Pickled "Hard Boiled" Eggs

[Omegaman 3.0]

Pickled Hard Boiled (actually pressure steamed) Eggs

Well, today I tried something that I have wanted to try for a long time, I make pickled hard boiled eggs, because I like to eat them. However, I do not like making them, because I find making hard boiled eggs, to be challenging; Getting them to the correct doneness is not difficult, but I seldom find peeling the eggs to be easy. I have read lots of articles on how to do it, watched YouTube videos, etc.,but it seems like there are at least 20 ways to make the perfect hard boiled egg, that peels easily, the shells just practically fall off you know! Well, at least that is how it seems to me when other people do it. it is rare that I have been able to get that to happen no matter how meticulously I following all the surefire methods of others.

What I had been wanting to try however, is using my electric pressure multi-cooker to do eggs. I once bought an electric egg cooker, which was dedicated to only making hard boiled (well, really steamed) eggs. To be fair to it, it worked pretty well, It was quick, and the eggs did turn out to the proper doneness. They did not, however, peel any easier that conventionally boiled eggs. It only cooked 6 eggs at a time, whereas I would have preferred to cook a dozen. At least it was easy to clean, and not very expensive, also, it did not take a lot of space to store. I need to say that actually, it was a pretty good appliance.

However, I have this pressure cooker thing, and it has a built in egg function. I has wished it came with a special egg rack for the purpose, but it did not. On the other hand, a found a set of accessories in eBay for these generic multi-cookers, reasonably prices so I bought one. It sat around here for several months, until yesterday, when I had a whim to finally try doing eggs in the e.p.c..

Now, I did not know for sure how to use the egg function, so I took a stab at it, just winged it. I decided to put some water in first, I probably used two cups. I knew did not want the water to touch the eggs as they sat in ther rack, as they were to be steamed, under pressure.

Eggs were designed by God to withstand pressure. Their curves, there natural arcs, withstand outside forces, so that mama bird does not make a gooey mess when she sit on them. God made them smooth and round, he could have made them rough cubes, but it was not a chicken that sinned in the garden, so there was not need to multiple the bird's reproductive pain! Also, the same curves that make the egg strong, also make it's exit from mama, easier, and allow the chick to break out - eggs are designed not to be squashed, but they are easy exit.

So, after adding a bit of water, I put the egg rack inside, and set the eggs in it. I put the lid on and closed the cooker. Pushed the pressure button, and then turn the little knob to where the display said eggs. The display said "MED". That means medium, go figure!. I do not want runny or dark yellow yolks, so I figured that the designers probably programmed the cooker with LOW, MED, and HIGH, for runny, dark but softer, and harder dryer, what we call hard boiled, typically. I pushed the button to start the cooker, and the display turned from blue to orange.
 

Orange on my cooker, means that the cooker is warming up. It takes a few minutes to warm up. As it is warming, it is heating the water to past boiling point,  and building pressure inside the pot. Once it finishes that part of the cycle, the display turns red, and the cooking begins. The computer in the pot, thinks this will take 6 minutes,

At the end of that time, it goes to a keep warm function. This s the time to cancel the cook cycle, and use the little lever or valve on the top. too let steam escape and release pressure, so that you can open the cooler and retrieve your cooked chicken seeds. Sometimes, I refer to hard boiled eggs as "boneless chicken dinners". This time however, I intend to pickle these eggs, and I eat them for any meal, or as a snack.

After retrieving my eggs, I put them into a bowl of water, just tap water, with no ice. I think the theory of cold water or ice water, is that when the eggs are chilled, they want to shrink, to contract, while the arcs of the egg shell prevent the shell from shrinking with the rest of the egg. In theory this should make the egg peel easier. The science seems sound to me, but mostly, I just want to have the eggs cool enough to handle.

There were two reasons that I did not use ice in the bowl of water. The first reason, is that I wanted this to be a simple as possible, why have extra steps, if they are not needed. I did not know if it was needed or not, but I decided since this was an experiment, I would just use tap water.

