THOUGHT I WAS DONE DIDN’T YOU?

No, we are not quite finished with our boiling egg egg-u-cation yet.  I have more to share and since Mrs. Chef’s BFF went to all that trouble to research this info I’m going to share it.  Someday when the subject comes up and you’re faced with a crazy question as to how to perfectly boil an egg you can just look dumbfounded and blame it all on this blog.

Moving right along and trying to keep it brief since I happen to know Mrs. Chef’s mama has voiced her boredom with the subject…

In 1947 there was a cookbook written by Mrs. Simon Kander called “The Settlement Cook Book, The Way to a Man’s Heart”.  She wrote about both soft & hard boiled eggs and it seemed similar enough to previous versions that I won’t repeat it here. The way to a man’s heart…seriously?

Next there was that classic book featuring three pages of pictures with recipes for boiled eggs and deviled eggs.  Maybe you recall the 1950 “Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book” by General Mills.  Not to burst anyone’s bubble or anything but you do realize that dear Betty was fictitious, right?  How she hooked up with the General I’m not sure either but this book gave two ways using both a cold and a boiling water start and claimed you should have the eggs at room temperature to prevent cracking during cooking.  Once again I’ll spare further details and your welcome.

1965 brought “The Fannie Farmer Cookbook” 11th Edition, revised by Wilma Lord Perkins.  “Hard-Cooked or Soft-Cooked (Boiled) Eggs”.  Again suggests having eggs at room temperature thinking the cold eggs into boiling water would result in cracking the shells.  This book suggests modifying times for the different egg sizes and explains you should crack the cooked eggs, then plunge into icy cold water immediately to help prevent yolks from darkening.

Let’s bounce ahead to 1968 with the “Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book”.  Again we find methods for both soft and hard-cooked with an interesting note to shell hard cooked eggs by cracking shell all over and then rolling between palms of hand to loosen.  Start peeling from large end.  Hmm, this must have made a difference and had you even noticed there was a large and small end?!  Well, see...maybe you should pay attention.

Next we see the 2005 Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book where it states that sometimes hard-cooked eggs have an unattractive but harmless greenish ring around the yolk and to minimize the chances of that ring forming, time the cooking carefully.  Cool hard cooked eggs in ice water.  In peeling eggs, gently tap each on counter top, then roll between palms of hands and again the directions say to peel off eggshell at larger end.

In 2005 “Betty Crocker, Everything You Need to Know to Cook Today” came on the scene.  Looks like Betty dropped the room temperature idea telling us to cover eggs with cold water at least one inch above eggs placed in single layer in saucepan.  Cover, heat to boiling, remove from heat; let stand covered fifteen minutes, then drain.  Immediately place eggs in cold water with ice cubes or run cold water over them until completely cooled.  To remove shell, crackle it by tapping gently all over; roll between hands to loosen.  Peel starting at large end.  If hard to peel, hold egg under cold water while peeling.

In starting this egg inquiry I also asked several friends what they considered to be the best plan for making hard boiled eggs.  Of course, some seeming unaware there was more than their way to do it.  Actually that is egg-actly what lead me to write this ridiculous post in the first place.  So hang on, Mom, we’re almost there.

Speaking of Mom...Mrs. Chef asked her mother for her version.  She always put the eggs in a pan of cold water adding a teaspoon of salt and one of vinegar which was supposed to aid in removing the shells later when peeling.  Another source did in a similar way but poked a pin hole in the fat end of the shell before boiling.  This was supposed to aid in easier removal of the shell in that it breaks the membrane inside.  Another shakes the pan after dumping the hot water so the eggs break amongst themselves and aids in peeling once cool enough to handle.  Thank goodness I am of the feline order and don’t really care because I now have so many ways to cook eggs I’m totally confused.

But, wait...just a bit more facts, jack before I peel off this subject.  Just cat curiosity lead me to further search out the why’s of doing some of the things you humans do so once again our BFF investigated a few websites for some scientific input.

According to the online encyclopedia, what we refer to as Wikipedia (whatever the hell that stands for I have no clue but let’s not blog about it, ok?) the reason vinegar is added to the water is to prevent “billowing” of the white if the shell cracks, no explanation given but then the vinegar is added to boiling water to make poached eggs for that very reason.  It said the same reason is used to pierce the eggshell and it is not recommended.  It was unclear if that statement of not recommending it pertained also to the vinegar theory because those people who write this stuff write weird!

