I like boiled eggs. Their cooking timing is important, and (as I've mentioned previously) there are many ways of getting it right.
Delia Smith's Aunt would time hers by singing three verses of 'Onward Christian Soldiers', Woodrow Wyatt would boil his for exactly four and a quarter minutes, and it is claimed that King Charles would always instruct his valet to boil seven eggs all timed slightly differently, then work his way through them until he came to the one that was 'perfect'.
Me; I boil for three minutes then leave in the boiled water until my marmite soldiers are ready.
Two of my great boiled egg memories are from holidays. Firstly the breakfast bar at the Gare de Lyons in Paris where there were always piles of small 'very white' hard boiled eggs on a conical wire frame. You took however many you wanted, cracked them on a plate, then informed the waiter how many you'd consumed. So Parisian.
Secondly the hotel where we stay in Marrakech always has piles of (again) 'very white' eggs on their breakfast bar. As with all such bars you eat as many as you like.
Both here and in France I always find myself buying the darkest brown eggs. I imagine that they will somehow taste better than white shelled ones. Of course they don't.
These one's below, however, were bought (some years ago) at my local tiny village market. They were small and very white, and were some of the best tasting eggs I've ever eaten. I actually remember them.
It is said that Einstein used to boil his eggs in with his soup, as it saved with the washing-up. I do hope his eggs were cleaner than the ones our hens laid.
You have me confused. You say you like hard boiled eggs - yet, surely, those soldiers you mention need soft boiled ones to be dunked into the yolk.
ReplyDeleteAs to colour: In the motherland we dye hard boiled eggs for Easter - which is rather impossible with the brown ones the British seem to prefer. Mind you, to my delight M&S have started selling white eggs.
The most quaint egg of all on the shelves (Waitrose)? Quails'. Their being so tiny and their shell speckled they are so pretty you'd almost be tempted not to consume them at all. Just look at them, admire their beauty.
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re Your para 1. The 3 mins, then wait a bit, should suggest that these are not boiled to oblivion.
DeleteWe eat Quails and Quail's eggs in France. My oldest even hatched some from eggs he bought at the supermarket.
Of course for bread soldiers one needs a runny yolk. But I remember Delia's Back to Basics series where she showed us how to boil an egg. I think the whole idea of that simple task annoyed several other tv chefs, but then they were always envious of her. And it was in that series that Delia made her biggest faux pas when she mixed up a scrambled egg and it looked terrible, all wet and runny and certainly not light and fluffy as it should be.
ReplyDeleteBut alas we miss our Delia. So glad she stuck to her guns and refused the BBC's request to dumb down and jazz up her show's presentations.
I seem to remember that her book had a picture of an egg of the cover. Indication that she started from basics. I don't think I ever saw her scrambled egg mess.
DeleteYou head the post hard boiled eggs and then immediately write about soft boiled eggs. Must be very confusing for those not familiar with the British egg boiling traditiions. Later you come to a different egg altogether, the hard boiled egg of your heading in a French railway station and a Moroccan breakfast. Stick to the subject and don't confuse the foreigner.
ReplyDeleteAh you change the heading. Makes much more sense now. All will be well.
DeleteIt is possible that this is the first boiled egg specific blogpost ever published on the internet! Well done! Or should I say: Lightly done!
ReplyDeleteThe only points I would add are:-
a) eggs vary in size so perfect boiling time will too.
b) there's a big difference between cheap supermarket eggs and proper free range eggs from a farm or neighbour's garden.
c) it's nice to draw funny faces on boiled eggs.
re (a), both size and temperature of water would make a difference, so we shall have to presume that all is 'average'.
DeleteMy husband always enjoyed a couple of soft boiled eggs for breakfast. On one of our stays at a French hotel, an American guest asked him about the basket of eggs and he explained that they should be cooked in the simmering pot of water and the nest of eggs beside it were uncooked. He suggested she cooked it for about 4 minutes. It caused some hilarity later at her table when, with great difficulty, she peeled the shell off the lightly boiled egg and the yolk and white collapsed in a runny mess. She'd given it two minutes, which she thought was long enough to wait around!
ReplyDeleteThe hotel we stay at in Orleans has a boil-it-yourself system. I've not yet been brave enough to use it. Maybe I will on our next visit.
DeleteI love soft boiled eggs for breakfast. I'm ashamed to say I still haven't got the timing down perfectly. (I've been working at my timing for months...maybe I need a 'timing song'.) I have two on the boil as I write this and I'm crossing my fingers.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who claims to make perfect soft boiled eggs every time, is lying.
DeleteI also like boiled eggs and toast. Poached eggs on buttered toast are another favorite. I am not a fan of buffet breakfast bars. In my experience, everything cools and becomes lukewarm.
ReplyDeleteI tend to go for the cold things, Orange juice, Ham, Cheese, etc. That way I'm not disappointed.
DeleteI keep eggs in the fridge so extra time must be allowed for the warming up when boiling them. Mostly I hardboil anyway so it doesn't matter about the timing, then I mash them with mayonnaise for sandwiches. I like brown eggs, though I know they would taste the same as white and if white is all that is available that's what I will buy. King Charles seems to be quite wasteful with his eggs.
ReplyDeleteI expect his valet (and other lower orders) get to eat the remains as part of their wages.
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