How much and how to cook eggs

There is no such person who has not boiled eggs at least once in his life. And surely many people have faced a situation where the egg is cracked and half poured into the water, undercooked or overcooked. Oddly enough, such a simple action as cooking eggs has quite a lot of nuances. So let's put this process on the shelves and learn a few little secrets to be able to cook an egg without problems and delays of the consistency that we need.

Cooking time of chicken eggs:

in a bag – 3 minutes;
soft-boiled – 6 minutes;
hard-boiled – 12 minutes;

Quail eggs:

in a bag – 30-40 seconds;
soft-boiled – 1.5 minutes;
hard-boiled – about 3 minutes

Ostrich eggs:

in a bag – 20 minutes;
soft-boiled – 45 minutes;
hard-boiled – 90 minutes.

Depending on the type and size of the egg, cooking takes from one and a half to 90 minutes.
Caloric content of eggs
chicken egg - from 60 to 80 Kcal
calculation: caloric content of one chicken egg (without shell) is 157 Kcal per 100g
quail egg - 20 Kcal
caloric content calculation: the average weight of a quail egg is about 12g, caloric content is about 168 Kcal per 100g
Calculation of the caloric content of ostrich eggs: the weight of an ostrich egg is from 1.2 kg to 2.2 kg, and its caloric content is 160 Kcal per 100g.

Cooking time of chicken eggs and the degree of readiness

Cooking time 3 minutes

The egg is cooked in a bag: the white is hardened only on the outer edge, the rest is liquid, like the yolk.

Cooking time 5 minutes

Egg in a bag: the white is almost cooked, but a little liquid, like the yolk.

Cooking time 7 minutes

Soft-boiled egg: The white is cooked completely, and the yolk is liquid.

10 minutes of cooking

Hard-boiled egg: the white is cooked completely, the yolk is gripped, but remains soft in the middle.

The egg is cooked for 14 minutes

Hard-boiled: the white and yolk are completely cooked. The best option for cooking eggs for long-term storage and for use in the preparation of salads.

20 minutes of cooking

Overcooked egg: the white and yolk are completely cooked, but they begin to lose their taste qualities, and gradually become rubbery.

Egg color

One of the most frequent questions is about the color of the egg. So the color of the shell is not related to the taste and useful properties of the egg. It depends solely on the breed of chickens. Although there is an opinion that the brown shell is more durable. At the same time, the color of the yolk is of great importance – the brighter it is, the more useful substances it contains.

Of course, when buying eggs, always pay attention to their freshness. Fresh eggs taste better, but keep in mind-they are worse cleaned.
An egg is a unique product that contains a huge amount of vitamins, trace elements and amino acids. In the war and post-war times, egg yolk was an indispensable source of nutrition for young children, and it was tried to be introduced into the diet as early as possible. Now the egg is considered one of the products necessary in the diet of people who want to lose weight, as they are rich in all sorts of useful substances necessary for the body, are well absorbed and satisfy hunger well.

Today, in our kitchens, we most often use chicken eggs, less often quail eggs (most often for children's dishes). But of course, the list is not limited to this. For human consumption, any bird eggs (for example: ostrich, duck, turkey) and not only are suitable.
Egg is one of the most common products in our kitchen. We use them almost every day: we cook, fry, add them to salads, sandwiches, pastries and sauces. I propose to elaborate on one of these actions-namely, the COOKING of eggs.

How to cook eggs

The simplest and most common way to cook eggs is with a pot of water. We'll need a pot, water, and eggs.

You can often hear about the need to add salt to the water when cooking eggs. Salt is added to the water so that in the case of cracking of the shell and leaking eggs, the protein will curdle faster and clog the crack. If you cook the eggs correctly, you will not need salt.

But directly cracking will help prevent two things: The first is to puncture the egg from the blunt side with a needle - this way, the pressure that increases during the heating of the egg will be released, The second is not to put cold eggs in hot water, to avoid a sharp temperature drop, be sure to first remove the eggs from the refrigerator or hold them in warm water for a while.

The main difference in the approaches to cooking eggs is whether to put them in cold or hot water.

But in any case, before cooking, the eggs should be washed, preferably under a stream of warm water and, preferably, with a brush or washcloth. In this way, you get rid of dirt particles that may have remained on the shell.

When cooking with a tab in cold water, it is necessary to mark the cooking time after boiling, which puts us in a not very convenient situation when it is necessary to monitor the pan for almost the entire cooking period. A simpler and more accurate way is with a bookmark in boiling water, because at first we just turn on the fire to the maximum, so that the water boils, and then we put the eggs and set the timer.

