The cooking thread

Squidfayce

Squidfayce

Eats Squid
shiny said:
You could full Jamie Oliver for your poached eggs. Crack an egg into some cling wrap, wrap up a like a Christmas pud and drop in boiling water :oops:

Chef I worked with years ago showed me his trick, get a little vortex going, drop egg in gently and let it spin and cook.
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Jamie Oliver is a hack. Why add steps to something that already has nothing to it.

The vortex doesn't do anything material. They teach that to you in trade school as it presumably keeps the whites from spreading (same thing the vinegar is supposed to do) , but when you're cooking breakfasts for 150 covers no one does this because the pan has about 20 eggs in it at any given time at various stages of donne-ness. The vortex is about as pointless as putting olive oil in your pasta water.

I've found the single most material variable as to how much spread there will be to your whites is the freshness of the eggs. Followed by the temp/acrivity of the watter. Poaching isnt done at a boil or even a simmer. The less bubbles, the less agitation, the less shit moves around, the more things stay together.
 
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pink poodle

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
Squidfayce said:
not sure if this is a serious question. But in the spirit of not being a dickhead, no.
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Always a serious question. I'd imagine an emu egg, with so much more mass, would require a different method. Duck eggs, goose eggs, they are starting to get up there. Quail eggs too, but for the opposite.
 
Squidfayce

Squidfayce

Eats Squid
pink poodle said:
Always a serious question. I'd imagine an emu egg, with so much more mass, would require a different method. Duck eggs, goose eggs, they are starting to get up there. Quail eggs too, but for the opposite.
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method would be the same, cooking time will differ. You might use a larger receptacle for an emu egg, but i don't see this as being a likely scenario. Poaching is poaching.
 
Dales Cannon

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
Egg whites are albumin which is a protein and water. The vinegar or lemon juice is a mild acid. It helps denature the protein in the whites. This means they keep their shape better and set faster. The whites are set or hardened by heat and/or mild acid which is what the vinegar/juice does. If the white isn't set the water in the white allows the whites to run until the water temperature cooks the albumen. Spinning the water is meant to hold the albumen close to the egg and minimise leakage. It makes less than fuck all difference and once you are cooking multiple eggs you cannot keep the spin going. Bit like politicians.

Don't boil the crap out of the eggs; they wont cook faster because the water is still only 100C and the bubbles will break up the eggs.

There is an argument that setting the whites makes them cook better but to be honest I don't bother because at most I poach 4 eggs at a time and the fluffy bit that is released is easily scooped off the top and the rest of the egg cooks properly. So for me the only advantage is aesthetic and once the egg is eaten who cares.
 
Squidfayce

Squidfayce

Eats Squid
Dales Cannon said:
So for me the only advantage is aesthetic
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realistically the back side of the egg is usually perfect looking regardless. SO the method cafes use when they scoop them out on to a tea towel to mop of the excess moisture is just flip them onto the bread. Hides the less aesthetically pleasing bit.
 
pink poodle

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
Dales Cannon said:
Egg whites are albumin which is a protein and water. The vinegar or lemon juice is a mild acid. It helps denature the protein in the whites. This means they keep their shape better and set faster. The whites are set or hardened by heat and/or mild acid which is what the vinegar/juice does. If the white isn't set the water in the white allows the whites to run until the water temperature cooks the albumen. Spinning the water is meant to hold the albumen close to the egg and minimise leakage. It makes less than fuck all difference and once you are cooking multiple eggs you cannot keep the spin going. Bit like politicians.

Don't boil the crap out of the eggs; they wont cook faster because the water is still only 100C and the bubbles will break up the eggs.

There is an argument that setting the whites makes them cook better but to be honest I don't bother because at most I poach 4 eggs at a time and the fluffy bit that is released is easily scooped off the top and the rest of the egg cooks properly. So for me the only advantage is aesthetic and once the egg is eaten who cares.
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How do you stabilise the water at 100⁰?
 
Dales Cannon

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
I cooked Marion from mastercookerperson's chicken giner noodles last night. Mostly. As we are fresh back from 2 weeks on the beach I didn't have the right noodles and no mushrooms. So substitute beans and broccoli for the fungi and steamed rice for the canoodling and honey for sucre. Was good though wife complained it was too spicy. A result of my home grown ginger being higher efficacy than store bought twice frozen emaciated root stock. She added a tablespoon of honey and it worked well. So I did likewise. Transforms the dish. Not sure if the magic muscles would dampen it or not. Will cook my version again. But with nudes.
 
Dales Cannon

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
pink poodle said:
How do you stabilise the water at 100⁰?
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Magic. It does it itself at 1 atmosphere. Obviously if you are poaching eggs on top of Mt Everest or in the toilets on a JAL flight it will take longer.

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Don't turn the gas off. Keep it simmering. Like simpering without the ball gag. It will stay at 100C until the water evaporates then you have to clean molten aluminium off the stove.
 
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S

SummitFever

Eats Squid
Dales Cannon said:
Magic. It does it itself at 1 atmosphere. Obviously if you are poaching eggs on top of Mt Everest or in the toilets on a JAL flight it will take longer.

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Don't turn the gas off. Keep it simmering. Like simpering without the ball gag. It will stay at 100C until the water evaporates then you have to clean molten aluminium off the stove.
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I just assumed @pink poodle was taking the piss...
 
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