We usually use cracked eggs for omelettes and scrambled eggs. But there are all sorts of situations. Well, for example, you need a boiled egg, and there is one left in the refrigerator, but cracked. Or like mine. I bought eggs at the supermarket. I usually open the package right there and check each egg. And then I didn’t check, there wasn’t enough time. I came home, opened the package, and out of 10 eggs - 6 cracked.
Unfortunately, I decided to put the idea on the site when the eggs were already cooked and I didn’t photograph them “before”. Well, two are almost exactly the same. Only these are less "affected" than those that I cooked.

And the secret is simple. Salt the water well before boiling the eggs. It is believed that if you boil eggs in salted water, they will not crack. Actually this is not true. Salt won't protect the shell from cracking, but it does help the protein fold so it doesn't "leak" out of the crack into the water. In general, we throw about 1 teaspoon of salt into the water (salt will not get inside and the egg will remain unsalted), stir well and carefully place the cracked eggs in the water. Now they can be cooked without problems.

Here in the photo are cracked eggs without shells. It can be seen that the protein is crumpled, but nevertheless it did not leak out.

I hope that my advice for someone will become a discovery and come in handy in the future!

Sometimes it may happen that you bought cracked eggs in a store or damaged them during transportation and they need to be cooked at home, what to do in this case? Consider whether it is possible to boil such eggs and what methods of cooking cracked eggs are.

Can cracked eggs be boiled?

A damaged shell on an egg weakly protects the white and yolk inside from microbes and various microorganisms, so I often advise broken and cracked eggs to fry (fry well) and use for baking, but they can also be boiled, the main thing is to know how to do it right in order to the egg (white and yolk) did not leak out of the shell during cooking.

Important: broken fresh eggs with damaged shells are recommended to be boiled only hard-boiled, so that after a longer heat treatment there are no microbes left in them that could get into them.

How to boil cracked eggs?

Boiling cracked eggs is not difficult, and the cooking process is not much different from boiling hard-boiled eggs under normal conditions. Consider below the 2 most popular ways to boil a cracked egg so that it does not leak out.

1st way to boil cracked eggs

• Ingredients: chicken egg - 2 pcs, water - 1 liter.
• Total cooking time: 15 minutes, preparation time: 5 minutes, cooking time: 10 minutes.
• Calories: 155 calories (per 100 grams of product).
• Cuisine: European. Type of dish: side dish. Servings: 1.

The first method of boiling is to use more salt in the boiling water, which causes the egg to curdle faster and not leak out of the cracks in the shell. The brewing sequence is as follows:

• Pour water into a saucepan and add 1-1.5 tablespoons of salt.
• We put the pan on the stove and carefully place the cracked eggs inside.
• Bring the water with the eggs to a boil, reduce the heat and cook for 10 minutes to make the eggs hard boiled.
• At the end of cooking, boiled eggs should immediately be transferred to a container with cold water so that they are then cleaned well.

2nd way to boil cracked eggs

The second way to boil cracked chicken eggs is to use cling film or plastic bags when cooking. The sequence of boiling cracked eggs is as follows:

• We tightly wrap the cracked eggs with cling film or wrap each in a separate plastic bag (it is important that there is no air left inside the bag).
• We put the packed eggs in a saucepan, pour cold water so that it completely covers the eggs and bring it to a boil on the stove.
• As soon as the water boils, we immediately set the timer and cook the eggs for 10 minutes, then turn off the stove, and immediately transfer the eggs to cold water, after removing the film (plastic bags) from them.

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We usually use cracked eggs for omelettes and scrambled eggs. But there are all sorts of situations. Well, for example, you need a boiled egg, and there is one left in the refrigerator, but cracked. Or like mine. I bought eggs at the supermarket. I usually open the package right there and check each egg. And then I didn’t check, there wasn’t enough time. I came home, opened the package, and out of 10 eggs - 6 cracked.
Unfortunately, I decided to put the idea on the site when the eggs were already cooked and I didn’t photograph them “before”. Well, two are almost exactly the same. Only these are less "affected" than those that I cooked.

And the secret is simple. Salt the water well before boiling the eggs. It is believed that if you boil eggs in salted water, they will not crack. Actually this is not true. Salt won't protect the shell from cracking, but it does help the protein fold so it doesn't "leak" out of the crack into the water. In general, we throw about 1 teaspoon of salt into the water (salt will not get inside and the egg will remain unsalted), stir well and carefully place the cracked eggs in the water. Now they can be cooked without problems.