However, the eggs should not be cooked in very bubbling water, but in barely boiling water, i.e. on a small fire (we vary depending on the size of the pan, the burner and the number of eggs), with the lid open. The eggs should be completely covered with water, plus about a centimeter. This will help the eggs to boil more evenly and not knock against each other, which will reduce the likelihood of cracking.

How much to cook eggs

Depending on the consistency of the egg that we want to get, the cooking time of the eggs is from 3 to 15 minutes. From a liquid egg with a slightly thickened egg white on the outside to a fully cooked egg white and yolk.

It is not recommended to cook eggs for more than 15 minutes, as eggs lose their taste and useful qualities. Protein and the yolk is gradually becoming the rubber. Also, a chemical reaction occurs in them, and the yolk begins to turn blue. In this photo, the nearest egg was cooked for 20 minutes, its yolk began to turn a little blue around the edge. Also, additional cyanosis is acquired after cooking stale eggs and eggs that have not been cooled in cold water after cooking.

To determine the degree of egg cooking, three basic concepts are used:

• in a bag: the protein is half cooked, and in it, as in a bag, the liquid yolk and half of the protein;
• soft-boiled: the white is completely cooked, and the yolk is liquid;
• hard-boiled: when both the white and yolk are completely cooked.

The choice of cooking options depends on your taste preferences, any method is suitable for serving a great breakfast. Soft-boiled eggs, as well as hard-boiled eggs, are also perfect for adding to a salad. Soft-boiled eggs are considered the most useful, since the cooked protein is easier to digest, and the boiled yolk loses its useful properties. But if you need to take eggs with you on the road, then use hard-boiled eggs, since they do not spoil for the longest time.

How to cook eggs properly

Now we move directly from theory to practice. I suggest you read a step-by-step example of cooking chicken eggs in hot water.

1. Take a pot of suitable size. For 1-3 eggs, a pot of 16 cm in diameter is suitable.
   The cooking time of the eggs will also be affected by the ratio of the amount of water and eggs. If you cook a large amount at the same time in a small saucepan, you should add 30-60 seconds to the cooking time, since the boiling time of the water will increase slightly.
2. Pour water into a saucepan, about 2/3 and put on maximum heat to bring to a boil.
3. While the water boils, take out the eggs and wash them thoroughly under a stream of warm water.
4. After that, using a needle, we pierce holes in the eggs from the blunt side of the egg. It is not necessary to pierce the eggs deep. The fact is that on the blunt side of the eggs there is an air pocket. If you only pierce it, the pressure will be released with the help of the air that is in this pocket, and if you get to the egg itself, then with the help of the contents, which will cause cracking. If you are in a hurry, you can pour warm or even hot water into the pan, so it will boil faster.
5. When the water boils, reduce the heat to medium or less, so that the water only gurgles a little.
6. Carefully, but quickly, we lower the eggs one by one into the water. It is convenient to use a skimmer or a tablespoon for this purpose.
7. And set the timer for the required number of minutes. Do not forget that it is very important to take into account all the nuances: the size of the eggs, the desired consistency, the size of the pan, the amount of water and the number of eggs.

Example: when cooking one or three eggs, all other things being equal, the time for cooking an egg to a certain consistency will differ by 30-60 seconds. One egg will cook faster, as the water will lose less in temperature when dipping cold eggs and exchanging temperature with water.

It is also very important how quickly the water boils again after dipping the eggs. If you cook hard-boiled eggs, it will not make much difference, but if you want to get eggs of a certain consistency – soft-boiled, then you need to:
a. After boiling the water, immerse the eggs in it (the water will stop boiling);
b. Bring the water to a boil again at high heat (this will take only a short time, literally 30-60 seconds);
c. Then turn down the heat so that the water only boils a little, and feel free to do other things until the timer beeps.

8. As soon as the timer beeps, you need to transfer the eggs to cold water.
This action will help us much easier to remove the shell from the eggs.

You can remove it with a colander or drain the hot water and put the pan with the eggs under a stream of cold running water and leave for a while. If You need cold eggs - let it lie a little longer, if it is warm - it was only a couple of minutes.

9. Now the eggs are cooked and you can peel them. If we clean completely (usually we do this with hard-boiled eggs), then we beat the eggs all over the surface. If we eat with a spoon, then put the eggs with the blunt side up in a special mold or glass of a suitable diameter, beat the top-about 1.5 cm from the top and peel off the shell.

How to cook a poached egg

Poached egg is a traditional dish of French cuisine, which is an egg cooked without a shell. This egg turns out to be a special texture, tender with a creamy yolk. One of the most delicious and at the same time difficult ways of cooking eggs. Perhaps you will be able to cook a beautiful egg not the first time, but, nevertheless, everything is not so difficult, a little practice and everything will turn out perfectly.

In order to cook a poached egg, we will need: a pot of water, table vinegar and a wooden spoon.

