Oeufs en cocotte -- shirred eggs

I tried to ask about this on another forum and got NOTHING.

Evidently this is not something lots of people do.

But if you really like soft boiled eggs, this is a way to get lots of extra flavor into them.

You need some kind of ramekins. You put butter, you pour in some cream, you are free to add herbs (fresh thyme is good, and salt, pepper, parmigiano) and then you break an egg and add that. The higher quality egg the better. Then you put boiling water in a pan (a "bain marie"), set the ramekin(s) in the water, and bake at 375 for 10, 12, 15 minutes. Oh, and a dab of truffle oil is nice sometimes.

The question is, what sort of texture do you go for if you make this. I suppose it's also like a "coddled" egg but I am not sure that has the extra ingredients. I made it for practice and it came out really soupy (10 min). I thought this was totally wrong but then I ate it by scooping it up with crunchy toast (Keller toast made in the oven from a good baguette) and said "Wow, delicious!" Then I found a Nigella Lawson video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uDJ0reoZtI

I'm glad she thinks "it's churlish not to share!"

At any rate this reminds me of a twist on egg poaching that came out a year or two back. You line a ramekin or bowl with saran wrap. You break in an egg and then add your favorite herbs and flavorings. You tie off the top with string, and lower it into boiling water. When you take it out and untie you have a really nice flavored "poached egg" for whatever use you wish.

The reason for this question is that tomorrow I will be cooking a Champagne brunch for friends who live 50 miles away. I am going to precook lots of things including home fries and bacon and crab cakes. I'll make my version of Hollandaise sauce. All I need to do down there, really, is to cook the eggs. But they have to include oeufs en cocotte. The reason is that I am trying to at least match the spirit of this menu.

http://www.lacampagne.com/menu/brunch_menu.htm

Anyway. This is looking like fun. My wife is baking bread and making a dessert, and doing something with haricots verts and asparagus.

I couldn't cope with the beef en brochettes or the brioche bread. But the fresh bread Louise is making will be better and healthier.

F

The question is, what sort of texture do you go for if you make this.

Depends on the other ingredients. When I make a basic version with just eggs and a few garnishes they end up being firmer than when I have something more liquid involved (especially when I use tomato sauce, another favorite). Regardless, it's hard to go wrong with this dish because there is so much good stuff in one dish.

Actually, it is very easy to go wrong if your guests don't like soft/undercooked eggs. So you can always cook the yolks firm. Which then doesn't work if they don't want want them firm. Best to ask how people prefer their eggs. Something I always do.

IMAO (in my Arrogant opinion) which of course brooks no argument, it's all in the whites. There should be no transparent or even very translucent white. With very fresh eggs, that isn't hard to do. With older eggs, there's usually a bit here or there near the yolk that wants to be a window in its next life. That's why you use very fresh eggs.
IMAO again anyone who wants the yolks hard doesn't get invited again.

John

IMAO again anyone who wants the yolks hard doesn't get invited again.

John

If only I could operate that way. Unfortunately it would cut out a good chunk of my family.

Thanks Rahsaan and John.

I already asked (over the phone) if people liked soft boiled eggs, and got a "yes"!

So I am thinking I am going to be fine with the dish. But maybe 12 minutes instead of 10...

It's also possible to fine tune things in the microwave but only if you PUNCTURE THE YOLK.

Otherwise the eggs explode and it's one of the messiest clean-ups ever...

[Robin Garr]

Now you've done it! I love this approach in principle but rarely approach it in concept. I see shirred eggs on my table soon. My opinion, unsupported by anything but personal preference, is that I'd like to get the texture to about the same point where I like my fried (sunnyside up) or poached eggs: Whites fully cooked, as has been mentioned; yolks hot, maybe even just slightly custardy, but absolutely not starting to solidify.

[Jenise]

I do shirred eggs for Bob, and I broil not bake. 5-7 minutes seeems to finish the eggs nicely to the soft-runny stage my husband likes, and the cream and butter go into the ramekin hot. I allow one tablespoon cream and a knob of butter per egg.

Great menu, btw!

Instead of truffle oil, we had the real thing (eggs coquette with white truffle shavings on top) in Cuneo a few years ago and to date it's been the best truffled dish I've tasted.

You know, one recipe I was using said to cook "until the cheese was browned and the cream was bubbling and whites are set."

That sure sounds like a broiler, although I was sure it specified a temperature in the 300's.

The Champagne Brunch turned out great, everyone was really happy.

1) I had cut up 3 large Champagne Mangos and had a container of vanilla yogurt. First course was a small bowl of A + B.

2) Second, because I love my wife's Brown Irish Soda Bread, we had a little Irish snack course -- the soda bread, with Kerrigold Butter and Dubliner cheese plus lox decorated with dill sprigs and the cooked smoked salmon from Costco, cut thin with a serrated knife. The bread has a great texture because it is made with oatmeal as well as brown and white flour.

