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Deep Fried Sous Vide Egg Yolks

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If sous vide eggs had been invented two thousand years ago, there would have been entire books of The Bible dedicated to their praise.  But at the last meeting of the Jet City Gastrophysics, we took a giant leap forward.  You see, the beauty of a sous vide egg lies in it’s exquisite texture.  After about an hour in the water bath, the yolks become buttery with nearly the texture of pudding.  The only way to improve on this amazing transformation is to add a crunchy shell. 

Makes: 6 pieces
Total kitchen time: 90 minutes (30 minutes active time)

Special equipment: sous vide heating immersion circulator

Shopping list:

  • 6 + 1 organic eggs
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. sea salt
  • canola oil, for frying
  • 1/2 cup fine bread crumbs
  • 1 tsp. black truffle salt
  • 1 tbsp. fine lemon zest (optional)
  1. Cook 6 eggs (reserving one) sous vide at 64.5°C for 60 minutes.  Let the eggs cool in a bowl of tepid water for 10 minutes.
  2. Turn on the faucet to very low. Working one by one, carefully crack a cooked egg into your hand, and let the white drip away under the water.  Set the yolks aside.
  3. Heat about 1.5 inches of canola oil in a small saucepan until it reaches 360°F (make sure the temp doesn’t exceed 370°F).
  4. In a small bowl, combine the flower, baking powder and sea salt.  In a second bowl, whisk the remaining (uncooked) egg.  Spread the breadcrumbs on a plate.
  5. Gently roll each yolk in the flour mixture, then dip in the egg wash, then roll in breadcrumbs.
  6. Fry each yolk for about 30 seconds, or until lightly golden brown.  Drain on a paper towel, then sprinkle with black truffle salt and lemon zest.

These fried eggs make excellent tapas, particularly if your guests aren’t expecting what’s inside.  Perhaps in another thousand or two years, we’ll discover something even more delicious.

54 comments on “Deep Fried Sous Vide Egg Yolks”

@Marisa Ha! That’s a great question. The reason is that my sous vide machine is set to C and my probe thermometer was set to F. Also, if you’re using a deep fryer, it is likely marked in F.

We did this without a sous vide cooker, just a slow cooker and a good instant read thermometer. The result was not the bits of perfection shown here, but quite nice and very edible, none the less. We checked and adjusted temperature (off and on switch) at five minute intervals. This led to readings as low as 144 initially and as high as 150, but they were mainly in the 146 to 150 range. Not accurate enough for a commercial endeavor, but quite acceptable for a home experiment. Cooking time was about one and half hours, perhaps a bit more. The rest of the recipe was followed since no unique equipment was involved.

Results were excellent. The egg yolks were little balls of gold, more done than shown in the photo, but not the hard-boiled egg sort, and with a rather creamy texture to them. I used panko crumbs since I had some I needed to dispose of. A finer crumb might be a bit better.

For whatever reason, we had 4 of the 6 egg shells crack during cooking. I thought it was the omen of imminent and utter doom. It was not. The egg whites were a bit more cooked but quite moist and soft, easy to remove. Be very careful about the flow of water when removing egg white from yolk.

Great stuff and next time I will do a spicy version.

Beware of step 4:

“In a small bowl, combine the flower, baking powder and sea salt. ”

Flowers are very delicate, and might not combine well with baking powder and sea salt.

🙂

I tried these out and they turned out perfectly – thanks! Can’t wait to include them in some dishes. PS Good luck with Modernist Cuisine – I see from their blog you’ve joined the team.

Hey regards form Denmark – thanks for a good site – i love reading and I love geeks 🙂 And i love sous vide cooking, so it is the right place.

I have made the sous vide egg and posted it on my food blog (Danish)
– sure i have put your name and site on the post 🙂
http://fjordrejen.dk/?p=4229

I have to have a centrifuge – interesting to play and se where det boundaries for food is (do not know if thats is the right way to say it in English)

/Erland

Any thoughts on possibly doing the sous vide portion ahead of time? Or, even the whole thing about 30 min prior to guests arriving?

Your website is amazing and inspirational for someone just beginning to play with my new sous vide machine!

[…] Deep Fried Sous Vide Egg Yolk – Crack your eggs carefully into your bare hands. Then, gently run water over the egg to remove the whites, leaving the yolk encased in its delicate membrane. Working very gently, coat the yolks in Japanese bread crumbs and deep fry until just golden brown. […]

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DROOL! Any thoughts on preparing the sous vide yolks (eggs) in advance and frying them a day or two later? My sous vide will be busy over the holiday with the main dish I want to serve…and making these earlier in the same day means getting up extremely early.
Thanks

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