Kitchen: Egg Bites - feralcoder/shared GitHub Wiki

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Egg Bites

Like Starbucks' "Sous Vide Egg Bites", but a million times cheaper, and better. I can make mine to be far more delicate than Starbucks could logistically serve.

Process

This is the most process-finicky recipe I do. It's taken a lot of experimentation to dial it in, and it's tuned to my oven and equipment. You'll need to do the same experimentation to figure it out for your situation, but my process can get you started.

Or they're easy, if you don't fuss over nailing the custard stage.

I use cake pans of water under cupcake tins to provide a stable temperature buffer.

In the tins I place silicone cupcake cups:

  • Silicone cups insulate against the metal tins which can cook the outsides too fast.
  • Easy release. This is critically important! If cooked properly they will fall apart if there's ANY adhesion.

I've switched from aluminum foil on top to silicone sheets for a few reasons:

  • Silicone is a better buffer against fast cooking from the outside-in.
  • The silicone seals each cup better, keeping the tins cleaner.
  • Less foil waste.
  • Very easy to peel back the silicone sheet to check doneness, then lay it back down.

Like I said, this process is finicky, and it's no use to experiment if your variables are changing. I start by pre-heating the oven, along with the pans of water and tins, so each subsequent batch starts with the same conditions.

Process Details

  • Preheat oven, water, pans, to 200 F (210 on my dial...)
  • Insert silicone cups into tins. Spray them with oil. Yes.
  • Blend the custard mixture below, pour into each cup, leaving room for other ingredients.
  • Top with other ingredients.
    • Cut small pieces, or they will divide the custard making it fall apart.
    • Don't overdo it, or there won't be enough custard to hold it all together.
    • Put any cheese topping on last.
  • Put in the oven, covered with silicone or foil sheets.
  • Cook for 60 minutes.
    • Swap top / bottom racks at 30 minutes, then every 10 minutes.
    • Start checking for doneness at 50 minutes
    • Pull out of oven the instant the tops aren't runny.

Post-Cook Handling

If done perfectly (a hard target) these will fall apart if you flip them out of the cups while hot. But they'll keep cooking if you leave them in the pans over the hot water.

Pull the cups out of the tins and leave them on the counter to cool. Once cooled they can be flipped out of the cups. Even then, some may break apart. Eat those now.

Watch the Real Temperature!

The rack near the burner can get considerably hotter than the further one. There's a real threshold difference here. It's possible to boil the water even when the oven's set under the boiling point. This can cause your eggs to poof up as the steam cooks then expands them. Feed them to the dogs. Or eat them, cave-man. HINT: This is a big reason I use silicone, under and over.

An oven thermometer can be handy here.

Recipe

I mix an egg / cheese / cream base for the custard and pour this into the cups. I use the same mix regardless of the rest of the recipe.

Then I differentiate by adding different meats, veggies, and cheeses.

Custard Base:

  • 10 medium-large Eggs
  • 1 cup Full-Fat Cottage Cheese
  • 1 cup Mild Cheese (Costco Comte works well)
  • 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
  • 1 tbsp fresh ground black pepper

I love pepper. It's one of my very favorite spices. Adjust to suit your taste if you disagree.

Don't even think about low-fat cottage cheese. And if you want to substitute out cream, go scramble some egg whites, yuppie.

Add-Ins: Whatever you want. I recommend:

  • Bacon with Yellow Cheddar.
  • Ham with Swiss. MILD swiss - Ementaler can be overpowering, go lightly.
  • Chorizo and Feta.

NOTES

Veggies Make Water

Veggies can shed a lot of water in cooking. This is a problem - these custards are so soft and delicate, any extra water ruins them. Or, if you overcook them, you get an firm spongey matrix of water and veggie juice, also gross.

Even pre-cooked ham benefits from a brief microwaving to force out some juice.

You can shed veggie moisture with a brief dry-fry. But even better is to use a food dehydrator. I like dried bell peppers and hot peppers. This gives you the added benefit of having some moisture absorption, which helps firm up the final product without overcooking.

Don't even think about tomatoes unless you're willing to dehydrate, or use sun dried.

Cook Your Meats

This cooking process is so gentle you need to pre-cook your bacon and sausage, like all the way.