3) Then a close reference to the menu at la Campagne. Crab cakes, bacon, and home fries, all of which I had prepped before leaving home. We warmed things up on cookie sheets in their oven. With Champagne. An egg would have been good with all that but we made the oeufs en cocotte into a later course. So we walked the 3 year olds to a playground, watched them play for a while, and then walked back. A welcome break.

4) On the negative side their oven temperature calibration was off, so that even though I left the oeufs in the oven longer than I had during my home trial, they came out even softer. On the positive side everyone raved about them. We ate with a combination of scooping with Keller toast (even the 3 year olds loved the Keller toast) and a spoon. And like at the restaurant, we had foie gras along with the eggs -- it was just the d'Artagnan goose liver paté with 2% black truffle but it was delicious with the Keller toast and great alongside the eggs and cream. Of course we were into the third bottle of Champagne by this time.

5) Last course, right after the eggs -- a light version of Salade Niçoise. I had some lovely ventresca tuna from Spain, and our hostess had some pitted Niçoise olives, so we composed the salads with olives, tuna, tender cooked green beans, plus mesclun and a couple of chunks from the home fried potatoes and some capers. No hardboiled egg for obvious reasons, although it would have been a perfect complement.

Anyway that was it except that I had a short glass of (rI-1) with a friend there and then some coffee with a chocolate pie my wife had made, for complete overkill. And then the 50 mile drive home.

Thanks for the discussion guys.

That sounds like an entirely wonderful meal, or meals, or whatever...
The Irish snack takes me back to my trip to Ireland in '97. (That thing in the background isn't a cobra, it's a geezerhood)
I'm glad everyone enjoyed it, and I guess it's the real proof that eggs are just good!

John

John, I posted the recipe for the Irish Soda Bread in a new topic, rather than making this topic too much of a jumble.

In the article they say that if you've been to Ireland you will recognize the flavor of this loaf.

Probably the "right" way to have done this meal would have been to include an egg in several courses, but for one thing I've got high cholesterol, and none of us present were "egg a day" eaters. And for another thing eggs are quite filling and I wanted people to be able to go the distance, which we all did.

[Jenise]

As a cook I understand your frustration with things not turning out your own idea of perfect, but it sounds like a wowzer of a meal for the recipients. What's the Keller toast?

I own several of Thomas Keller's cookbooks and have done several of the recipes. I think I was doing a clam dish from Bouchon when I first ran into this toast. Basically he wanted you to slice up baguettes "the wrong way" so that you got pieces of bread that were narrow and like a foot long. Then you apply some good olive oil, and salt, and bake in a hot oven (385) until browned. So this is ANOTHER recipe that I tried once and have been repeating constantly ever since.

The way I do it now -- I aim at diagonal baguette slices about 6" long, and I use a sprayer which I have filled with good olive oil. I fill up a large cookie sheet with slices (= one baguette) and spray, and then salt. I try to keep the salting a little light but on the other hand I remember how good pretzel sticks are with "too much salt." Put in 385 oven, bake 8 minutes, take out and turn over (I do that bare handed, it makes me feel more like a chef) -- put on a little more olive oil and salt on Side Two if you didn't do that to begin with and then bake another six minutes and check, keep checking. You don't want them brown from stem to stern, but you need to see some brown, and they are ready.

You are going to want to pack them into a big jar with a lid (like some pretzels come in) but DO NOT do that immediately or the toast will soften. Leave it on the sheet for an hour until it cools down. Then carefully pack the jar (these are brittle) and keep the cap screwed on. These are a little shorter, and a little browner, than my usual:



What are these good for? We use a lot as croutons, you break up a piece, put it in your soup, and the olive oil coating keeps it crunchy while you are eating. There is nothing better in a Caesar salad than these croutons. I like them intact with foie gras, or peanut butter, or some cheese. As I mentioned the 3 year olds loved them, and any time I serve them people ask "what is this and why is it so delicious??"

Keller loves really hard breads. The first time I ate at Bouchon Bakery (up on a balcony in the Time Warner center in Manhattan) I broke a tooth. Crunching up these Keller Toasts, the thought crosses your mind, but I've never had, or seen, an accident eating my Keller toasts.

Of course the quality of the baguette that you start with is very important...

Frank said:

On the negative side their oven temperature calibration was off, so that even though I left the oeufs in the oven longer than I had during my home trial, they came out even softer.

As someone who occasionally ends up cooking in other people's kitchens, I really appreciate you posting this one, as I think I'll add my oven thermometer to the bag of things I bring to the party.

[Jenise]

I own several of Thomas Keller's cookbooks and have done several of the recipes. I think I was doing a clam dish from Bouchon when I first ran into this toast. Basically he wanted you to slice up baguettes "the wrong way" so that you got pieces of bread that were narrow and like a foot long. Then you apply some good olive oil, and salt, and bake in a hot oven (385) until browned. So this is ANOTHER recipe that I tried once and have been repeating constantly ever since.