Then there was a website called ‘Chow.com’ and its answer to adding vinegar to the water makes egg peel easier said: “Adding vinegar softens eggshells, according to Juan Silva, a professor of food and science technology at Mississippi State University.  “The eggshell is made of calcium carbonate...and adding vinegar to the water will dissolve some of the calcium carbonate,” Silva says.  The result is a softer shell and easier peeling.

In case you didn’t know there are a number of factors which affect the peeling process such as the age of the egg and how it was stored.  Older eggs peel easier.  Per Mr. Silva as time goes by, the albumin, [protein] starts to break down thus boiling the shell will come off easier.  Another method he recommends is to add sodium carbonate, also know as washing soda, to the water, which will increase the acidity of the eggs.  This helps break down the protein that holds the egg to the inside of the shell.

Thinking I could settle on just one simple fool-proof version of hard boiling an egg I decided to tap into what I considered an ultimate authority...asking someone I knew that actually graduated from Culinary School!

Here is quote-unquote her comment regarding the perfect way to cook a hard boiled egg:  “So there are professionally 101 ways to cook an egg. As for boiling it you can traditionally boil it with the shell on, braise it in the oven in a stock or broth, poach in water with just enough water to cover the egg on a low rolling boil. Those three ways I would recommend. “

So with the help of our BFF we shall now, in confusion and conclusion, break it down to two categories: the cooking basics and cooling & peeling basics.

COOKING BASICS:

1. Start with cold eggs vs. room temp. eggs

2. Pin hole vs. no pin hole

3. Pick something to add to water: a: nothing, b: salt, c: vinegar, d: baking soda, e: other?

4. Cold water vs. submerge gently in boiling water; 4a: if in cold water bring to boil vs. near boil; 4b: if in boiling water (your choice here) a. reduce heat (varied), b. bring back to boil, c: off heat

5. Covered vs. uncovered (cold or boiling water start)

6. Main cooking whether starting cold or boiling water (again you pick) a:boil, b: simmer, c: sit in water off heat

7. Main cooking time widely VARIED.  Pick whatever reason as it does not seem to make a difference as long as egg is hard cooked but not overcooked.

8. Boiling covered vs. uncovered

COOLING & PEELING BASICS (after draining)

1. Cool in (pick one): a: ice water, b: cold running tap water; 1a: in a separate bowl vs. same pan as cooked in

2. Cool completely vs. cool enough to handle

3. Initial tap to break shell vs. shaking pan to break shells

4. Begin peeling on big end of egg vs. anywhere on shell

5. Tap egg on counter vs. shaking against bowl or pan

6. Break shell hitting with spoon vs. rolling on counter vs. rolling in hands

7. Peel immediately vs. whenever you get around to it

8. Peel under cold running water vs. under water vs. peel dry

Seems the one thing all agreed upon was that the yolks outer skin will turn green if overcooked.

And that’s it in an eggshell.  I hereby promise to never bring this up again as I feel I have eggausted the subject.  I also send out a personal apology to Mrs. Chef’s mama for the boredom she endured.  Bet you all can’t wait to see what subject I crack next!!

MORE ON EGGS 101

So continuing on with more than you ever wanted to know about the history of boiling eggs we’re going back to 1894 this time.  While this may seem useless information to some...well, who cares?  It’s my blog!

Mrs. Grace Townsend put out a book titled “Imperial Cook Book, a Monitor for the American Housewife in the Dining Room and Kitchen”.  This was considered to also be one of the Standard cookbooks of that era.  Mrs. Townsend gave three ways in her book: one for invalids and considered more healthful: “Place boiling water in a granite kettle, set on back of the range where it will keep hot but not boil; put into it carefully as many eggs as need, and let it stand 10 minutes; all becomes cooked but not hard.”  “The other method is to place the eggs into boiling water.  For those who like eggs lightly boiled, 3 minutes will be found sufficient; 3 to 4 minutes will be ample time to set the white nicely; and if liked hard, 6 or 7 minutes will not be found too long.”  Last but not least a recipe for Soft Boiled Eggs: “Put them in boiling water; if you only wish the white set, about 2 minutes’ boiling is enough.  A new laid egg will take 3 minutes, if you wish the yolk set.”

