The Porous Egg, Revisited

As it turns out, our initial calculations for infusing eggs with smoke flavor via smoke powder were slightly optimistic. We ended up utilizing the paste method and leaving the eggs in a mixture of smoke powder and water for 48 hours versus our initial plan of twenty four hours in just the powder. Breakfast this morning was a revelation. The smoke flavor was concentrated in the yolk and a bit more delicate in the white. It had a rich and well rounded smoke flavor that evoked visions of country ham and cheesy grits without any of that ancient ashtray flavor that sometimes appears in overly smoked foods. These eggs are amazing. If you have any smoke powder in the pantry get going. They'll be ready in time for Friday night supper or the perfect weekend breakfast. The results are totally worth the two minutes of effort it will take to make the paste, rub it on the eggs, wrap them up, and leave them in the fridge for two days. Seriously, these eggs will make your meal.

Next up rubbing eggs with flavored oils and letting them infuse for 48 hours, black truffle being the first on deck. We're also going to rub a few with some pureed lime pickle just for fun. We'll see what develops this weekend.

Comments

[Alejandro]

really wonderful idea. so many possibilities.

[JD]

I don't have any smoke powder, but I wonder what results one could achieve mixing liquid smoke and olive oil for the marinade? (Though liquid smoke often has an off flavor to me...)

I really like it when your site has ideas that are easy for the average home cook to reproduce. Good stuff.

[Inane]

Delish, I will try this.

How did you cook them?

btw, attempted hot spring eggs with a temperature controller / rice cooker combo and the egg yolk was fabulous but the whites seperated... thoughts?

[Craig Koketsu]

I've been soaking my eggs in water with a little liquid smoke. I use the egg yolk to garnish my steak tartare.

[H. Alexander Talbot]

We cooked this egg in a knob of butter on a low flame with a lid.

What temperature did you cook your eggs in the rice cooker?

How much liquid smoke in your water brine, and how long did you soak them? Also, are you using raw or cooked eggs?

[Mrs.W]

Brilliant! I love this idea.

[Roberto N.]

Yum... now to slow cook this and it's also damn elegant.

[Chef t]

After reading about your tests with the eggs. I decided to try it for my self. I did five different eggs with various spices, oils, pastes, and soy sauce.
my best result was a wet rub of chinese five spice for 48hrs second was the soy sauce. This one had a brownish tint to the whites. hazelnut oil gave the egg a very,very faint nutty flavor. It didn't have a pronounced flavor of hazlenut like i thought it would. I also did one in store bought horseraddish which didn't flavor the egg at all. But i bet if you use fresh horseraddish and make a paste from that it would work.I let all the eggs eggs soak for 48 hrs. Next time I think I will let them go another day or so.
Just wanted to share some of my results with you guys.
Hope it helps out.

[Joe montgomery]

Loved the egg idea. the possibilities especially concerning eggs is endless. Soaked first batch of eggs in straight liquid smoke for 2.5 days. heheh, uh yechh! next batch about 24 hours, good but a little much of the "Carls" flavor. gonna try a bunch of other stuff! thanks alot!

[elarael]

Chef t, try hazelnut butter.

[Judith Klinger]

I tried hard boiled eggs covered in a wasabi paste and a Coleman mustard paste. Nothing happened, at all. Could the boiling process close up the egg shell pores?