A friend would like me to amend the egg-boiling instructions in the kedgeree recipe from last week:
“I’d suggest you replace ‘boil for six minutes, peel, slice in half’ with ‘boil for six minutes, remove, attempt to peel, burn fingers, swear a great deal, drop egg on floor, retrieve squashed egg, attempt to remove shell with oven gloves on, give up, place egg in freezer, wait, remove, remove shell from frozen egg, place egg in microwave, heat, slice previously frozen egg in half, look at sorry mess and give up. ‘ “
Sorry Pete.
Those having similar problems with their eggs should try peeling the egg under a running cold tap. Mr Weasel tells me that this is a piece of perfectly obvious information he too had never come across, and would like to point out that had I told him this ten years ago our relationship would be punctuated with far fewer fragments of eggshell.
35 years ago, when my son was a baby and I was a novice cook, I was given the tip of cracking the shell slightly, then peeling off the shell with a teaspoon (upside down so the spoon ‘cups’ the shape of the egg). The knack is to get the spoon under the membrane (not difficult) and the shell comes off in one or two pieces.
For the heat, I cool it slightly by pouring cold water over it, then simply hold the egg in my ovengloved hand.
I meant to tell you – this month’s Waitrose Food magazine has a very nice looking mackerel kedgeree recipe.