Coddled Eggs

Not many people have coddled eggs these days but I think they are a lovely way to have Sunday breakfast.

They are a delicious step up from a boiled egg.

These are my egg coddlers, also known as pipkins. They are made by Royal Worcester and are a vitrified porcelain body with stainless steel screw lids. You can also get glass ones and some have clamped lids.

To make the best coddled eggs you need lovely fresh eggs so that the white is firm and surrounds the yolk.

First butter the pipkin and lid (really this is mostly for an easy clean up I suspect) and crack one egg into each. If you have larger pipkins then you can use two eggs per pipkin.

Now here is where it becomes a little more glamourous than the boiled egg...

Add a sprinkle of salt and pepper (I use Murray River Pink salt crystals and fresh ground black peper but white pepper is usually the done thing) and a small knob of butter and a smattering of chopped parsley.

You can also add chopped ham/bacon/salmon, minced mushrooms and cream for something truly rich and sumptuous.

Now pop the lid on. It is only a cover to keep out water splash and to create a mini steam in the vessel so it doesn't need to be screwed on tightly, in fact its best not to. Now place them into a pot of boiling water so the water comes about halfway up the sides.

It will take about 6 minutes for a room temperature large egg. So from there you need to make your own adjustments to cooking time depending on how many what size and temperature. It is a longer and gentler cook than the plain bolied egg too which would otherwise be about three minutes.

Now you can see the perfect design of these lids, they can be lifted out with a fork tine or easily grabbed with a cloth. Common sense says; don't place hot vessel on a cold surface like your sink or marble board because the temperature shock will crack it. I put mine on a tea towel to absorb some of the moisture and then serve straight to table with lovely toasted homemade "soldiers"

If you are catering for a crowd at breakfast there is no reason you can't improvise and use 1 cup ramekins.

Butter them and put the doings in and cover with piece of greaseproof paper or the like, tying them on on using rubber bands. Then put them into a large baking dish of water in the oven. This coddle may take a little longer because they probably won't boil as such but it gives you time to make toast and maybe do some spinach or grilled tomatoes.