1. Take an egg and wash it thoroughly in warm water. Many people neglect this stage in the preparation of eggs, because in any case, the egg will undergo a good heat treatment. However, this stage is very important, because when breaking an egg, all the dirt left on the shell gets into our dish. Even after heat treatment, it is not very pleasant and good.

2. In a saucepan, pour water for 4-5cm, bring to a boil and add vinegar at the rate of about 1stl per 1L of water. It is best to use rice vinegar, you can use apple vinegar. You can use balsamic vinegar, it will give the egg a special taste, but the egg will also change its color.

3. Carefully release the egg into a small saucer or bowl.

4. Now turn down the heat under the pan, so that the water does not boil, but as if just starting to boil and very carefully, but quickly release the egg into the water.

5. For the first few seconds, gently push the egg white to the yolk with a wooden spoon,and the yolk to the middle of the protein.

6. Then we note the time: for an egg of category C1, this is about 2.5 minutes, for a large egg, the time can increase to 4 minutes.

7. Now we take out the egg with a slotted spoon, put it in a bowl with cold water to wash off the remaining vinegar and stop the cooking process.

8. The last step-spread on a napkin to allow excess water to drain and now you can serve.

Poached egg in the microwave

An analog of a poached egg can serve as an egg boiled in a glass of water in a microwave oven. This is a very simple way to prepare this wonderful dish.

1. The egg is thoroughly washed.

2. In a transparent glass with a volume of 200-250ml pour cold water about half - 2/3. Of course, for cooking eggs doesn't matter what color the glass, but since microwave ovens vary in power, and eggs as we have seen, come in different sizes - transparent glass allows You to monitor the cooking process and pick the right time for desired consistency eggs.

3. Carefully, so as not to damage the yolk, break the egg and release it into the water.

4. Place the glass with the egg in the microwave. The exact time and power must be selected individually.

5. Take the egg out of the water and put it on a napkin to remove excess water. You can serve it. In the photos of the egg, the first one was cooked for 1 minute 20 seconds at a power of 850W - the yolk is completely liquid, the protein is almost all dense, there is a little liquid left in the water, the second 1 minute 40 seconds at the same power-the egg is almost hard-boiled.

Poached egg in a bag

1. As in other methods, the egg must first be washed in warm water.
2. Put a small pot of water on the fire and bring to a boil. After that, the fire is slightly reduced, the water should not boil too much.
3. While the water boils, take a cup or bowl, cover with cling film.
4. Carefully break the egg and pour it into a bowl. You can add salt, add cheese or vegetables, herbs to taste.
5. We connect the edges of the film at the top and clamp it well, if necessary, you can tie something, but usually the film itself holds quite well.
6. When the water boils, put the egg bag in a saucepan and cook for 3-7 minutes, depending on the desired consistency.
7. Now we take out the bag and take out the egg.
8. If necessary, you can help yourself with a spoon.
9. This egg was cooked for 4 minutes - as a result, we got a soft-boiled egg, a fully cooked protein and a tender protein. This is one of the most convenient ways to get an egg "a la poached", since there is no need to monitor the egg and use additional dishes - only a pan, which, in fact, also remains clean, because the egg does not directly touch.

An additional plus is that during the cooking process, you can easily check the degree of readiness of the egg by simply lifting the bag by the ends and checking the density by pressing your fingers.
In this method, it is important not to make a large tail at the bag and take a sufficiently wide pan, otherwise the film can be welded to the edge of the pan.

How to cook an egg in the microwave

On the Internet, you can find recipes for eggs cooked in a microwave oven in the shell.

Instructions are as follows: put an egg in a shell at room temperature in a glass, pour boiling water, cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes at 50%power. However, such experiments often end in trouble: the fact is that when cooking in a microwave oven, a very high pressure is created in the egg, which can lead to an explosion of the egg, and quite strong. I recommend using other cooking methods.

How to distinguish between raw and boiled eggs

If you suspect that the refrigerator could mix boiled and raw eggs, then check it is very simple: you need to put the egg on a flat surface and spin it around its axis. A hard-boiled egg will spin quickly and evenly, and a raw egg will stop immediately. The same method can be used if you are suddenly confused about which eggs are hard-boiled and which are soft-boiled - "cool" eggs will always spin better.

How much to cook quail eggs

Quail eggs are an even more useful product, since all the useful substances and trace elements in them are in a very high concentration in comparison with chicken eggs. It is also known that unlike chicken quail eggs do not contain cholesterol and do not cause allergic reactions.

They should be cooked on the same principle as chicken, only much less in time. For soft-boiled eggs - this is 1.5 minutes, for hard-boiled eggs-3-3. 5 minutes.

I hope that this article will help you in the future to always get the desired result when cooking eggs. Good luck and bon appetit!