The ancients said: "The people take food as the sky, and food is the first thing." This sentence profoundly reveals the important position of food in people's lives. On the table of Chinese, eggs are undoubtedly an indispensable nutritious food.
Eggs are rich in high-quality protein and various vitamins, and are known as "complete nutritious food", whether fried, fried, boiled, or steamed, they can change into a variety of delicious dishes. However, boiling eggs, a seemingly simple way to cook, actually contains a lot of tips and tricks.
Have you ever been in a situation where you hurriedly boiled a few eggs in the morning and prepared them for breakfast, only to find that the egg whites stuck tightly to the shells when they were peeled, peeling them to pieces, which not only affected your appetite, but also wasted nutritious eggs?
Or, you finally peel a whole egg, only to find that the yolk has been cooked too old, the taste is dry and hard, and it has lost its original delicacy and smoothness. In fact, these problems are caused by not mastering the correct method when boiling eggs.
So, how do you cook eggs that are easy to shell and maintain a perfect taste?
01
1. Egg selection and pretreatment: meticulous preparation before cooking
Egg selection is the first step in making good eggs. Fresh eggs are not only highly nutritious, but also have a more delicate texture. When picking, we can feel the liquid state inside the egg by gently shaking it. If there is no obvious shaking sensation when shaking, it means that the eggs are relatively fresh.
On the other hand, if you feel that there is more room for the liquid inside, then the egg may not be fresh anymore, and the effect of boiling it may be greatly reduced.
After selecting the eggs, we need to pre-treat them. Use a clean towel to gently wipe the shell of the eggs to remove dirt and bacteria from the surface.
This step is important because clean eggs are better able to withstand subsequent soaking and also reduce the risk of shell cracking when boiling eggs.
2. Soak eggs: Make boiling eggs easier
Soaking is a crucial step before boiling eggs. Prepare a basin of warm water, add salt and white vinegar, and soak the eggs in it for 3 minutes.
Table salt helps separate the shell from the egg white, making hard-boiled eggs easier to peel. White vinegar softens the eggshell and reduces the difficulty of peeling the shell. This is a simple step, but it can greatly improve the effectiveness of boiling eggs.
3. Warm water pot and heat control: the essence of boiled eggs
When boiling eggs, the choice of water temperature and the control of heat are crucial.
Boiling water for too long can cause eggs to be overcooked and taste old, while boiling water pots are easy to cause eggshells to crack and egg whites to overflow.
Therefore, a warm underwater pot is the best option. When small bubbles appear at the bottom of the pan, the water is at a moderate temperature, and gently place the eggs in the pan. This not only ensures that the eggs are heated evenly, but also avoids the cracking of the eggshell.
In the process of boiling eggs, the control of the heat is also very important. We recommend cooking over medium heat and setting a fixed time. After many attempts and practices, we found that boiling for 4 minutes over medium heat and then simmering for 5 minutes with the lid on cover has the best effect.
In this way, the boiled eggs not only make the shell easy to peel off, but also ensure that the yolk is in a semi-solidified state, and the taste is delicate and fragrant. Of course, if you prefer hard-boiled eggs, just simmer them for an extra 1 minute.
4. Post-cooking processing and preservation: make eggs more delicious
Boiled eggs should be immediately removed and soaked in cold water for a while. Not only does this cool down quickly to prevent the eggs from getting cooked, but it also creates tiny air pockets between the shell and the egg white, making it easier to peel off. At the same time, soaking in cold water can also make the egg taste more delicate.
It is important to note that boiled eggs should be eaten at the end of the meal. Because eggs are a high-protein food, leaving them for too long is easy to breed bacteria, leading to diarrhea and other problems. So, while enjoying the delicious food, we should also pay attention to food safety.
02
Boiled eggs are a simple and nutritious food that can be combined with a variety of ingredients and seasonings to create a variety of delicious dishes. Here are some tips on how to eat boiled eggs:
Boiled eggs: The easiest way to eat them, after the eggs are cooked, peel the shell and eat them directly. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and black pepper, or serve it with a glass of milk for breakfast.
Egg Salad: Hard-boiled eggs are chopped, seasonings such as mayonnaise, salt, pepper, lemon juice are added, and mixed well to make a salad. Vegetables such as onions and celery can be added to increase taste and nutrition.
Egg Sandwich: Slice hard-boiled eggs, sandwich them between two slices of bread, add lettuce, tomato, avocado and other toppings, and spread some sauce to make a sandwich.
Braised eggs: Soak hard-boiled eggs in the marinade for a while to allow them to absorb the flavor. The marinade can be made with light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, spices, etc.
Chawanshi: In Japanese cuisine, chawanmushi is a very traditional steamed egg custard. Hard-boiled eggs can be made by placing them in a bowl with other ingredients such as shrimp, chicken, shiitake mushrooms, etc., adding stock or water, and steaming.
Devil's eggs: Cut the hard-boiled eggs, remove the yolks, mix well with mayonnaise, mustard, salt and other seasonings, and then fill them back into the egg white shell. It is an appetizer that is popular at parties.
Boiling eggs seems to be a simple cooking activity in everyday life, but it actually contains a lot of skills and details.
By selecting fresh eggs, pre-treating them, soaking them, pot them under warm water, precisely controlling the time and heat, and properly handling them after cooking, we can easily cook eggs that are both delicious and easy to peel, while preserving the nutritional value of the eggs to the greatest extent.
I hope that every reader can benefit from these tips and add a healthy and delicious taste to their table.