The way I do it now -- I aim at diagonal baguette slices about 6" long, and I use a sprayer which I have filled with good olive oil. I fill up a large cookie sheet with slices (= one baguette) and spray, and then salt. I try to keep the salting a little light but on the other hand I remember how good pretzel sticks are with "too much salt." Put in 385 oven, bake 8 minutes, take out and turn over (I do that bare handed, it makes me feel more like a chef) -- put on a little more olive oil and salt on Side Two if you didn't do that to begin with and then bake another six minutes and check, keep checking. You don't want them brown from stem to stern, but you need to see some brown, and they are ready.

Though this is similar to how I toast breads to act as flatbreads in sevice of something that shall be scooped onto them, Keller lets it go a little longer than I usually do, more color, more like I'd do for a crouton I was putting in a salad. Also, pre-salting is a new thought. Anyway, got a batch ready to go right now that I'll be taking to Bill Spohn's house for bocce food (along with a pile of thin sliced salt-cured then Sauv Blanc-and-peppercorn-and-chervil-marinated Copper River salmon).

...a pile of thin sliced salt-cured then Sauv Blanc-and-peppercorn-and-chervil-marinated Copper River salmon

Gravlax a la Sancerre?

Interesting.

I did something similar last night for a party. I bought smoked trout filets (Wegmans) and laid them out on a platter with part of a log of goat cheese, a bowl of capers, and a bowl of chopped shallots. And I made some "round" Keller toast "crackers." It is a DIY appetizer and everyone raved about it -- especially because I had a good bottle of Moselle Riesling (Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese 2005) to pair it with. Here's the story

http://foodmuses.wordpress.com/2009/06/ ... appetizer/

I love this thread...mouth watering! I have to try the Keller toast, and Smoked Trout Appetizer. I love easy, yet fabulous all in the same recipe!

Don't count on having any smoked trout leftovers!!

Popular stuff.

[Jenise]

...a pile of thin sliced salt-cured then Sauv Blanc-and-peppercorn-and-chervil-marinated Copper River salmon

Gravlax a la Sancerre?

It's gravlax-ish, that's for sure, but to my tastes more sophisticated and wine-friendly. And no mustard sauce needed (good as that is)! Grab you a side o' salmon. Put in pan, skin side down, and liberally douse with kosher salt. Refrigerate for 6-10 hours. Then get rid of the salt, put fiddie back in pan, this time skin side up, and cover with half a bottle of SB, 1/4 cup of EVOO, a chopped shallot, chopped chervil, and a tablespoon or so each whole coriander, peppercorns, and fennel. Marinate 10-12 hours. Remove fish from marinade, remove skin, slice. Strain marinade, reserve the spice and herb bits to use as an edible garnish. Serve with either diagonal-sliced English cucumbers or thin Keller toasts, or both.

[Jenise]

...a pile of thin sliced salt-cured then Sauv Blanc-and-peppercorn-and-chervil-marinated Copper River salmon

Gravlax a la Sancerre?

It's gravlax-ish, that's for sure, but to my tastes more sophisticated and wine-friendly. And no mustard sauce needed (good as that is)! Grab you a side o' salmon. Put in pan, skin side down, and liberally douse with kosher salt. Refrigerate for 6-10 hours. Then get rid of the salt, put fiddie back in pan, this time skin side up, and cover with half a bottle of SB, 1/4 cup of EVOO, a chopped shallot, chopped chervil, and a tablespoon or so each whole coriander, peppercorns, and fennel. Marinate 10-12 hours. Remove fish from marinade, remove skin, slice. Strain marinade, reserve the spice and herb bits to use as an edible garnish. Serve with either diagonal-sliced English cucumbers or thin Keller toasts, or both. It's one of the best reasons in the world to buy a whole side of salmon.

Btw, re wine match: yesterday I brought a good Muscadet to serve with it but there was also an 03 Savvennieres and a pink 09 Tempier on the table. The Tempier was my favorite match with the salmon.

Grab you a side o' salmon....

Jenise, I can hardly begin to tell you how overfed, overwined, overcommuted, underslept, overwrought, and generally overstimulated I am at this moment.

But this recipe has me all interested. So, thank you for the posting, and I plan to give it a whirl. (...especially inasmuch as I adore my upstairs neighbor's traditional gravlax so here's my chance to return the favor without directly competing)

i did a version of oeufs en cocotte yesterday - trying to imitate one of the two very different ones i had recently in france. in chablis the eggs were swimming in a bourgignon sauce with lardons, mushrooms, etc. in gien you could get two versions - one with smoked salmon and cream or one with lardons and cream. i did the latter yesterday and except for letting it cook about a minute too long, i loved it.

does anyone know what the 'water bath' actually accomplishes? doesn't seem that the eggs would even know they had a 'bath'.

does anyone know what the 'water bath' actually accomplishes?

Slow down the cooking?