Here in the photo are cracked eggs without shells. It can be seen that the protein is crumpled, but nevertheless it did not leak out.

I hope that my advice for someone will become a discovery and come in handy in the future!

For several posts now, we have been boiling eggs in the shell. This post will be about how to boil eggs without shells. Such eggs are called poached. And the process of boiling eggs without shell is called poaching.

Poached eggs are very tasty. To weld them correctly, you need to understand the technical issues.

This time I turned not only to Harold McGee, but also to Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Academy and, finally, Wayne Gisslen.

It is more difficult to boil a poached egg correctly than a hard-boiled, soft-boiled or bagged egg. The process is complicated by the fact that we boil an egg without a shell. And our goal is to get an egg that keeps its shape at the exit. What is a poached egg? This is an egg that has been boiled without the shell and forms its own "skin" by coagulating the protein. Such an egg is dipped in a saucepan with slightly boiling water and boiled for 3-5 minutes. As a result, the protein will be cooked, but will remain tender, and the yolk will be liquid and hot. This is essentially. But how to achieve such a result in practice?

The sloppy protein problem
As I said, we want to get a neat round egg as a result. But often, when poached eggs are boiled, we get unattractive "rags" of protein. They are absolutely edible, but unpresentable. I think many of you have already tried poached eggs and know what we are talking about. If not, then the photo below will explain everything to you.
What to do?

1. Use very fresh high quality eggs.
2. The water should not boil strongly, but only slightly boil.
3. Add vinegar to water
4. Add salt to water.

The first two statements are undeniable. I have already explained about the relationship between protein elasticity and egg age, and the importance of a gentle boil.

But the last two are not so simple. The authors disagree. Julia Child and Jacques Pepan do not salt the water, but add vinegar. Giesslin and Le Cordon Bleu salt and add vinegar, just like the chef in the video I'll show you later.
And what will our chemist McGee tell us on this subject?

He considers adding vinegar and salt to be ineffective methods. Although they speed up the coagulation of the egg, they also lead to tatters. In addition, an unattractive torn film appears on the protein.
At the same time, Pepan does not use salt, explaining that salt leads to the opposite effect and thins the protein.

McGee offers an interesting non-traditional way to solve the problem. Break the egg into a bowl and then lift it up with a slotted spoon. Thus, the excessively liquid part of the protein will drain.

Another interesting way is suggested by Julia Child. Namely, dip the eggs in low-boiling water for 8-10 seconds before breaking them.

Giesslin only adds vinegar and salt if the eggs are not very fresh. And he suggests not to add either one or the other if the eggs are fresh, since the protein is less tender and shiny due to salt and vinegar.

I feel that experiments cannot be avoided. But first, I will tell you how to cook a poached egg after all.

Pour water into a saucepan. Pepan recommends 1.5 liters of water for 6 eggs . Although it seems to me that this is not enough. The bottom line is that the eggs should not be crowded, and should be deep enough.

Let the water boil. But! It should not boil, but only slightly boil.

If you add vinegar and salt, then this must be done before pouring in the eggs. Pepan recommends 1/4 cup per 1.5 liters of water, and Julia Child 1 teaspoon per 500 ml of water.

You can pour the eggs directly into the water by keeping it as close to the water as possible. A more convenient way is to break each egg into a separate bowl, and then carefully pour it out of the bowl into the water.

Try to pour the eggs one after the other so that they boil the same way in the same time.

When you have lowered all the eggs, stir the surface of the water with a spoon so that the eggs also move a little and do not stick to the bottom of the pan.
On average, a poached egg takes 4 minutes to cook.

Test for doneness by removing the egg from the water and pressing it with your finger. (You can clearly see how to do it in the video). The protein should be cooked, and the yolk should remain liquid.

Once the egg is done, transfer it to a bowl of ice water to rinse off the vinegar and stop the cooking.

To give the eggs a neater look, cut off the dangling bits with a knife or scissors.

It will turn out so beautiful:

If you are going to serve the eggs later, you can leave them in cold water, or take them out of the water and refrigerate them.
If you want to heat them up again, dip them in hot water for 30-60 seconds.

