[0 - 1] - Hi, this is Lisa McManus
[1 - 3] from America's Test Kitchen Gear Heads
[3 - 5] and I'm here to answer some of the questions you had
[5 - 9] after our recent video on equipment for cooking eggs.
[9 - 11] So you had some great questions, let's get started.
[11 - 15] Our first question is from Rick Bradley and he says,
[15 - 18] "How do you scale up the number of eggs in the sous vide?"
[18 - 19] "Does the cooking time start"
[19 - 23] "when the water returns to the desired temperature?"
[23 - 24] There's kind of two questions in there.
[24 - 28] First, you know, I did a poached eggs sous vide
[28 - 30] and I showed it with two eggs.
[30 - 32] That recipe without any changes at all,
[32 - 35] can cook up to 16 eggs.
[35 - 35] There's a lot of water,
[36 - 38] as another viewer pointed out, James Repca, he said,
[38 - 40] "You know, I'm using six quarts of water"
[40 - 43] "and there's a lot of heat contained in that water."
[43 - 44] So you can add up to 16 eggs,
[44 - 47] it will not change the recipe at all.
[47 - 49] The second question was, does the cooking time start
[49 - 52] when the water returns to the desired temperature?
[54 - 55] You can set the timer either way.
[55 - 57] You can either build it in
[57 - 58] when you're setting the temperature
[58 - 60] and then the timer will kick in
[60 - 63] when it hits the desired temperature,
[63 - 66] or you can turn the timer on once you've added the food.
[66 - 68] It's kind of up to you.
[68 - 71] And you can see the temperature it's at at all times.
[71 - 73] It will show you in, you know,
[73 - 76] tenths of degrees, where it is.
[76 - 80] So if you want to wait 'til it's back at that temperature, you can.
[80 - 82] I don't find that it makes a ton of difference.
[82 - 85] It definitely, you can add the food and it will,
[85 - 86] you know, kick in the time,
[86 - 90] start counting down automatically.
[90 - 93] Someone said that was a wasteful amount of water
[93 - 95] to use to cook two eggs.
[96 - 100] I will say that you can reuse that water couple times
[100 - 102] if you're doing a lot of sous vide cooking.
[102 - 104] The water doesn't touch the food.
[104 - 106] Usually the food is wrapped in plastic,
[106 - 110] or in the case of eggs, it's in its shell.
[110 - 111] So, you know,
[111 - 113] you can reuse that water a few times if you want to,
[113 - 115] or you can let it cool down and water your plants.
[115 - 118] And you can also use less water.
[118 - 122] The Joule sous vide that we love, that's our favorite,
[122 - 126] it's small, and it has a magnet on the bottom
[126 - 128] and you can literally stand it up in a sauce pan
[128 - 130] and it will, it doesn't even need to clip to the side,
[130 - 132] which gives you a lot more flexibility
[132 - 136] in how much water you can put in the vessel for cooking.
[136 - 139] A lot of the other ones that I tested had clips
[139 - 142] and that only let them hang so far into the water,
[142 - 145] so you had to fill the water up so that it was between
[145 - 148] the minimum and maximum water lines for that device.
[148 - 151] And sometimes that meant you had to have a lot of water
[151 - 153] for whatever you're cooking.
[153 - 156] We do like that the Joule can fit onto any kind of vessel,
[156 - 158] and has a big clip on the back,
[158 - 159] or it can stand up in a metal pot
[159 - 161] and will stay nice and sturdy
[161 - 164] because it's got this very strong magnet on the bottom,
[164 - 166] which lets you use less water
[166 - 169] and a greater variety of pots to cook in.
[169 - 171] So you can use less.
[171 - 173] You just wanna make sure that you have enough water
[173 - 177] so that it's over the minimum line of water.
[177 - 179] Especially for longer cooks, you wanna get that water up
[179 - 181] near the maximum line because you don't want it to evaporate
[181 - 183] to that point where it's too low
[183 - 186] and that will make the machine turn off
[186 - 187] in the middle of cooking.
[187 - 190] Sometimes it will beep an alarm, you know,
[190 - 193] and you have to come and add more water and reset it.
[194 - 195] So you don't wanna risk that.
[195 - 196] With something as short as eggs,
[196 - 198] you can definitely use less water,
[198 - 199] it's not gonna have time to evaporate
[199 - 201] in the amount of time you're cooking,
[201 - 203] you know, 12 minutes or so.
[203 - 205] David Lang says, "I just used sous vide"
[205 - 206] "to do hard cooked eggs."
[206 - 207] "And I found them horrible to peel"
[207 - 210] "compared to doing them in my Instant Pot."
[210 - 213] You can definitely cook them in the Instant Pot, that's great.
[213 - 216] But there's a few tricks for peeling eggs,
[216 - 218] making them easier to peel,
[218 - 220] that kind of apply to any technique that you're gonna use.
[220 - 223] One is, we found, use the eggs cold out of the fridge.
[223 - 226] Don't bring them to room temperature before adding them.
[227 - 228] Might seem a little counterintuitive,
[228 - 230] but that little bit of extra time with the cold
[230 - 233] lets the eggs set up away from the shell.
[234 - 237] The other is to finish by putting the eggs in an ice bath.
[237 - 239] Get a bowl of water, some ice,
[239 - 241] make sure that the eggs can be submerged.
[241 - 242] Leave them about a minute after they come out
[242 - 245] and just until they're cooler enough to handle.
