour off the vinegar, and slide the eggs into a pan of boiling water and cook for:
- 1 minute for a set white and very soft yolk
- 1 ½ minutes for a set white and a softly set yolk
How to whisk egg whites:
The key points for successfully whisking egg whites into a voluminous foam are:
- All utensils must be sparkling clean and dry – even the slightest hint of grease (including egg yolk) or water will prevent the eggs reaching maximum volume
- Don’t use a plastic bowl (they harbour grease)
- Use room temperature egg whites
- Soft peaks – egg whites are whisked until the foam starts to hold its shape but is still soft and moist. To test for soft peak, dip the tip of your whisk into the egg whites and hold it upright. The peak of foam should bend over by 90 degrees and still be wobbly.
- Medium peaks – egg whites are whisked until they hold their shape firmly, but are still soft and moist. The peak of foam should bend over by only 40 degrees, and wobble only a little when shaken.
- Stiff peaks – the whisked egg whites should be firm, won’t bend over, and not wobble at all.
A couple of good basic recipes using egg whites:
The two things I most frequently use whisked egg whites for are meringues and soufflés. People always think I’m mad when I mention that the Forkful children like cheese soufflé for tea – the perception that soufflés are technically difficult and time consuming couldn’t be further from the truth. As long as you can make a white sauce and whisk the egg whites, it’s a doddle and a real life saver for those days when there’s “nothing in the fridge”. It’s a really bad day in the Forkful household when I don’t have eggs, butter, cheese, milk and plain flour to hand. So give this quick recipe a try:
Easy Cheese Souffle (Serves 4)
Ingredients:
- 50g butter (10g of this will be used melted for greasing)
- 30g plain flour
- 290ml (1/2 pint) milk
- 85g strong cheddar or gruyere cheese, finely grated
- 4 eggs, separated
- Salt and pepper
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6 and put a baking sheet in the oven to heat
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Use some of this melted butter to brush the inside of 4 ramekins or one 15cm / 6 inch soufflé dish.
- Add the flour to the melted butter and stir over a medium heat until the mixture bubbles. Remove from the heat.
- Stir in the milk little by little until you have a smooth sauce. Return to the heat and bring to the boil, stirring. Boil for 2 minutes until the mixture becomes very thick and leaves the side of the pan. Remove from the heat.
- Stir in the grated cheese and egg yolks. Season very well with lots of salt and pepper.
- Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks. Mix a spoonful of egg white into the cheese sauce to loosen it, then gently fold in the remaining whites being careful to ensure that all the whites are incorporated, but without knocking out too much air from the whisked whites.
- Fill the soufflé dish or ramekins ¾ full. Place on the heated baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes for the larger soufflé, or 10 minutes for the ramekins until the soufflés are well risen with a slight wobble in the centre.
Basic Meringue & Pavlova recipes:
The simplest of all the meringues to make is the Swiss meringue, and the basic quantities are easy to remember – use twice the weight of caster sugar to egg white – that is 55g sugar to 1 egg white. To turn a Swiss meringue into a Pavlova with its crisp shell and mallow inside, cornflour and vinegar are added. The method for both is the same with the cornflour and vinegar for the Pavlova added with the second addition of sugar:
Pavlova (serves 6-8)
Ingredients:
- 4 egg whites
- 225g caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 1 teaspoon cornflour
Filling:
- 200ml double cream
- 450g berries (eg raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, red or blackcurrants)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 140C / 275F / gas mark 1
- Line a baking sheet with parchment and mark out a 20cm circle
- Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks. Once the eggs have reached the stiff peak stage, gradually whisk in half the caster sugar a spoonful until the mixture is stiff and shiny.
- Mix the vinegar, vanilla and cornflour together and fold into the meringue along with the remaining sugar. (Omit the vinegar, vanilla and cornflour if you aren’t making a pavlova).
- Spread half the meringue onto the marked circle and then heap the rest around the edge of the base to make a bowl shape.
- Bake in the bottom of the oven for 1-1 ½ hours. Turn off the oven and leave the meringue in the oven to cool. Store in an airtight container until it is needed.
- For the topping, whisk the cream to soft peaks, spoon onto the top of the meringue and top with the fruit.