These are pretty much the same as boiled eggs, but not as you know it! I saw a post on FaceBook about ‘boiling’ eggs in the oven and couldn’t believe it would work, so I looked it up. I found it on Family Fresh Meals and thought it could be a handy method to use on water, when a saucepan of boiling water can be a liability due to the movement of the boat.
Expectations:
I expected the eggs to be a little rubbery, but sometimes you need to compromise a little in a galley to get the desired result, and as long as they weren’t like little squash balls, I was prepared to live with a little ‘bounce’ in the texture. I also half-expected them to explode in the oven! I had that happen once with an eggplant that I hadn’t pricked when roasting, and had a hell of a time cleaning that off the sides of the oven.
First attempt:
The result was the eggs cooked a little too much, because I had the temperature up too high. It was around 140C in a fan-forced oven. There was a little discolouration in the white, and there was a small burnt mark where the egg was resting on the tin. Perhaps there needs to be some kind of a trivet for the eggs to sit on to avoid that (if that kind of thing bothers you!). The peeling of the eggs was not to be as simple as the recipe says, but they peeled easily enough.
Second attempt:
This time I lowered the temperature in the oven to 120C in a fan-forced oven.
I also used a couple of ceramic dishes in the muffin tin to see if the burnt spot remained. You might not have/want ceramic on a boat, but I think a silicon muffin tray might avoid this.
The result? Perfect! Not rubbery, not discoloured, and not overcooked. They also peeled a lot easier. Time to try on the boat!
Third attempt:
On board Apriori. The oven on Api doesn’t have temperature markers, just flame indicators, so I started fairly low, considering the fan-forced oven worked best at a low temperature. More to come…
Conclusion:
I am not sure if ‘boiling’ the eggs on a higher temperature, on say 160C, for a shorter time would get the same result. Perhaps it is worth trying. But in any case, if you are wanting to make something that requires boiled eggs (curried egg sandwiches on your homemade bread you cooked on the boat, for example), this is a great way to get some cooked eggs without risking boiling water being thrown all over you due to an unexpected wave from a passing boat, or an unexpected wave.
A bonus of cooking eggs using the oven is that there is very little cleaning up to do – the tin is already clean! and you can just stick the cooked eggs in a bucket of cold water up on deck if you want, so there aren’t really any dishes to do.
Nothing exploded, but I reckon if you left them too long, they might! What do you think?
I am sure this could be done in a covered bbq too, but haven’t tried it.
Let us know in the comments if this is something you already do, want to do, wouldn’t do on your boat. Or if you have any extra tips and tricks!
Method:
- Pre-heat the oven to 120C
- Put the eggs in a muffin tin (or something to stop them rolling around) and bring to room temperature.
- Put in oven for 30 minutes
- Put in ice water for 10 minutes.