As our BFF says it seems the debate about whether to boil or let sit in boiling-hot water has been around awhile.  Also note similar wording of instructions between Mrs. Townsend’s book and Mrs. Beeton’s book from last post.  Notice they talk funny back then or is it just me?

Now let’s jump ahead to 1898 and read our BFF’s copy of “The Ladies’ Home Journal Mrs. Rohrer’s New Cook Book” 1st Edition.  Here we find a recipe for steamed eggs as boiled eggs can be tough: “...Eggs boiled for two minutes” produced eggs with tough whites near the shell.  “Steamed Eggs are preferred”.  For “Steamed” eggs: “Eggs put into hot water, the water kept away from the fire, are much better than when they are boiled carefully even two minutes.”…”To cook four eggs, put them into a kettle and pour over two quarts of boiling water.  Cover the kettle, allow them to stand for ten minutes.  Drain off this water, put the eggs into a large bowl or dish and cover again with boiling water and send to the table.  The white will be coagulated, but soft and the yolk perfectly cooked.  If you should add six eggs to this volume of water, allow them to stand 15 minutes.  A single egg may be dropped into a quart of boiling water, the kettle covered and in eight minutes it will be ready to serve.”  “To hard boil...eggs into warm water; bring the water to about 200 degrees Fahr. And keep it there for thirty minutes.” …”Throw them at once into cold water and remove the shells.  Eggs cooled in the water in which they are boiled are dark and yellow.”

Mrs. Chef’s BFF offered this information as a sort of baseline by which all subsequent cookbooks are based.  As refrigeration became widespread and ranges (electric as well as gas) showed up in even the commonplace kitchen there were changes to the various recipes.  Also, interestingly enough, spices, flavorings, fats and tastes changed and each manufacturer put out a cookbook for it’s product, some using the icons of their day like Ida Bailey Allen 20’s through the 40’s so now BFF is taking us ahead to times that people cooking today, be they young or old, will be able to relate to.

So moving on to 1941 and our BFF claims to be tossing in a pre-WWII pretentious French dude into our mix.  “The Escoffier Cookbook” by A. Escoffier.  His recipe goes like this:  “Boiling eggs hard may seem an insignificant matter, but, like the other methods of procedure, it is, in reality, of some importance, and should be effected in a given period of time.” (this was one comma-happy dude-I’m typing as written-trust me)  “If, for a special purpose, they have to be just done, it is pointless and even harmful to cook them beyond a certain time-limit, seeing that any excess in the cooking only makes them tough, and the white particularly so, owing to their aluminous nature.  In order to boil many eggs uniformly, they should be put into a colander with large holes whereby they may be plunged at the same moment of time into the boiling water.  From the time the water begins to boil, eight minutes should be allowed in the case of medium-sized eggs, and 10 minutes in the case of larger ones; but these times should never be exceeded.  As soon as they are done drain the eggs and dip them in cold water and shell them carefully.”
Still talking funny!

BFF tells us that during WWII there were wonderful cookbooks that showed how to save the rationed goods.  So she included an early one here as it was a standard of it’s time.  Irma Rombauer was the Julia Child of her day.  She dabbled in the French forms of cooking but also the traditional American.  BFF really admired her and says the revised and updated editions of her cookbook are still being published and still considered a must have.  She also published with the times.  Her first edition was in 1931 and sustained many Depression era and pre-war era cooks with basic good cooking techniques over the first several revisions.  Oh, and by the way…does anybody out there know where our BFF can get a 1st Edition?  Seriously, let me know!  Evidentially the style of recipes in this cookbook are unique and are written in paragraph form but each ingredient is boldface and listed by itself rather than in the paragraph.  Even better!

Does Irma S. Rombauer’s “The Joy of Cooking” from 1943 ring a bell with anyone?  Her recipe was titled: “Soft and Hard Cooked Eggs (Boiled Eggs)”: “Place eggs in boiling water, reduce the heat and keep the water under the boiling point.  Allow 6 minutes for delicately coddled eggs; 8 minutes for firmly coddled eggs and 30-35 minutes for hard-cooked eggs.”  Double boilers were a wonderful, relatively new invention so she also gives instructions for that: “...put eggs in the top of a double boiler, pour boiling water over them and place the pan over boiling water.  Keep the eggs hot but do not permit the water in the lower container to boil.  The eggs will be hard cooked in 35 minutes.”  As for the boil she goes on to say, “Plunge hard-cooked eggs, when done, into cold water to prevent discoloration of the yolks.”

