Eggs : perfect storage and cooking

Eggs: how to cook them perfectly? Where should they be stored? Simple questions, but everyone should know, considering we buy our eggs fresh at room temperature. Luckily, Frigo Magic is here to answer all your questions 🥚🍳

Room temperature or fridge?

We all have this habit or have taken to it for several decades, of systematically storing our fresh eggs in the fridge.

Our fridges all come standard with a clearly visible egg compartment in the door. If it’s already there, it’s because you have to use it, right? Keeping eggs…

So, should eggs be kept in the fridge?

In fact, it all depends on the country in which you live, and the health standards!

In the United States, for example, eggs are washed before being sold. This cleaning, before packaging, removes the natural protective film around the egg. This means that the eggs must be kept cool to avoid contamination. 🦠

In France, and in many other countries, eggs are not washed, and therefore naturally protected.

via GIPHY

Keeping eggs at room temperature.

Leave them in their original cardboard box, and store them in a dry place, preferably away from light. In fact, a cupboard will do just fine! Alternatively, you can store them in an egg carton. To avoid knocks, place your egg with the larger side up.
So don’t use the fridge for eggs, as it’s useless. You can still use the egg tray in your fridge to store hard-boiled eggs.
However, like any fresh product, it should be consumed quickly.

💡 Tip

Shake it to determine if it moves. If so, there, no scruples: trash.
To avoid breakage, prepare the eggs by piercing the base (the larger side) with the tip of a needle. This allows the air in the egg to escape, which prevents the shell from cracking due to the expansion of the air during cooking.

Cooking the perfect egg

🪄 The magic trick

Easy to remember when cooking eggs, in general, is the 3-6-9 rule:

3 minutes from the resumption of boiling for a boiled egg
6 minutes of cooking time for a soft-boiled egg
9 minutes for a hard-boiled egg

Cooking a hard-boiled egg

The hard-boiled egg is one of the most basic cooking techniques. Plain or in a salad, it is practical because it can be taken anywhere and kept for a long time (at least a week).

If your eggs are in the fridge, take them out at room temperature.
Boil enough water in a saucepan to cover the eggs.

Add a pinch of salt. The shell of the egg is porous, so the salt added to the water will season the white.
To make it easier to peel, you can also add coarse salt or a dash of vinegar.
Cover with a lid to save time and money!
When the water is boiling (large bubbles form on the surface as it stirs), gently dip the eggs with a tablespoon and leave them to cook for 9 minutes.
In order to keep the yolk in the centre of the egg, turn it several times with the spoon during the first 2 minutes.
After 9 minutes, drain the water and eggs into the sink.
Fill the pan with ice water and dip the eggs in. The water will penetrate between the shell and the white of the egg.
Run a stream of warm water from the tap and peel (remove the shell) under the water, starting at the rounded end.

Your egg is now ready to be eaten or prepared!

You can eat it on its own, by crunching directly into it. It will be happier, and so will you, if you dip it in a small saucer with each bite and add a pinch of salt and a little pepper or any other spice you like.

If you have to keep your hard-boiled eggs, do not remove the shell and keep them in the fridge.

Fried egg

No headaches with this recipe! PAF, CRAC, SPLOTCH in the frying pan, but beware of the famous mini shells that stick!

Heat 1 knob of butter or 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
Break the eggs on a flat surface and open them in half over the pan and drop them gently.

Put salt on the white and cook gently for 3 minutes.

The whites are salted because they coagulate more quickly. If you cover the pan with a lid while cooking, you will get a “Mirror Egg“!

While it is cooking, tilt the pan to catch the fat with a spoon and coat the top of the eggs.
Pepper the yolks.
If you want the whites to be golden and crispy, cook the eggs for 1 minute longer.

Scrambled eggs

Well, it doesn’t look like much but it’s still very good! This is a very simple and tasty recipe that can be eaten on its own or as an accompaniment to leftover cooked vegetables or smoked salmon.

Break eggs (1 per person) in a bowl with a knob of butter.
Add 1 tablespoon of water, 1 tablespoon of cream, cottage cheese, plain yoghurt or soya yoghurt.

Mix, but not too much, breaking up the yolks, add salt and pepper.
Heat a small saucepan or frying pan over a low heat with a knob of butter.
When the butter has melted without colouring, pour in the eggs.
Stir with a wooden spoon very slowly for 4 minutes.
Add 1 tablespoon of chopped chives or chopped parsley.
The scrambled eggs are ready when they are no longer runny and have a creamy appearance.
Serve and enjoy immediately, it cools down quickly!

Soft-boiled

Ideal meal with bread, ham and whatever else you can find in your fridge! If you don’t have an egg cup, you can use the egg carton, which you cut into several cardboard cups.

Fill a pan with cold water.
Add a pinch of salt. The salt in the water is used to season the egg through the porous shell.

Carefully place the eggs (1 egg per person) in the water.
Bring the water in the pan to the boil.
In the meantime, you can prepare some “Soldiers bread” with 1 slice of toast (or sandwich bread or gingerbread).
Spread with butter.
Cut the bread into sticks.
When the water boils, remove the pan from the heat and wait 1min.
Remove the eggs with a large spoon and place them on an eggcup, pointed end up.
Cut a hat out of the egg with a small spoon or egg slicer.
At this point the yolk of the egg appears.
When there is not enough liquid left to feed the bread, finish eating the soft-boiled egg with a spoon.

The poached egg

The poached egg is more cooked than a boiled egg and less cooked than a hard-boiled egg. It is ideal for salads prepared on a plate or in a bowl. You can gently place the warm poached boiled egg on top before serving. As soon as the white is cracked, the yolk will run off gently onto the salad.

Boil enough water to cover the eggs, put a lid on to save time. (9min)
Add 1 pinch of salt.
When the water is boiling, plunge the eggs (1 egg per person) into the water using a spoon to avoid hitting the shell at the bottom of the pan.
Allow 6 minutes for cooking.
Remove the eggs from the pan with a skimmer or in batches with a tablespoon. Keep the water hot in the pan.
Soak the eggs in cold water and then carefully start peeling them out of the water.
If you want to keep the eggs warm for a few moments before serving, dip them in the hot water in the pan with a glass of cold water added to maintain a storage temperature, not a cooking temperature.