[Sca-cooks] [SCA-cooks digest] Coddled eggs

[Morgan Cain]

> I have read with interest re:) coddled eggs.  In my Culinary Arts classes
we
> were taught to crack the egg in a bowl then carefully slide the egg into a
> pot of softly boiling water (so not to break the yolk) and cook until the
> egg is cooked to your desire ( 3 min ?).  Remove the egg with a slotted
> spoon (to drain).  This is usually served on a piece of toast. Sometimes
> served with a sauce i.e. Hollandaise.

That's a poached egg, not coddled.

For information on coddling, if it's not with the salad dressing recipe, you
need to look in an older cookbook because it's not done much anymore.
Generally I have seen it in the recipes for a Caesar salad dressing.
Original question was:

> >I have a mundane friend who had asked me what it means "to
> >coddle an egg"  after a few side jokes (remember Iam
> >married to Puck) I am stumped.  What does the term "to
> >coddle an egg" truly mean and what is the importance of it
> >in cooking?  BTW this is from a recipe to make a dressing
> >for a salad

Basically, you slip a whole egg (unpeeled) into boiling water for 30 seconds
to one minute, just long enough to start it cooking without really
accomplishing anything.  This helps it to coagulate the dressing more
effectively.

I have some website references, for those of you without the needed
cookbooks (from about the 1940's to 1970's editions):

        http://www.interlog.com/~tmars/messages/7632.html
        http://www.aeb.org/eggcyclopedia/coddled-egg.html
        http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/caesar.htm

http://www.peganet.net/personal_pages/abygail/recipes/salads/ceasarsalad.htm
l
        http://allrecipes.com/encyc/terms/C/5949.asp

                                    ---= Morgan, kitchen scientist


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