And now let's watch a video recorded by The Culinary Institute of America to make it clearer. Since it is in English, I am translating important points that have not been said before for those who do not know the language.

The cook also insists on a low boil and a temperature of 70-80 degrees Celsius. . We see very small bubbles in the pan. For greater persuasiveness, you can use a thermometer. For half a liter of water, the author uses 30 ml of vinegar and 1 tsp. salt.
The author uses the "funnel" technique for better protein coagulation. He creates a funnel in the water with a spoon, immediately lowers the egg into the water. I was told that the Funnel is done just in order to eliminate the extra lumps right away, then the eggs turn out to be more even at the exit.

The pot he uses holds 4 eggs. He immediately removes excess protein with a spoon with holes. In the process of cooking, carefully pry the eggs with a spoon so that they do not stick to the bottom.

The egg is ready when it starts to float.

So, we got acquainted with the theory, looked at the photos and videos. Now some of my personal practice.

I boiled eggs three times.

My eggs were pretty fresh. Used all three times eggs from one box.

Experiment #1
The first time I decided to do without vinegar and salt.

I heated the water to 80 degrees. And to such bubbles.

I reduced the heat to 2k (9 is my maximum), and carefully lowered the eggs. They immediately went down. There were almost no rags.

I did not lower it into cold water, since there was no need to wash off the vinegar.

Result: almost perfectly even eggs, very tender and tasty.

Experiment #2

In the same water where the first eggs were cooked, I added vinegar (4 tablespoons) and salt (1.tsp).
The water was already boiling a little more.

Result deplorable - solid rags, the eggs are like this:

The taste of protein is not very pleasant.

Since, nevertheless, I violated the conditions a little by sending the eggs into the same water as the first ones, in the morning I conducted a third experiment. Also, I think I overdid the vinegar.

Experiment #3

Like the first time, I brought the water up to 80 degrees. Reduced the fire to 2k. Added 1 tsp. vinegar, and half a teaspoon of salt.
The result is already better, but the first time was still better. Although the result of the first time confuses me. It seems to me that ideally, a poached egg should be rounder. That is, it looks like a soft-boiled egg without a shell. Mine is more like boiled eggs.

Pay attention to the torn film on the squirrel in the third option. McGee warns about this effect of salt. And by the way, in the first case, the protein is smooth and shiny.

For a complete picture, it would also be necessary to boil eggs with vinegar and salt, but I can no longer see them :)

But I think now you can experiment on your own, and gradually achieve the ideal option for you. As you can see, perfect poached eggs are no easy task. But the main thing is that in this post you will find the basics.

I will continue to boil eggs without salt and vinegar, and achieve that very ideal shape. I will definitely share the results!

Information taken from books:
- Le Cordon Bleu Cuisine Foundations by LE CORDON BLEU.
- McGee on Food and Cooking An Encyclopedia of Kitchen Science, History and Culture, Harold McGee
- Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child
-Complete Techniques, Jacque Pepin
- Essentials of Professional Cooking, Wayne Gisslen

Thoroughly salt the water for cooking. Take at least a tablespoon of salt per liter. Also provide acid. Either lemon powder (2 teaspoons) or 9% vinegar (8 tablespoons) will do. Doses are per liter of liquid. Don't worry, all that acid-salt substance will stay outside and won't ruin the taste of the eggs themselves.

Do a cauterization

Only not with fire, but with steam."Invalid" place in a colander, turn the wound down and hold over boiling water. The protein will seize and will not flow out when immersed in water.

swaddling method

Make artificial shells from cling film or foil. Main condition- there should be no air under these "diapers". As a rule, this method is used on heavily crushed eggs, so be extremely careful in the process.

temperature stress

The faster the protein comes into contact with boiling water, the faster it will curl up and harden. That's why the cracked specimen is dipped immediately into boiling water. To avoid the opposite result and the egg does not burst during sudden heating, it must be at room temperature. Take it out of the fridge ahead of time.

Immersion Technology

Do not immediately throw the egg into boiling water. Help the wounded to adapt. Place it in a tablespoon and dip it several times in hot water. Only after a series of "hardening" leave the egg inside.

After the end of cooking, move the egg into ice water. Cracked ones have a huge cleaning advantage. Cold liquid flows into cracks more easily, so the shell is then easier to separate.