Boiling eggs without shells, also known as poaching, is a healthy way to prepare eggs, as you don't need butter or cooking oil to cook them. These poached eggs can be eaten on their own, on a salad, on bread, or made into an egg benedict (a breakfast dish consisting of a typical English muffin topped with ham or bacon, hard-boiled egg and hollandaise sauce). A perfectly hard-boiled egg has a smooth, unbroken yolk, surrounded by a bright, non-transparent oval-shaped egg white. While you might feel a little intimidated by creating such a perfect egg, it's actually very easy to make, even without using a poacher. Follow the instructions below to make a hard-boiled egg that will impress your guests for breakfast or brunch.
Ingredients
- Eggs (amount to taste)
- Water
- White vinegar (optional)
Step
Step 1. Prepare all the ingredients before starting to cook
Precise timing is everything to hard-boiling good shellless eggs.
- All other dishes such as toast, bacon and hash browns (grated potatoes that are deep-fried or shaped into a kind of pastry and then deep-fried) should be cooked at the same time as the hard-boiled eggs.
- If you're cooking for someone else, you'll need to warm other dishes in the oven, near a sunny window, or on a flat pan over hot water. This is a great way and can always make eggs last a long time. You wouldn't expect three minutes to go by so quickly. While you're busy pouring juice, the perfect hard-boiled egg turns hard-boiled in an instant.
Method 1 of 5: Using a pan to boil an egg without the shell
Step 1. Choose a pan suitable for boiling skinless eggs
The pot should be shallow and wide, because the trick to hard-boiling eggs without shells is to place the eggs in a wide, shallow pan filled with slowly boiling water. The pot must be able to hold 1.5 liters of water or a depth of 10 cm from the bottom of the pan.
Step 2. Add water
Fill the pot with about two-thirds or a little more water and bring it to a boil.
Milk can also be used as a substitute for water if you want a better taste
Step 3. If you want the eggs to form well, add 5-10 ml (1-2 teaspoons) of white vinegar to the water
This addition is not a major thing but will improve the appearance of the eggs because the vinegar thickens the egg whites.
- Other types of vinegar (balsamic, red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar) are fine to use and sometimes provide a delicious taste when hard-boiled eggs, but may affect the color of the eggs.
- The gastronomic encyclopedia Larousse Gastronomique suggests adding 1 tablespoon of vinegar to 1 liter of water. Instead, chef Michael Romano recommends adding a teaspoon of vinegar to 1 liter of water.
- Lemon juice can also help form eggs but the taste changes too. Some people suggest adding salt but that can prevent the egg from thickening, so it's best not to use it.
- If you use vinegar, the eggs will have a vinegary taste. According to Chef Michael Romano, in restaurants, hard-boiled eggs are usually put in another pot of hot water that has been salted but without vinegar. This will add flavor and also remove the vinegar taste from the eggs.
Step 4. Choose eggs
The fresher the egg, the better it is to boil without the skin because the egg white is thicker. Use the freshest eggs possible. Eggs that just come out of the chicken can be boiled without vinegar because it will thicken quickly.
Step 5. Boil with easy steps
To get maximum results, boil only one egg. Boiling more than one egg risks making the eggs stick together when cooked. If you need to boil more than one grain, boil a maximum of four. Any more than that would be a waste of time and inevitably, all the eggs would come together.
Step 6. Crack the eggs in a ramekin (small bowl) or soup spoon
Do it slowly so as not to spoil the appearance of the eggs. Alternatively, break the eggs on a small, flat plate so that they are easier to transfer to a pot of water. When cracking the eggs, take care that the yolks don't fall apart.
While it's easier to crack an egg on a bowl or plate and transfer it to a saucepan, some people skip this step and just pop the egg over the water. If you do this, be careful and break only one egg. Note that breaking the eggs separately in the bowl and not directly into the water will give the eggs a chance to rejoin their "protein cocoons". You may have to experiment to see which one works for you
Step 7. Turn the stove down so that the boiling water reduces the heat
The water should be in a slow boiling state and the temperature should be around 71-82ºC.
Make sure you don't put the eggs in boiling water (100ºC) as this can harden the eggs and make them unpalatable
Step 8. Gently stir in the boiling water to cool before you add the eggs
Step 9. Carefully insert the egg into the center of the whirlpool
To help keep the shape of the egg, swirl the water around the egg in a circular motion.
Chef Michael Romano recommends using the sprinkling method to coat the yolks with the whites. Do this for about 20 seconds or until egg whites are formed
Step 10. Wait about 3-5 minutes until the eggs are cooked
You'll know when an egg is ripe when the whites have formed and the yolks have started to thicken.
Step 11. If boiling several eggs at once, do not stir the boiling water
Bring the rim of the bowl close to the surface of the water, then gently and quickly dip the eggs into the water.
