Onsen tamago

An egg held at 68C so the white stays loose and the yolk sets — the opposite of a soft-boiled egg.

Fish, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, at room temperature
• 1.5 litres water
• 200 ml cold water
• 2 tablespoons dashi, to serve
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce, to serve
• 1 teaspoon mirin, to serve

Method

1. THE WHITE AND THE YOLK SET AT DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES, and that single fact is the entire dish. Yolk thickens from about 65C; white not until about 80C. Hold an egg at 68C and you get the inversion of a boiled egg: a jammy set yolk inside a barely-thickened, almost pourable white.
2. A SOFT-BOILED EGG IS THE OPPOSITE and is not a substitute. Boiling sets the white firm and leaves the yolk liquid.
3. No thermometer needed. Bring the 1.5 litres to a rolling boil, take it off the heat, and stir in the 200 ml of cold water. That lands close to 70C in a domestic pan.
4. USE A PAN WITH A LID AND HEAVY WALLS, which holds the temperature. A thin pan drops too fast and the yolk never sets.
5. Eggs at ROOM TEMPERATURE. Straight from the fridge they pull the water down 5C and the timing no longer holds.
6. Lower them in gently, lid on, off the heat, and leave 17 minutes. Do not relight the heat at any point.
7. Cool them under the tap for a minute to stop the carryover.
8. Crack into a small bowl rather than peeling -- the white is too loose to peel and is meant to be.
9. Mix the dashi, soy and mirin and pour a spoonful over.
10. If the white is too runny, give the next batch 19 minutes; if the yolk is firm, 15. One attempt calibrates your pan and after that it is exact.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Japan · All recipes