Now stay tuned, I have lots more but honestly...that’s enough typing for one day.

MORE EGG FUNDAMENTALS

Since I'm just certain you're all on the edge of your seats in anticipation of more egg enlightenment, I thought I'd share the following.  When you're about to make hard boiled eggs these days you probably don't give it much thought.  Can you imagine cooking in days of yore and not wonder how anything was accomplished with what they had available then?  I bet they didn't know what indoor cat boxes were and poor kitty had to bury it's business in the snow...I can't even think about that.  Anyway, before getting into the nitty gritty of egg boiling in today's times, here's some really old methods I'd bet you never knew.

As I told you yesterday, Mrs. Chef's BFF did some fantastic detective work to help make this interesting.  The first recipe she was able to locate for hard boiling an egg came out of a reprint of a 1st bound edition dated 1961.  "1859-1861 Beeton's Book of Household Management" by Mrs. Isabell Beeton.  Her recipe reads as follows:  "Have ready a saucepan of boiling water; put the eggs into it gently with a spoon, letting the spoon touch the bottom of the saucepan before it is withdrawn, that the egg may not fall and subsequently crack.  For those that like eggs lightly boiled, 3 minutes will be found sufficient; 33/4 to 4 minutes will be ample time to set the white nicely; and if liked hard 6-7 minutes will not be found too long.  Eggs for salads should be boiled from 10 minutes to 1/4 hour, and should be placed in a basin of cold water for a few minutes; they should then be rolled on the table with the hand, and the shell will peel off easily."

A tiny footnote was added at the bottom reading: "When fresh eggs are dropped into a vessel full of boiling water, they crack, because the eggs being well filled, the shells give way to the efforts of the interior fluids, dilated by heat.  If the volume of hot water be small the shells do not crack because it's temperature is reduced by the eggs before the interior dilation can take place.  Stale eggs, again, do not crack because their air inside is easily compressed."

My question is where did they teach all this egg-o-nomics in the 1800's anyway?

Here's one from 1876 called "76 Cookbook" by the Ladies of Plymouth Church, Des Moines, Iowa:  "Put the eggs on in cold water and let it come to a boil, or place them in a saucepan of boiling water, being careful not to let them crack or break, by dropping them in.  Three minutes will be long enough to cook them if desired soft, ten if hard.

Not long after in 1879 there was "Housekeeping in Old Virginia" by Marion Cabell Tyree.  Our BFF tells us this was a particularly interesting book in that it was one of the first to list ingredients first rather than having the recipe in just paragraph form so you could get the ingredients ready...ah, yes the mise en place at last.  Also it was quite the popular book written and published in the States, one of the Standards of it's time.  BFF tells us these early ladies were the Julia Child, Martha Stewart or Rachel Ray of their day.  This recipe only listed instructions for soft boiled eggs but BFF mentions it because it gives a recipe similar, for the time, for what could be considered a forerunner of the deviled egg called "Egg Cups-A Breakfast Dish" and it says that the eggs should be "boiled perfectly hard" even though there is no instruction on how long to cook the eggs for that.  They cut the eggs in half and the yolks mix smoothly with butter, salt & pepper and a separately made sweet cream sauce, put back into the egg garnished with fresh parsley.  (mayonnaise which is a mixture of beaten raw eggs, oil and seasoning was not safe to keep around back then without refrigeration.)

Next we find in 1889 "The Every-Day Cook-Book and Encyclopedia of Practical Recipes, For Family Use" by Miss E. Neill.  This book only gave a recipe for soft boiled eggs but then in a later recipe uses a hard boiled egg with instructions to boil 6 eggs for 20 minutes before slicing them on bread and covering them with a cream sauce.  Now back to the soft boiled egg one has to assume it's the same 6 eggs and 20 minutes but then actually boil the eggs not just leave them sitting in hot water.  The book reads: "Place eggs in warm saucepan, and cover with boiling water.  Let them stand where they will keep hot but not boil for 10 minutes".  As our BFF says the book leaves a lot for a woman to guess but is still one of the early Standards of American cookbooks.