Once the eggs had cooled sufficiently, it was time to try peeling the shells off, the part I dread the most. Using my near genius IQ and analytical thinking, I decided that the best way to peel the shells of, would be to break the shell into smaller pieces, just around it's equator. I figured this way, I would have less pieces to remove, and the egg shell halves could then just be slid off, instead of trying to peel a lot of tiny pieces. This theory actually worked!

Following is a close-up of one off the eggs. The peeling worked so well, that the two halves of this egg shell are still attached to each other. I do not think that has ever happened with me before:

Now, the cooking part is done, how did they turn out, did they come out properly "hard boiled"?
I am delighted to report, that they came out just the way I wanted them to. Not dried out, and the yolks cooked all the way to their centers!

As you can see, they are perfectly smooth, no dings from trying to peel of the shells, and the eggs even seemed to have mostly filled out the shells. In my experience with boiling eggs, the large end of the egg usually has a hollow spot in it, unlike these. I really liked how well this worked!

OK, so the cooking part is done, but these are just plain egg flavored, Time to get to the good part, the pickling! How do we do this? Well it is really easy and cheap, the way I do it, but it does take about a week or so for good results,

I love pickled jalapeño peppers. I use them at least twice a week, one way or the other, usually with breakfast burritos. I buy them ready made n a can, and my favorite brand is La Costiña, but others are good also. The cans have jalapeños in them of course. The also have sliced carrots and onion bits and some spices, all are in what I assume is water and vinegar. Once I eat the jalapeños, the liquid is left over in the cans. I could pour it done the drain, but why waste it? I collect the liquid in a large, glass jar, and keep it in the refrigerator. After I have enough liquid (say half the jar full), I cook some eggs, and place them in the jar.

After the eggs sit about a week in the jar, they taste a bit like deviled eggs. By the way, the devil should get no credit for deviled eggs, he has nothing to do with them. All good things come from God. Now, after the eggs and absorbed the flavor from the liquid, they are ready to eat. They are not especially spicy, but the will agree with the tastes of many people. I happen to prefer them to be a bit spicier, so on the the next phase:

Above, you see the eggs, next to the jar I chose, which has the liquid from the jalapeño cans, to which a lot of red pepper flakes have been added, and some ground cayenne pepper as well. You can add other things, to spice it up, sometimes I add habanero or ghost peppers to the concoction.  It is just a matter of taste, I would not add habanero or ghost peppers if I was serving these to guests though.

Below you see the jar, the juice, the jalapeños, and the eggs basking in the liquid, soaking up the flavor. In this picture, you can see the eggs float, They typically do that for about an hour I guess, then the sink. In a week or so, if I remember, I will add a picture of what the eggs look like, after they have marinated like this. The whites of the eggs, will change color, being dyed somewhat by the red of the pepper material. 

Other than that final picture, I guess I am done here. Chef Omegaman, checking out! Enjoy!

[missmuffet]

My stomach would not like me if I ate those 

[Omegaman 3.0]

1 hour ago, missmuffet said:

My stomach would not like me if I ate those 

Do you like deviled eggs? these taste a lot like them. If I did not soup them up with extra spices, they would be about as bland as tasty as deviled eggs. The hard part it getting them spicy enough for my tastes. Thanks for taking a peek missmuffet!

[missmuffet]

10 hours ago, Omegaman 3.0 said:

Do you like deviled eggs? these taste a lot like them. If I did not soup them up with extra spices, they would be about as bland as tasty as deviled eggs. The hard part it getting them spicy enough for my tastes. Thanks for taking a peek missmuffet!

It is the spices and peppers that would kill me  I do like deviled eggs. 

[Omegaman 3.0]

8 hours ago, ChickenCoop said:

They look great.  Send the appropriate limos and jets. 

Yeah, I'll get right on that, be sure to wait outside, they hate it when you are not ready!