- Repeat this step for the other eggs quickly, taking 10-15 second breaks. Leave enough room for each egg in the pan. Two or three cooked eggs will suffice, depending on the size of the pan.
- Transfer each egg in succession after each three minutes of cooking.
Step 12. Transfer the eggs with a slotted spoon
Quickly transfer each egg to a plate, so that any excess water returns to the pan. Larousse Gastronomique suggests refreshing eggs by dipping them in cold water and then drying them with a rag. Chef Michael Romano recommends dipping eggs in slowly boiling salted water for 30 seconds, then placing them on a napkin to drain the water.
If the edges of the eggs are messy, trim them with kitchen shears. This is the secret
Step 13. Serve
Hard-boiled eggs should be served as soon as they are removed and drained. These eggs will cool quickly. When it's cold, it doesn't taste good for people who eat it.
- Serve on thick crusty toast.
- Serve with baked beans, roasted tomatoes, and sausage.
- Serve with salad.
- Serve as filling for pita bread.
- Serve with vegetables.
- Serve on a toasted English butter muffin and drizzle with bearnaise or hollandaise sauce, and topped with bacon or grilled ham.
- Serve as an egg benedict dish.
Method 2 of 5: Using a skinless egg cooker
Step 1. Use the steps described in the previous method
Insert the tool first. The utensil should have a handle that can be attached to the edge of the pan. Hook this handle before inserting the egg.
Step 2. Insert the egg directly into the appliance
Step 3. Cook as above, then remove the utensil and eggs
Drain the eggs from the water and serve as directed above.
Method 3 of 5: Using a skinless egg cooker in the form of a silicone bowl
Step 1. If you go to a good kitchen supply store, buy one or a set of shellless egg cookers in the form of small silicone bowls (one set comes with a frying pan and a transparent lid)
This is a fairly affordable option and very easy to use.
Step 2. Put the silicone bowl in the pan
Step 3. Bring the water to a boil slowly and break the eggs into a bowl
Step 4. Boil a pot of water with a covered pan for 8 minutes (at 100°C)
Step 5. Use a butter knife to lift the hard-boiled egg from the edge of the bowl and turn the bowl over onto the toast so that the egg pops out
Step 6. Serve
Method 4 of 5: Boil the eggs without the shell well before serving time
Step 1. You can boil the eggs without the shell well before serving time if it's a hassle and there's a lot of food to be served, even if you ignore the advice suggested by Julia Child and other chefs like Michael Romano, which is to serve eggs as soon as possible
Step 2. Boil the egg without the shell as described above
Step 3. Put the hard-boiled, skinless eggs in a bowl of iced water to cool them down
Then, put it in the refrigerator and let it sit until it's time to serve. These eggs can last for one day in the refrigerator.
Step 4. Place the eggs in a saucepan of slowly simmering salted water for 20-30 seconds (and no more than a minute), after which they are ready to serve
Do not cook eggs more than the specified time. Use the serving suggestions as above.
Method 5 of 5: If the yolk breaks in the water
Step 1. If the yolk breaks in the water, don't panic
Use a slotted spoon and gently pour the water from the edge of the pan toward the egg yolks to get a rounded shape. Serve as described above.
Step 2. If the method above doesn't work and the yolk doesn't look good, remove the egg (when it's cooked) with a slotted spoon
Serve on a slice of garlic toast or French bread. Add herbs and vegetables over the eggs and your favorite sauce (hollandaise sauce, mayonnaise, or thousand islands are better). This method will successfully cover the messy egg yolks.
- Leftovers such as pasta, kebabs, breads and soups can be used as accompaniments to distract guests.
- Note: This rescue method can only be used for one egg. If some eggs have cracked yolks, hide them between or in several layers of toast or other dishes.
Tips
- You can also boil an egg without the shell in a small Teflon skillet. This pan can hold enough water to cover the eggs. You can boil two eggs at once and it's easier to put them in and out without breaking the shape of the eggs.
- A spherical shellless egg cooker can be used to maintain the shape of the eggs. These are round-shaped steel molds available at kitchen supply stores.
- You can buy a non-stick electric, non-stick, or microwave egg cooker that you can buy and use to boil skinless eggs. Just follow the instructions on the tool.
- Don't use too much cooking oil.
Warning
- If the yolk falls apart when you crack the egg or when you put it in the water, then the egg is broken. Take those eggs and use them for other dishes if you can or maybe someone else wants to make scrambled eggs.
- Save hard-boiled eggs that are completely cooked.
- Do not put eggs in boiling water (100ºC)! This will make the eggs taste and texture bad because boiling water can make the eggs messy. Based on experience, bring the water to a boil first, then reduce the heat to a simmer (or very slowly) before cooking.