I'm going to let you chew on this awhile and we will return to more of the oldies next post.

NOT EGGACTLY EGGCITING

There's a pretty good chance this will be the wackiest thing I've blogged about yet.  Besides the fact why would a cat even care about such a silly subject as...are you ready...hard boiling eggs.  That's what I said...hard boiling eggs.



Let's just start at the beginning so you'll understand how this rolled out.  I happen to reside in a home with one male and one female human who spend a lot of time in their kitchen.  I'll just nick name them Mr. and Mrs. Chef as they both love to cook, other humans have actually made requests and paid them for special dishes, and they don't even seem to mind the clean up involved following a project.  Yeah, so maybe they are a little weird but I do get my two squares a day, all day munchies, litter box is always clean, I can't complain.  Whenever they have a concoction going in the kitchen I usually manage to stay on my nap schedule undisturbed.  That is until the times they make hard boiled eggs and those stinky fumes start permeating the hallway.  Frankly my litter box doesn't smell that pungent but whatever.


Aside from that my point here is not about the aroma of hard boiled eggs but rather the process or method one uses to hard boil them.  Mrs. Chef originally used her way which I understood to be pretty much just boil the living daylights out the eggs until there's no doubt whatever is inside the shell is boiled beyond belief.  Then along comes Mr. Chef one day and suggests she try his way, turned out his way was better and for that eggs everywhere are probably relieved.  Let me mention also that Mr. and Mrs. Chef often times watch the food network on TV and it just so happened one day they caught a show about making hard boiled eggs.  This particular TV Chef explained that the egg when cooked properly should have a solid yellow yolk with no green outer coat.  Funny part about this is Mrs. Chef thought that green exterior on the yolk was normal and made it look like an itty bitty planet earth.  Now thanks to using Mr. Chef's method she no longer gets the outer green color...and she'd never even noticed that until she saw that egg episode.  Then one day Mr. Chef happens across a video clip on how to boil the perfect eggs so they both decided they better watch this one too.  See how everyone lays claim to the "perfect" egg?  So this got Mrs. Chef to thinking that there must be more than one or two or even three perfect ways to boil eggs so she began asking her friends.  Next thing you know she'd collected quite a variety of methods.


Now I'm sure this isn't the first time somebody has taken the egg boiling methods to task and I'm definitely not here to say which is the best way or the worst way.  Frankly, I could care less how the rest of you stink up your kitchens but I thought it would be interesting to share some of what we learned. 


Interestingly enough Mrs. Chef's long-time best friend, we'll call her BFF, has a cookbook collection with books dating back to the 1700's.  Can you imagine worrying about hard boiling eggs back then minus electricity or running water?  So for fun Mrs. Chef asked BFF to do some research and see if she could discover how far back she could find a recipe for hard boiling eggs.  She tells us the early cookbooks seemed more concerned with how old an egg was rather than how to cook it.  Most times they were just served for breakfast soft boiled.  Another bit of trivia tells us that the very first American cookbook was by Amelia Simmons dated 1796 but no mention was made of cooking hard boiled eggs.  Back then all cookbooks came from England but here in America there were different foods available that were not covered in the English cookbooks.  Things like turkey, pumpkin, corn, tomatoes, potatoes, berries, etc.  Not that cooking eggs was done any differently here from there but no mention was made as to how to hard boil them.  Maybe they had not yet invented egg salad or deviled eggs.


It was also mentioned that the spelling in these books was horrible (ah, the pre-spell check era).  Way back then the letter 'f' was used in place of the letter 's' which made for some fun reading for BFF.


In BFF's research she told Mrs. Chef about a book from 1753 called "The Compleat Houfewife: or accomplfh'd Gentlewoman's Companion".  Whew...my spell check is going nuts over here.  Anyway, her book is a 15th Edition and she notes that the earliest edition is the 3rd Edition from 1729 and it now resides in a British Museum.  Notice the "f' and lack of the 's'?  And again nothing noted on boiling eggs but it did advise that when buying eggs you should put the big end of the egg to your tongue to see if it's fresh and warm.  Try that today and you're bound to hear someone yell security.  Now I'm going to let you digest this much and will continue next post with the very first recipe we found for hard boiling eggs!
Are we eggcited yet???