These Sous Vide Eggs Will Make Your Christmas Morning More Fun (and Easier)
On Christmas morning, breakfast should be quite casual and very forgivable, so I usually prefer a combination of cinnamon and bacon buns without a tube or bag of McDonald’s sausage cookies. However, I understand that some bloody Americans need eggs to start their day, even if that day falls on December 25th.
Traditionally cooked eggs – scrambled eggs or poached eggs – are not good for a chaotic morning. In a skillet, they can go from fluffy and creamy to rubbery and sulfur in seconds, but using an immersion circulator gives you a lot of leeway, time and freedom. If you leave your eggs in a carefully controlled circulating water bath, they won’t digest, at least not for long, and you can do multiple tasks at the same time without the fear of ruining your breakfast.
Here are four of my favorite sous vide methods of making eggs, from simple bland dishes to decadent Benedict.
Soft scrambled eggs sous vide
The squishy scrambled eggs were one of the first dishes I cooked with a submersible circulation pump over five years ago, and I come back to them again and again. This is a scramble for those who love small-sized creamy curd. They are so soft, they are best served in a bowl, and they have a cheesy flavor even without the addition of cheese (although they do contain milk, cream, and butter).
You can cook as many eggs as you like in one bag. Set the immersion circulator to 167 ℉ and break the eggs into an airtight container along with a tablespoon of cream, a tablespoon of milk, and a tablespoon of ghee for every three eggs. Shake the mixture vigorously to eliminate white streaks (you can also remove them with a hand blender).
Pour the eggs into a zippered bag or vacuum bag, then submerge them in water by snapping the open end of the bag over the tub wall. Cook until they are frozen, stirring the eggs, squeezing the bag gently every five minutes or so (assign this task to a teenager or adult on Christmas morning). A batch of three eggs takes 15 minutes, a batch of six eggs takes 30 minutes, a dozen eggs take 40 minutes, and two dozen takes about an hour. Serve with oven-baked bacon (another lighthearted breakfast superstar) and toast.
The simplest Benedict in the world
There’s nothing about the traditional, bustling Benedict that’s perfect for a busy Christmas morning, but poached eggs and hollandaise sauce are infinitely easier to cook with an immersion circulating pump, especially since they’re cooked at the same temperature for roughly the same amount of time.
I have made several Dutch sous vide recipes and they all turned out to be very beautiful. The method is always the same: add the Dutch ingredients to the airtight freezer bag and place it in a 147 ℉ bath for an hour. Pour the sauce into a blender (or use a hand blender) and beat until it emulsifies. That’s all.
About 15 minutes after making the sauce, you can place a few whole eggs (still in their shells) on the bottom of the tub and let them soak in the sauce for 45 minutes for a protein egg that’s less set than traditional soft-boiled eggs. Remove the egg from the bath, gently split it, transfer to a bowl and carefully scoop out with a slotted spoon, allowing the loose, watery protein to fall off. To finish, bring the pot of water to a simmer, then reduce heat until bubbles stop forming. Serve the egg there for a minute to finish and drain. ( Use a double boiler if you are cooking a whole bunch at once.) Transfer the egg to the English ham or salmon muffin, top with the hollandaise sauce, and serve.
Better than Starbucks egg bites
This 50/50 egg and cottage cheese mixture (with a little nutritional yeast) is way better than it should be. It’s creamy, sweet and slightly spicy, and you can make it your own with whatever toppings you want (I like bacon and some cheese).
The above video (or this blog ) might show you how to do this, but it’s just a matter of combining the ingredients, pouring the mixture into cans, and then filming sous for just an hour at 170 ℉.
Parfait with eggs and mashed potatoes
This recipe from Serious Eats is truly adorable. It uses cooled mashed potatoes, which admittedly can make it better the morning after Christmas or as a hangover cure for New Years. Regardless of which morning you decide to eat these savory little parfaits, be sure to serve them alongside crispy bacon or toast to add a textural counterpoint to the rich, fluffy mix of softly cooked egg and potatoes.
Go to SE to read the full recipe, but their method is simple: pour about half a cup of potatoes into a jar, break an egg on top, and leave at 145 ℉ for an hour. This is what you should do if you like super soft, still liquid white (it will run out when you add it to hot potatoes).
However, it was too soft for me. After an hour and a half of cooking these parfaits, there was still a puddle of pure crude protein on the egg, so I raised the temperature to 167 ℉ to make everything solid. After 15 minutes at a higher temperature, I am left with the egg parfait you see above. The white was hard but not elastic, the yolk had just run out, and the potatoes were warm and soothing. (If I did it again, I would start at 167 ℉ and cook until the white solidifies, checking for doneness after the first half hour of cooking.)
When the parfait is warm and the eggs are cooked the way you like it, remove the parfait from the bath, dry the jars completely and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately with crispy bacon, toast and crunchy mimosa to balance the flavor.