Recipe: The 64 degree egg

Feeling pretty good about your poaching skills?  Ready for the next level?  The 64 degree egg utilizes a circulator to poach an egg in its shell with the result having a tenderness you may not have thought possible.  The name comes from the fact that egg whites cook at 63C while the yolks cook at 65C.  

Cooking an egg at 64C theoretically gives you a properly cooked egg white and a creamy yolk - in reality however, since the yolk is approaching cooking temperature, it usually winds up firmer than most people like.  Shortening the cooking time does soften the yolk, but then the whites are very soft, bordering on unstable and unsuitable for presentation.  The 64 degree egg is still a good product, but most places using it on a menu will actually have found a different temperature and time combination that works for them.

I've come across two combinations that work well, so you can try them and pick the one you like.  In either case, you will want to cover the eggs in a towel while in the circulator basin to keep them from bouncing around and breaking in the circulator's current.  You will then need to ice them down completely to stop the cooking.  A common temperature for restaurants to keep a circulator at during service is 52C - this works perfectly to warm the eggs up again without cooking them further.  then when serving, just crack the egg as normal and watch a beautifully poached egg come out.

The first combination is to cook the eggs at 62.5C for 75 minutes.  The yolk will be creamy and the whites will be tender.  If you find the whites a bit too tender for your taste, you can either give them a quick dunk in simmering water to firm up the outer edge of the whites, or try the next combination.

The second combination is to cook the eggs at 64.5C for 30 minutes.  The shorter cooking time is definitely more convenient and is short enough to keep from cooking the yolks too much.  The higher temperature will give you a firmer exterior on the whites while still maintaining the tenderness we are after.  Of course, at the higher temperature, timing becomes more crucial to stop the cooking while the yolks are creamy - definitely use a digital timer.