Quote:
Originally Posted by stuck in grad school
Two dumb questions:
1. Do you weigh your meat before or after you cook it?
2. How do you boil an egg? I know...I know...is there anything easier than boiling an egg? The answer is YES! I have never been able to get the shell off of an egg that I've boiled without destroying the egg. I know this is user error because boiled eggs from the cafeteria come out of their shells quite nicely.
These are not dumb questions at all! I had this same question at my first class and this is what they told me to do: weigh everything, meat and veggies, after they have been cooked. I remember this because I remember thinking, I better measure fast before the food gets cold lol.
As for the eggs, I think that is the effect of over-boiling, I know I have made the same mistake before. But I'm not an expert at boiling eggs to be honest! I just put the eggs in water and boil until I think they are done, then put them in cold running water until they are cool enough to eat, or just put them in the fridge.
(5 minutes later) Ok so I was curious about the eggs so I looked it up:
Mr. Breakfast's How to Boil An Egg
The following instructions are for large eggs.
HARD-BOILED
Note: Extremely fresh eggs are not recommended when making hard-boiled eggs. They are very difficult to peel. This is the best use for eggs
(ah ha that explains it! I never knew!!)
1. Remove desired number of eggs from the refrigerator and let them sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.
2. Place eggs in a small sauce pan and add just enough water to completely cover eggs. (Note: the smaller the pan; the less room the eggs have to jump around and crack into each other).
3. Bring the water to a rolling boil. Covering the pan will lead to a quicker boil and is recommended.
4. Immediately reduce heat to simmer and remove the cover from the pan.
5. Let the eggs sit in the simmering water for 12 minutes. (11 minutes for medium eggs; 13 minutes extra-large eggs)
6. Carefully remove the pan from the stove top and place beneath the kitchen faucet. Run cool water into the pan for a minute until the water is cool to the touch. Give each egg a little whack to the side of the pan, so each egg has one or two cracks. Some will tell you that this lets pent-up sulphur escape. More practically, this allows a little steam to build between the cooked egg and its shell to make peeling easier. Let the eggs sit in the cool water for 2 to 5 minutes.
7. To peel the Mr Breakfast way: Place hard-boiled egg on a hard surface such as a cutting board. Roll the egg back and forth - applying a very slight amount of pressure. Remove the cracked shell beneath a faucet of cool running water.
8. If peeling multiple eggs, place peeled eggs in a bowl of cold water while you work the others. Refrigerating peeled eggs is not recommended. Hard-boiled eggs - still in their shell - can be stored in a refrigerator for 5 days.
Quick & Dirty Method Of Hard-Boiling
When Mr Breakfast was in college, a vibrant yellow yolk wasn't nearly as important to him as chasing skirts and getting stoned on beer. I - me being him - would simply bring water to a boil, place my eggs in the water and remove them all when the first crack appeared in any one of the eggs. The eggs would naturally be slightly over-cooked. But the negative effect of slight-overcooking was one of appearance. The yolk was more of an off-yellow, just-short-of-green color. The eggs still tasted great.
What's Up With Green Yolks? Is That Bad?
A greenish grey film will form on the surface of the yolk when the temperature of the yolk exceeds 158 degrees Fahrenheit. This discoloration is not unhealthful. It's just a visual indicator of a natural chemical reaction... hydrogen sulphide from amino acids in the white of your egg (or albumen) is reacting with iron from the yolk which causes a film of ferrous sulphide to form on the yolk's surface. If the film is thin, your egg will still taste fine.
Why Do You Say Fresh Eggs Are Harder To Peel Than Older Ones?
I'm not a scientist, in the pompous go-to-science-college sense of the word, but I have a theory. Egg shells are what those fancy scientists call "porous". Basically, that means it has tiny microscopic holes that allow the egg to absorb air. I believe that the air that enters the egg over time creates - what I call - "a little wall of air" between the egg and its shell. Super fresh eggs have hardly any little wall of air at all. Therefore, the egg is all smooshed up against the shell. In the end, it's like a shoe. A tight shoe is hard to remove. A shoe with some room slips right off. Wow, maybe I am a scientist. Is there a test I can take?
My ticker wont show the .5 though ! Anyway, I was happy to see even a teeny loss. I go Friday for my first class and will get my NHS then too. Ok I can do this!!!
