Saturday, May 26, 2007

A Perfect "Boiled" Egg

How do you cook a perfect egg that is transportable?
Normally we boil our eggs, and they come out rubbery and bounce around and sometimes crack. You can solve this problem by baking your egg in an oven, no water needed. The various proteins in an egg denature and coagulate between 142-184 or so degrees Fahrenheit, far below the boiling temperature of 212 degrees F. By baking eggs at different temperatures in this range, you can bake an egg with the consistency you prefer. I like mine runny. Thanks to my organic chemistry professor for pointing this out to my class.
See the full article on baking eggs in Discover Magazine here. Those stuck on boiling may want to look at this site.
As soon as I get an oven thermometer, I will try out these techniques and post pictures.

5 comments:

AlegraMarcel said...

Sciencebird, check out my recent post. Perhpas Colony Collapse is an issue you'd like to write about here? I'd enjoy reading your thoughts on it.

http://alegramarcel.blogspot.com/2007/05/colony-collapse.html

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your tip!! Only today were we discussing how to cook the perfect boiled egg!!

AlegraMarcel said...

So, in the oven you still put them in water, right?

sciencebird said...

My understanding is that you do not need water in the oven. But I'm going to try this out at home, and I'll let you know.

Unknown said...

So you just stick the egg in the oven?

Please do share your results-- I'm curious.

-E