This Is Jacques Pepin's Secret To Perfect Eggs
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Over the years, Jacques Pépin has taught countless people to cook through his television programs, in commercial kitchens, and with his writing in newspapers, magazines, and cookbooks. PBS, which has aired many of Pépin's shows, describes the chef as a respected teacher, gifted author, and an artist. In his 2011 book, Essential Pépin: More Than 700 All-Time Favorites from My Life in Food, the author shares classic recipes from his over 60 years spent as a chef, according to Amazon. In the cookbook, Pépin focuses on teaching the simplest ways for home cooks to master techniques and easily create incredible dishes — everything from haute cuisine to his mother's famous apple tart.
The Kitchn states that Pépin is especially known for his strong feelings about how to properly cook eggs, which he once called his "desert island food" and which share their own chapter of Essential Pépin with techniques and recipes for cheese. In this chapter, The Kitchn discovered a few fundamental tips to help you make perfect eggs every time that we can't wait to test out at home!
Jacques Pépin's tricks for the best hard boiled eggs
Two of the tips The Kitchn discovered in Jaques Pépin's book deal with hard boiled eggs. The first tip is for how to make them, and the second is a way to crack the eggs to make them easier to peel. For perfect hard boiled eggs, Pépin suggests you begin by pricking the rounder end of your egg with a push pin, which is the side that contains a pocket of air at the bottom. This allows some of the pressure to be released from the egg when you drop it into your boiling water to cook. The Kitchn states that you will even see bubbles of air escaping from the tiny hole the second it enters the water. To easily peel hard boiled eggs, Pépin gives the eggs a good shake once they have been drained after cooking, so they begin to crack from hitting the side of the pot they are in.
The Kitchn also shares an unexpected tip and recipe suggestion to elevate hard boiled eggs from bland to a dish worthy of their own spot at the dinner table. In his cookbook, Pépin gives the recipe for a dish he named Eggs Jeanette, after his mother. For this preparation, Pépin sears hard boiled eggs and then tops them with a mustard vinaigrette to create a simple but surprising dish.
You can make perfect scrambled eggs and French omelets every time
A fourth egg tip The Kitchn shares from Essential Pépin will guarantee you soft, velvety scrambled eggs which they state they have used countless times to great success. When making your scrambled eggs, Pépin instructs you to save some of the uncooked egg and mix it with cream to add into your almost-done eggs at the very end. You will know you are ready for this step when you can draw a line through the scrambled eggs with your spatula, and the eggs don't immediately run back into the bottom of the pan. When you have reached this point, you remove the pan from the heat and slowly stir in your egg-cream mixture. The residual heat will cook the eggs, so no need to worry about salmonella.
On a semi-related note, another tip highlighted by the outlet is for making beautiful French omelets, which are a little different than the ones you expect to see at an American diner. For this type of omelet, Pépin uses a generous amount of butter in a nonstick pan, which allows the omelet to slide around and out of the pan with little to no resistance.