So You Think You Know How To Boil An Egg? Think Again!

reply to post by jude11


I'm not sure how things are done in other countries but in the UK at McDonalds, eggs are either cooked on one of the grills or a dedicated egg cooker something like this:


12 Eggs take 2 mins 30 seconds to cook and then are transferred to a Universal Holding Cabinet like this:


Where they are held for up to 15 Mins.

The Scrambled Egg is made using a Liquid Egg.

Originally posted by PutAQuarterIn
And here I thought I was boiling eggs the fancy way, because I use one of those little hole punches at the bottom for air to escape. Turns out I'm still not applying enough science.Thanks for takin' me down a peg. S&F

ETA: While we're talking eggs, Here's a video on how to separate eggs the easy way, for those who have issues with the usual method. (tried and failed to embed video)

edit on 15-3-2013 by PutAQuarterIn because: (no reason given)

I'll post the video for you because that was pretty kick a$$!!! (...or I'm just easily amused)

reply to post by thegoods724
I believe that McD's uses a sort of convection/microwave. I have seen the eggs cooked in a little glass (Pyrex like ) type of tray that looks like a shallow muffin pan. This give the egg its shape for the sandwiches, not sure on their scrambles.
The formula given in the OP is clearly designed for cooking via thermal conduction of a medium, in this case water. I believe it also uses the temperature rise on the external water/shell barrier as the test point for doneness.
A microwave cooks food from the inside out and different foods will get to different temperatures given their moisture content and the density of the actual food. This is due to the friction of the molecules as the microwaves excite them and smash them into each other creating heat.

Since your egg would have been cracked and placed into a tray that is shallow, the waves have an easier time passing through it and since it is microwave energy, the egg cooks faster.

Hope that helps. and yes, I was a little bored today

ETA: I took a quick look onlone at how they do it and what I saw when I used to go there (7 or more years ago) seems to be no longer...or maybe thisis jsut for outside the US.

Here's a you tube video I just dug up.

reply to post by jude11


Well you certainly can't do it in the microwave. I know a guy that did that and the egg blew up. Strangely he was very surprised at that...

reply to post by Fondue
If they are out of their shells, you can cook eggs in there. I've done it for years in a buttered ramekin.
tasty, on bread with cheese and quick.

Originally posted by the_philth

Originally posted by PutAQuarterIn
And here I thought I was boiling eggs the fancy way, because I use one of those little hole punches at the bottom for air to escape. Turns out I'm still not applying enough science.Thanks for takin' me down a peg. S&F

ETA: While we're talking eggs, Here's a video on how to separate eggs the easy way, for those who have issues with the usual method. (tried and failed to embed video)

edit on 15-3-2013 by PutAQuarterIn because: (no reason given)

I'll post the video for you because that was pretty kick a$$!!! (...or I'm just easily amused)

Absolutely great!

Never seen it but I love it.

Peace

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

Heck, I thought I just threw it in the Microwave and set it on 2 min like everything else? Now that would boil the thing!

Funny you should mention that. My roommate in college told me a story that he did that exact thing, and when he peeled it and bit into it, it exploded in his mouth! He received second degree burns in the inside of his mouth, and could only drink liquids for a couple of weeks until it healed. Sounded extremely painful. Ouch!

reply to post by Qumulys


not if you live in my household.
not if you want a soft boiled egg.
or any kind of eggs for that matter.
do i enjoy it? hell yes! i love it when she says she likes my cooking

Originally posted by jude11

Originally posted by RobertF

Originally posted by thegoods724
So if a small egg takes 3 and half minutes at room temperature, how does mcdonalds cook my egg in 30 seconds?

Cus I didn't see the calculations for that.

edit on 15-3-2013 by thegoods724 because: (no reason given)

The obvious answer: It was precooked...and then made into a sandwich. The sandwich is then placed in a warmer awaiting a customer to order it. when you ordered the sandwich it was placed in your bag...hence the 30 seconds of wait time. They cook and prepare a predetermined number of products depending on supply demand history in order to facilitate a "timely delivery of customers food.

