Eggs-ellent! (Che-egg-ing In, Part Deux)
Recipes for Nutty Chocolate Meringues and Salt-Cured Egg Yolks
Tax day is here, and we are just about sussed at Atelier Rorschach, home of The Simmering Chef. Thank god! Although Thursday’s surprise drop was taken in stride and, thankfully, won’t delay any submissions, the IRS will get its cut on time, and I am only nominally bruised. I like to think of it as my small contribution to helping keep the lights on.
To gird the loins and provide sustenance, I made a lovely breakfast of two poached eggs on a bed of labneh (yogurt cheese) and toum (Lebanese garlic sauce). I garnished it with lots of fresh, chopped parsley, cherry tomatoes, green onions, and a healthy glug of Flamingo Estate heritage extra-virgin olive oil. The bread was my extreme-fermented sourdough, which finally behaved well enough to make a passable boule. Eventually, my sourdough baking will be back up to snuff—at least as soon as the oven is fixed.
Please welcome Alfred, Lord Tennyson, affectionately known as Freddy, our new executive producer of The Simmering Chef podcast. He’s excited to be part of the team and is ready—literally chomping at something—to add his input. During breaks, he can be found snacking on blueberries because, like a lot of people I know, winter was one long feast, and now he wants to be swimsuit-ready when summer hits.
The rest of today’s post is short and filled with the recipes from the last posting because my civic duty is done, and I hear MARGARITA calling.
Without further ado and maybe a little drum roll….
NUTTY CHOCOLATE MERINGUES
These were the hit at the Atelier Rorschach Easter Cocktail Party.
Their wonderfully crunchy exterior and almost marshmallow-like interior make them a more-ish dessert. Many guests requested to take some home. That’s what I call a compliment!
This recipe is adapted from one I learned at Yotam Ottolenghi’s in London. If you are curious, when you cook the eggs and sugar together--as this recipe does-- that’s known as the Italian method. It helps stabilize and strengthen the meringue.
You’ll note that these measurements are in grams. This makes a huge difference in quality and accuracy. I highly recommend you get a gram scale added to your kitchen arsenal. This is the one I use.
INGREDIENTS
200 grams egg whites (approximately 7. Use the yolks to make salt-cured egg yolks.)
260 grams caster sugar (I’ve used regular and organic sugar from Whole Foods. If that’s what you have, almost any granulated sugar works fine here.)
140 grams dark muscovado sugar
5 grams kosher salt
60 grams 70%+ chocolate chips
40 grams 60%+ chocolate chips
1 teaspoon black onyx cocoa
½ teaspoon Vietnamese ground cinnamon
30 grams unskinned hazelnuts roughly chopped
METHOD
Preheat your oven to 230°F.
Partially fill a medium saucepan with water—halfway up the sides.
Bring the water to a light simmer.
Place the whites, sugars, and salt into a heatproof bowl large enough to sit on top of the pot. It should sit on top of the simmering water, not in it.
Place the bowl on the pan, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes until the mixture is 40°C/104°F. A candy thermometer is helpful for monitoring this. You want the mixture to be hot and the sugars to dissolve, but not so hot that the whites cook up.
Pour the whites into a freestanding mixer’s bowl.
Using the whip attachment, start off slowly whipping the whites into a froth. This prevents splattering sugary egg whites all over your kitchen.
Gradually increase the speed to high, working the mixture for at least 8 minutes. When ready, the mixture should be completely cooled down, firm, glossy, and keep its shape when you lift a bit out with a spoon.
Gently fold in the chocolate.
Line a flat baking sheet with parchment. Use a little meringue at each corner to “glue” down the paper to the sheet pan.
Sprinkle the cocoa and cinnamon over the top of the meringue batter.
Using two large spoons, scoop the meringue onto the parchment, leaving a good space between each one.
Place into the preheated oven and bake for 60 to 120 minutes—depending on the size you make them and how crunchy you want them to be.
To check them, gently poke their undersides to look at their insides. You want a crispy exterior and a soft interior.
Cool them on a wire rack.
Once cool, store them covered in a cool, dry place, but not the refrigerator.
These will keep for about four days, but they rarely last that long.
SALT-CURED EGG YOLKS
I grated some of these over my avocado toast and salads. They make a superb replacement for parmesan cheese and work really well sliced and served with caviar.
INGREDIENTS
7 egg yolks (from making the meringues)
12 ounces sugar
10 ounces kosher salt
Olive oil or vegetable spray.
METHOD
Mix the sugar and salt in a bowl.
Using a non-reactive pan such as a Pyrex dish, spread ⅓ of the sugar mix on the bottom.
Using a spoon, gently dredge seven indentions into which to place each egg yolk, ensuring there’s still cure on the bottom of each one.
Gently place an egg yolk into each indention.
Cover the yolks with the remaining sugar mixture.
Cover with plastic wrap.
Refrigerate for seven days.
Set up a sheet pan with a cooling rack.
Lightly coat the rack with the oil.
Gently remove the egg yolks from the sugar mixture.
Brush off the mixture. You might even need to go so far as to gently wash the yolks under cool water.
Set the yolks onto the prepared rack.
Now, here’s the fun part: you are supposed to dehydrate them more in a 150°F oven for an hour or two, but it’s hard to find a modern oven that will go that low. If you are lucky enough to own a dehydrator, problem solved. For the rest of us, here’s my solution.
Set your oven temp to 170 or 175°F, whichever temperature is the lowest on your oven.
When your oven gets to temperature, add your tray of yolks and turn the oven off.
Do not open the oven door for an hour. This should allow your yolks to cure further. You want them to be opaque in color and very firm.
If you need more curing, remove the egg yolks from the oven, preheat it to 175°F again, and repeat the above process, but check the yolks after 30 minutes have passed.
Store in a covered container and refrigerate.
Use within a month.