Aebleskiver Pan & Eggs

W. Hilditch

Active member
Today for curiosity I poached some eggs in the aebleskiver pan. First the water splashes out on the stove top. Then it is very hard to tell how the cooking is progressing so getting the eggs cooked right is almost impossible unless you want hard yokes. Then the best part, cleanup.

With no soap to save the seasoning I went for the dishrag. Hehe. Then the pot brush. Nope. Then the tooth brush. No. Fingernails? No. Egg white residue remained after drying. A coat of canola and stovetop smoking (the oven coil fried two days ago) and all is well.

You DON’T want to poach eggs in an aebleskiver pan.

Hilditch
 
Good to know. Thanks for the tip.

I've been thinking about cracking some eggs in my Waterman and baking them in the oven to see if that would work. Might come in handy when all of the family is here for Christmas. After all, it is called an "egg pan". Ha!
 
Interesting - I was just having a discussion about poaching eggs the other night. I prefer to just use a normal pot while the other participant has an "egg poacher". I remained unconvinced of the need for a specialized doohickey, though I guess it lets you do more at the same time and keep them nicely separated.

In the back of my mind I noted the vague similarity of the egg poacher with an aebleskiver pan, and wondered if it was worth trying to use one as such. Now I know, don't bother...
 
Hey, Spurgeon--as far as I know, the Waterman gem pans were indeed made to bake eggs in. I never tried that, because I never needed to cook that many at once. They were invented in a time of large families, many farm hands, and live-in help! I just do corn bread and such in mine, but mostly they are "decor". Thanks to Hilditch for the heads-up on using an aebleskiver pan for eggs--will not try it either.
 
And of course there's a difference between baking eggs in a pan and trying to poach them in same...
 
Eric, I suspect there is a big difference with baking or frying with a good coat of grease (1/2 tsp) in a preheated pan. Especially if each egg was sieve drained. I was hoping you’d let us know.

Hilditch
 
Eric, I suspect there is a big difference with baking or frying with a good coat of grease (1/2 tsp) in a preheated pan. Especially if each egg was sieve drained. I was hoping you’d let us know.

Hilditch

How exactly were you doing it? Aebleskiver pan placed in a larger vessel of simmering water? Was it suspended or touching the bottom of the larger vessel? Any pre-heating of the pan? Eggs placed directly in the seasoned cast iron with no other lubrication?
 
Only doing 3 eggs, I filled the center and two others in line with water, put on a burner on low and heated to an easy boil. Each of the three cups were then 80% full of water. When I cracked the first egg into the center cup the tsunami went over one of the other full cups and off the pan. Then I more gently added the other two eggs which displaced water and watery egg white into all of the cups and cooked on low. I did not grease the cups. No other pan.

Hilditch
 
Okay, so you were using each cup as a mini-pot. I think the biggest challenge with that is regulating the temperature, since there's so little water in ratio per egg, adding the eggs create a bigger temperature change to the water than it would in the heat sink that a larger pot of water creates.

Then as far as sticking goes, that spillover spreading white around, well, we know eggs are one of the biggest challenges for non-stick surfaces, without the extra lubricant of oil (or butter, ideally). I would also speculate the lower temperature used for poaching makes it stick more, but that's just a guess.

I don't use them but the specialty egg poachers more resemble the technique for steaming, where a container with the eggs is placed in a bath of simmering water, no direct water contact with the eggs, which accomplishes cooking at the lower temperature than frying. I thought that was what you were trying to reproduce. And even those often recommend a non-stick spray first.

When I poach I just bring a pot half-full of water to a simmer. Add a little salt and some red or white wine vinegar to help firm up the whites. Instead of cracking the egg directly into the water, crack it into a small bowl and then gently slip it into the water (pouring it out of the bowl right at water level). Let it simmer for about 3 minutes (the timing is the trickiest part) then gently remove it with a slotted spoon, place on a paper towel, gently pat dry, then transfer to whatever meal you're assembling. I can easily do 2 or 3 at a time in a medium pot and still keep them separate.

There's a "vortex" method where you first swirl the water then slip the egg into the center, supposed to hold its shape better, but it limits you to one at a time and frankly when I've tried it the results were about the same. Fresh eggs hold their shape better than older ones (while older ones peel easier when hard boiled).

I hope that's the sort of feedback you were looking for.

But I love me a good poached egg. Ideally the white should be firm but the yolk still liquid, a little thicker than full-raw runny, which is why the timing is the trickiest part. IMO the browning on fried or scrambled eggs is undesirable (while The Wife likes her SSU eggs as crispy on the bottom as possible). To avoid the browning I fry on low, usually turn off the heat on scrambled as soon as I add the eggs, but poached never has any browning...

Now you've made me want to go poach some eggs.
 
I normally do poached eggs sort of like you. A large teflon skillet that holds 4 bottomless egg rings in 3/4” of water. For me, the poached texture requires being cooked in water. I too add a dash of vinegar, but I don’t know if it does any good.

Can’t say I like a crust on the bottom of my SSU, but I do like a little tan lace on the edges.

As I’ve ruled out poached eggs in my aebleskiver/egg pan I was hoping you or others would try baking or frying eggs in one to see if that works any better before the egg part is totally written off by me.

Hilditch
 
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