I.e. McDonald's does not cook their eggs fresh.

I'm guessing liquid eggs from a carton.

Peace

Well I used to work at
while I can not speak for McDonald's I can only assume they did something similar to what we did.

Eggs that come on a sandwich are cooked on this
and they are real eggs that we crack ourselves. You crack each egg into a ring, close the lid, pore a little water where the red arrows are and bam poached eggs in under a minute.

We then stack and store them in one of these
sitting over constantly heated water steaming them (special kinda table that these slide into).

I can say with all honestly at least at Whataburger these get used up so fast that they are used within a minute. Someone is constantly poaching eggs. Also there was a timer that you had to press when food was stored, longest timer was 5 minutes and that was for burgers and it would make a sound when it went off and you had to toss the food or get written up. Also business is so predictable we knew when to cook less and less and then when it was so slow only make it on demand.

As for the scrambled eggs yes it is out of a carton because its just yolk no whites. I can say with certainty these are real also. Though probably not classified as "organic" as I'm not sure what farmers feed the chickens and what not.

reply to post by ashtonhz8907


Hey that is a pretty nifty egg sandwich unit. They should come out with a smaller egg patty unit for use in the home. I would definitely buy it!

Lots of advice. I will have to try some of them. BTW.. for Easter eggs it's more fun to not boil a few of em....

Originally posted by older1
Lots of advice. I will have to try some of them. BTW.. for Easter eggs it's more fun to not boil a few of em....

And then have the little kidlets play catch with them...

Peace

Put eggs in pot large enough not to have to stack more than two high. Cover with water plus 1/2 inch to an inch more. Turn on high till water comes to a boil. Turn heat off and cover for 10 minutes. Perfect every time. The size of the eggs varies the boiling time. Physics is great because you don't have to know a damn thing about it for it to work. Kind of like when you need to get a mattress off a roof.

I never realized that someone could make boiling an egg so complicated So you need a scale, thermometer, a calculator, and a scientist to properly boil an egg. I'll settle with just plopping it in the water and boiling it for around six or seven minutes. Too long and the yolk turns sort of green.

reply to post by jude11


Who needs all this scientific jiber jabber when an empircal result is better!
Sit the eggs in the pan and boil and watch for when the water does not wet the tops of the eggs
anymore =boiled properly.
Limbo
(I like your post though.)

Originally posted by RobertF
The perfect hard boiled egg (IMO):
place eggs in sauce pan with cold tap water (or whatever water you cook with)
Turn burner/element on high
Wait for water with eggs in it to come to boil
As soon as water is at a boil shut off heat souce
Leave eggs in the water for fifteen minutes
After the fifteen minutes is up remove eggs and cool under cold water or by ice bath
Place hard boiled eggs in fridge....will keep well for two weeks.

^^This is exactly how we make them in my house. You HAVE to do the cold water rinse after or it is hell peeling. The kids will each eat a full dozen over the day and still likely ask for more. Have gotten to where I have to buy the "egg beaters" (liquid) eggs with "those weird red and green things" (southwestern - red and green peppers) in it to be able to have any eggs left over for me. =P Yummy!

yeah Heston worked out how to produce the perfect egg a while ago, though many people have claimed they thought of it first since then.

Originally posted by PhoenixOD
yeah Heston worked out how to produce the perfect egg a while ago, though many people have claimed they thought of it first since then.

But is the perfect boiled egg soft or hard boiled?

Seems to be a matter of geography.

But as far as I'm concerned, only mine is correct. And I'm sticking with that.

Lots of fun folks. Went further on a thread than I anticipated but it's all about great sharing. And what better sharing is there than the kitchen?

Peace

reply to post by jude11


Of course, each to their own

I get ten minutes for bright yellow hard boiled.
If its to short they run, to long and they are dull yellow