Cube shaped soft boiled eggs

[Sm_okie]

One of my good friends said he was at a very nice restaurant in a wealthy Colorado ski town and one component of a dish was a perfectly soft boiled egg that was perfectly square with the yolk centered perfectly (I know nothings perfect but you get the idea), and they breaded and fried it like a scorched egg. I've seen square molds and such but none of the pictures I'm seeing are as uniform as his description. Any thoughts as to how they accomplish this?

 

[chefross]

I have a square egg mold but it requires a hard boiled egg peeled and inserted into it then refrigerated overnight.

 

[dectra]

One of my good friends said he was at a very nice restaurant in a wealthy Colorado ski town and one component of a dish was a perfectly soft boiled egg that was perfectly square with the yolk centered perfectly (I know nothings perfect but you get the idea), and they breaded and fried it like a scorched egg. I've seen square molds and such but none of the pictures I'm seeing are as uniform as his description. Any thoughts as to how they accomplish this?

I've seen two methods, one easier than the other. First one is to buy an Egg Cuber from someplace like Amazon. Works, but not as much fun as the other way, in which you cook and peal the egg, and "squish" it into a square shape; let cool. Reheat to serve. The article below has more detail, if anyone's interested.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/shape-shifting-science-molding-hard-boiled-eggs/

 

[cheflayne]

My guess would a raw egg in a square silicon mold, steamed, cooled, removed from mold and proceeding with Scotch egg preparation.

 

[Sm_okie]

Thank you all for the input, interesting article dectra

 

[rick alan]

Article: an egg in water that is then brought to boil, and left for 10 minutes no less, and then left to air cool, is going to be about as hard-boiled as they come, and very difficult to peel unless you crack and let soak in baking soda, or is it powder, and vinegar which will toughen the whites.

For a liquid yoke start with refrigerated eggs and pot of boiling water large enough to have the volume to maintain a boil when you put the eggs in (use a basket), and a large and wide container of ice water. Boil for exactly 6 min (for large eggs, 15secs more for jumbo)) then dunk immediately in ice water, leave for 2 minutes. These will be soft enough to press into a cuber, chill over night, then do your breading and quick frying. Serve and break open right away before the yokes can get hot enough to start congealing.

Marinating your cubed eggs in sweet soy is a nice touch, though I don't know if it would come through in the frying process.

 

[Transglutaminase]

Was at the local Daiso store this AM.
They had a few different (dual) egg shaping molds - butterfly, flowers, diamonds, etc.
The "translation" on the back suggests placing boiled eggs in the molds & pressing the two halves together & let cool, ...from what I could deduce.
No, did not bother purchasing, as butterfly shaped HB eggs just aren't my thing.

 

[teamfat]

I was thinking about this. The eggs were breaded and deep fried, as that is how scotch eggs are made. And most recipes I've seen end up with hard cooked eggs inside the shell, not soft. Could one possibility be that the raw eggs are put into the cube molds and then frozen? The frozen block could then be wrapped in the sausage and breaded, and a few minutes in the deep fryer completely cooking the exterior and bringing the frozen egg to a soft, somewhat runny consistency?

mjb.

 

[Sm_okie]

That's an interesting thought, part of my initial thinking was not only the soft boiled yolk but also the yolk being centered in the cube. I've see a post on here regarding centered yolks in hard boiled eggs and dont think the technique would work in a cube mold. I'm interested In freezing some eggs now though and trying that out. Thank yall

 

[rick alan]

Boiled from the fridge gives good centering. Give mjb's frozen angle a shot, timing will be critical and will take some experimentation though, unless perhaps you make an inspired guess first effort. My guess is you'll see some congealing or varying degrees of cool/frozen center.

 

[Sm_okie]

Ya I think I'll just have to go with experimenting and write down my results thanks rick and all

 

[teamfat]

Since I suggested the frozen possibility, I may have to do some experimenting. A local watering hole I frequent makes the large ice cubes that look like they would be the proper size for this sort of thing. I'll have to go there to have a couple beers and do some, uh, research.

mjb.

 

[morning glory]

I've seen two methods, one easier than the other. First one is to buy an Egg Cuber from someplace like Amazon

I have the gadget from Amazon which I haven't used in ages! I'll have a go and post the results.

 

[teamfat]

Okay, first shot at it.

Purchased a silicone ice cube tray.



Put a couple of raw eggs in, into the freezer.



An almost cube of frozen egg. Breading stations set up.



The frozen eggs were rolled in flour, and some of the sausage was formed around them. I just used store bought hot Italian, not going to bother with grinding my own for this experiment. Then into the egg wash, then the crumbs.



Not the prettiest cube you've ever seen. Into the hot oil for about 4 - 5 minutes.


Set on a paper towel, allowed to cool for about 15 minutes.



Failure! Still frozen yolk, raw sausage. Drat.

So for the next attempt I plan to crack one egg into the mold, then cover with the white of another egg. This may give a nicer cube without having the yolk form a little dome on the top. Then proceed as done here, but after breading let the egg sit on the counter for about 30 -45 minutes to see if the yolk thaws out. Then fry at 325F rather than 375. The higher temp did give a nice color to the outside, but ...

Stay tuned for round 2.

mjb.

 

[morning glory]

Failure! Still frozen yolk, raw sausage. Drat.

Far as I know - if you freeze eggs the yolk never fully recovers to become a oozy runny yolk.

 

[rick alan]

You did make good use of the leavings I hope.

The 6min egg I described will work perfectly here I'm sure. It will be much softer than the near-impossible-to-cleanly-peel hard-boiled egg described in the article, so they should cube nicely, as well as provide a fully liquid yoke.

Aside from the freezer-blitz to the yoke aluded to by MG, what science has to say about delta T and the energy required to transition from solid/frozen to liquid states I believe will make the frozen experiment an exercise in futility, I believe you will need to go more or less hard-boiled. But no studies having been done for this particular exercise, why not make it official either way mjb.

 

[morning glory]

My square egg experiment so far - its coloured with beetroot and turmeric. No centred yolk...

 

[rick alan]

Explain the staining process here please MG. Interesting the beet color went right through.

The idea of squared Scotched with liquid yokes eggs does interest me. But since the gas range I have to use of these days puts out s..t for btu's on pots large and small, despite its high-end appearance (don't trust LG appliances here, any ancient electric range does better), I don't think I'll be trying any deep-frying anytime soon.

 

[morning glory]

One of my good friends said he was at a very nice restaurant in a wealthy Colorado ski town and one component of a dish was a perfectly soft boiled egg that was perfectly square with the yolk centered perfectly

Maybe not quite as runny as I'd like - but here is my attempt:

 

[morning glory]

Explain the staining process here please MG. Interesting the beet color went right through.

Sorry - I only just saw your post @rick alan. I simply left the eggs in the beetroot juice for 2 days.