[245 - 248] And that will help them peel more easily.
[248 - 250] Lynn Rob asks, "So how long does it take"
[250 - 252] "for the sous vide to heat the water?"
[252 - 254] "It seemed", we seemed "to skate over that."
[254 - 256] Yeah, we didn't mention it.
[256 - 259] I just tested six sous vide devices
[259 - 261] and they all take varying amounts of time.
[261 - 265] Our favorite, the Joule, heats very quickly.
[265 - 270] It's got one of the most powerful little engines, higher wattage.
[272 - 274] And I also found a trick that I started to use,
[274 - 276] which is to start with hot tap water.
[276 - 277] It doesn't matter.
[277 - 279] It's not like you're going to drink that water.
[279 - 281] The food doesn't touch it.
[281 - 282] So start with hot tap water,
[282 - 284] that gets you into the hundreds.
[284 - 287] And then you're going to say 167 for the eggs.
[287 - 288] So it only has to heat
[288 - 293] from whatever your hot water temperature is up to 167.
[293 - 295] In my case, it took like 10 minutes.
[295 - 297] It really isn't a lot of extra time.
[297 - 300] I was finding, just get it started and go bustle around
[300 - 302] and get those eggs fresh out of the fridge.
[302 - 304] so they're cold, put 'em in.
[304 - 306] By the time you've got everything set up,
[306 - 307] your toast made, and everything else,
[307 - 309] you're not wasting a lot of time
[309 - 311] waiting for water and heat up.
[312 - 313] Hope that's helpful.
[315 - 317] And the other thing is, if you're pressed for time,
[317 - 320] that recipe and all sous vide recipes,
[320 - 324] you can make batch of eggs at the same time
[324 - 327] and then you can briefly reheat them as you need them.
[327 - 329] So say, if you're gonna invite a bunch of people over
[329 - 332] for, you know, eggs benedict.
[332 - 334] You can poach, you know,
[334 - 337] up to 16 at a time with that recipe.
[337 - 340] And then you basically chill them in an ice bath
[340 - 341] for about 10 minutes
[341 - 343] and you can refrigerate them up to five days.
[343 - 344] And you can also do this
[344 - 346] if you want to make yourself eggs for the whole week.
[346 - 349] And then to reheat them,
[349 - 353] you put them into the water bath at a 140 degrees
[353 - 355] and cook until they're heated through, about 15 minutes.
[355 - 358] Or you can leave him in there for an hour if you want to.
[358 - 360] So it gives you lots of flexibility
[360 - 362] for how you wanna prepare things in advance
[362 - 364] if you're pressed for time.
[364 - 368] Come on, it's two eggs, saucepan, and boiling water
[368 - 369] and that's it.
[371 - 372] We also have poaching recipes
[372 - 374] for using skillets or saucepans.
[374 - 376] And if that's more your style, then that's great.
[376 - 379] I did a side by side comparison of eggs
[379 - 382] poached sous vide or in an open skillet,
[382 - 383] which is our method.
[383 - 386] We put a little vinegar, a little salt in the water,
[386 - 387] you swirl it.
[387 - 388] And it's great.
[389 - 390] I actually found the sous vide eggs
[390 - 391] a little more tender uniformly,
[391 - 395] but you know, they're both great.
[395 - 396] Sous vide does pull ahead, like I said,
[396 - 398] when you're poaching more than,
[398 - 400] you know a couple of eggs at a time
[400 - 402] because cooking those individually,
[402 - 404] say if you have a lot to do at the same time,
[404 - 407] that takes a lot more time and attention
[407 - 410] away from, you know, time you could be spending with guests.
[411 - 413] And a whole bunch of people talked about
[413 - 414] the cast iron skillet
[414 - 418] and about what pan they used to cook their eggs.
[418 - 420] I did test carbon steel skillets
[420 - 422] and cast iron skillets in the past.
[422 - 425] And really looking at the sticking and the seasoning
[425 - 427] and how they compare to a non-stick pan.
[427 - 431] And just for, you know, the sake of it,
[431 - 435] I took a stainless steel tri-ply clad pan,
[435 - 439] and you know, no coating whatsoever,
[439 - 441] and then tried frying eggs.
[441 - 443] And here's what I've learned.
[443 - 447] You can make any pan not stick when you're frying eggs
[447 - 448] if you do a couple things.
[448 - 451] One is, you really wanna fully preheat it first.
[452 - 454] Two, you do have to use some fat.
[454 - 458] So, you know, if you have say, a cast iron pan,
[458 - 459] you're gonna preheat that
[459 - 462] for about four or five minutes on medium heat.
[462 - 464] Let that heat really spread through the pan,
[464 - 466] let it get nice and hot.
[466 - 468] Add about a teaspoon of butter,
[468 - 472] let the butter foam and then subside and then add your eggs.
[472 - 476] And you can make a fried egg not stick.
[476 - 479] And that works in stainless steel, carbon steel, cast iron,
[479 - 481] anything you wanna use.
[481 - 484] So, preheat your pan, add your fat,
[484 - 486] don't try to cook with no fat.
[486 - 488] It's just, you know, not gonna work.
[488 - 490] And there you have it.
[490 - 491] It won't stick.
[491 - 494] So whatever you like to use, you can do it.
[495 - 498] Hope you have an excellent time with these tips.
[498 - 499] All right, bye-bye.
[499 - 501] We'll catch you next time on Gear Heads.