Brine me a river. Boiling Eggs and Quenching Blades.

AVigil said:
Salt is used in boiling eggs because it will congeal the protein of the egg if it cracks and leaks out. It will seal the crack and keep the egg from streaming out white into the water.

So there you go :)
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Yep, that's the reason or most of it anyway. It won't in any way change the cooking time or flavor one bit. However, there's also the placebo effect. Because we added a pinch of salt, we feel like we're doing something special which translates to better, but it isn't actually any different.
 
Now I have to teach you HT AND cooking ????
Start out with eggs in cold water, bring to boil, simmer 10-12 minutes . Should do it ! Remember that egg whites are near pure protein. Higher temperatures toughen protein .So fry eggs gently with lower temps !
 
Lieblad said:
Nevermind saltwater boiling. How about that inner skin what seems glued to the eggwhites when you peel off its shell ?
Maybe its like an extra decarb layer. Sometimes its there then some times its not.

Btw, Always boil crab in seawater...
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Fresh eggs don't peel well
If you want ot boil eggs, save them for a few weeks or more.

As the eggs dry out, they form an airspace.
When you boil and cool, water displaces the air under the shell and makes it easier to peel.
 
Nick EBK said:
While I don't know anything at all about brine quenching, as an (ex) culinary arts major, I do have $0.02 about boiling eggs!

This is just my theory, completely off the top of my head. When boiling eggs, you have to be careful to not actually boil the water, but keep it just below the steam point, because while pure water can only reach 212f, steam may get much hotter than that, "causing a sulfur reaction in the egg ruining the flavor and showing your incompetence... blah blah blah". Steam would be a terrible medium for quenching, and delaying its formation could allow your steel to quench that much faster (still a guess/theory!). As well, saltwater is a conductor, and perhaps adding the salt allows the quench heat to dissipate over the entire body of water more quickly, rather than stay localized?

Either way, you can tell your friend that the reason he adds a lot of salt to his boiling egg water, is because saltwater is more dense than freshwater. The goal is to make the water so salty, that the eggs float, and never touch the bottom of the pan, which is much hotter "causing a sulfur reaction in the egg ruining the flavor and showing your incompetence..."
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Specious argument. Steam can get hotter than 212F ... but only under pressure. At sea level and 1 bar pressure it is 212F. You are correct about the density issue to keep the eggs from banging around the bottom of the pot.

When I did my cooking/chef/food service work, the method for eggs was to bring the water to a boil with the eggs in the pan and shut the flame off. Let sit for XX minutes and place in cold water. Perfect eggs.

In higher elevations, salt is sometimes added to boiling water to raise the boiling point, as the BP lowers with altitude.
 
I will put salt in the water when boiling eggs from now on. But it reminds me of a story I heard about Grandma's recipe for bread. The old index card she wrote the recipe on says to make the dough, put it in a bowl, and cover it with a purple towel until it rises. So the family always used a purple towel. Then someone thought to ask, "Why purple?" Turns out that when Grandma wrote the recipe down a long time ago, purple was the only color of kitchen towel that she had. :)
 
Carlton Fredricks the nutritionist had a similar story. He watched as a woman prepared dinner. She took a roast , cut off the end , put it in a pan and into the oven.He asked why did you cut off the end of the roast? Because my mother always did. Can we ask your mother ? Sure. Mother said i d did it becasue my mother always did !! Asking the grandmother - I did that because in those days I only had 1 pan , too short for a roast so I cut the roast !!!
 
I can't believe this is on the second page and none of you knuckleheads have mentioned why you want salt in your water quench.

First off, it makes your blade taste better.

As mentioned it breaks up the vapor jacket making it a self agitating quench. It is my understanding that you'll get fewer soft spots, less distortion and possibly less risk of cracking because of the more uniform quench. <- though I guess I don't actually know that...

I put salt in my beer sometimes. :D
 
timos , I don't want quench stresses in my eggs !! I want them relaxed ,therefore tender and delicious !!
 
Same guy who said that the $65 Chinese made Kickstarter Misen Knife was the greatest thiing since sliced bread 8 -9 months before the actual production version was supposed to be out? ;)
timos- said:
Ok everyone , when it comes to boiling eggs you must read kenji lopez, an mit graduate turned food writer, he takes a scientific approach to home cooking that every knifemaker would appreciate. short of it , lower em safely into boiling water then do a fast quench into ice water, refrigerate overnight, easy peezy. http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/05/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boiled-eggs.html
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