Why You Should Hard-Cook Lots of Eggs and Soak Them in Soy Sauce

Slate's Culture Blog

May 14 2015 9:33 AM

Why You Should Hard-Cook Lots of Eggs and Soak Them in Soy Sauce

Soy sauce eggs.

Photo by James Ransom

This post originally appeared on Food52.

This recipe goes out to all those times that you’ve stooped at the open fridge door, hoping for a respectable dinner to show itself. And to all the 1 p.m.’s at your desk in a scramble for takeout, cursing yourself for not planning ahead. To all the salads that aren’t quite filling enough, the sandwiches that lack heft, the toast that stops short of fueling you through the morning.

In the interest of being one step ahead of all of those moments, take a break on Sunday (or tonight!), and make soy sauce eggs, or shoyu tamago. Make as many as you can eat in a week, which—you’ll soon realize—is a lot.  

If you've ever lived in Japan or tackled making your own ramen, this simple fridge-enhancing trick won't be news to you. (But why didn’t you tell us sooner?) For the rest of us, this recipe—Christina Tosi’s version of Momofuku’s standard—requires only four ingredients that you already have, and renders eggs that are virtually perfect in form. The yolks—just thickened, not yet pale and stiff—are centered in firm (but not too firm) whites. You’ll submerge them in a soy sauce marinade that will penetrate only as much as you decide to let it.

The trick to these model eggs is cooking them exactly 6 minutes and 50 seconds, stirring gently for the first couple minutes to center the yolks via a whirlpool of centrifugal force. By immediately shuttling them to an ice bath, you do away with any variables that might allow them to continue cooking secretly.

Once the water feels temperate enough to swish your hands around in, you peel the eggs straight in it, to leave the whites smooth and glossy and not lose as many bits to the shell (some bits might go rogue anyway, but the eggs will still taste good).

Photo by James Ransom

After peeling the eggs, you move them to marinate in the fridge in a small vat of soy sauce, sherry vinegar, and sugar for a few hours. (I’ve left them overnight too, which I actually found to be extra salty and delicious.)

The soak isn't just about salting them, but a more rounded seasoning—a little sweet, a little tangy, but mostly a lot of umami. You can vary the marinade as you like—add sake, scallions, ginger, mirin, garlic, chiles, or rice wine vinegar. What’s to stop you?

Since these will be your new weekly fridge companion, you’ll have plenty of opportunity.

Momofuku's Soy Sauce Eggs_
Adapted slightly from Milk Bar Life by Christina Tosi
Makes 6 eggs_

6 tablespoons warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
¾ cup soy sauce
6 large eggs
Maldon or other flaky salt, for serving
Black pepper, for serving

See the full recipe at Food52.

Got a genius recipe to share—from a classic cookbook, an online source, or anywhere, really? Please send it my way (and tell me what's so smart about it) at kristen@food52.com. Thanks to Food52er drbabs for this one!

Kristen Miglore is the executive editor of Food52 and the author of Food52 Genius Recipes: 100 Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook.

REPRINT PRINT EMAIL

1.5k

Are Slate's comments not loading even after a few seconds?
Send us your browser and operating system information.

News & Politics

Foreigners

May 14 2015 4:00 AM The Dispossessed Sixty-seven years ago, Israel created a Jewish state, and my grandmother was made homeless. Saleem Haddad

“I Think We Need to Kill More People.” Meet America’s Deadliest Prosecutors.

Will a Boston Jury Spare Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s Life?

Persistent Racism in Housing Is a Tax on Blackness

“I Am Not Backing Off Anything I Said”: An Interview With Seymour Hersh

The United States’ Program for Selling Citizenship Is a Scam

Hillary Clinton Wants to Champion Some Liberal Issues. But What About Inequality?

Bob McDonnell’s Appeals Case: Depends on What the Definition of “Official Acts” Is

Business

Business Insider

May 13 2015 2:51 PM Here's How Far Google Is Extending Europeans' "Right to Be Forgotten" Lucy England

The Greek Bailout Crisis Didn’t Have to Happen. Here’s How to Avoid the Next One.

Stephen Schwarzman Needs His Name on Yale Much, Much More Than Yale Needs the Schwarzman Center

Rude iPhone Checkers Won't Be Any Less Rude Now That They Have Apple Watches

Olive Garden Will Serve Subs on Its Addictively Good Breadsticks Starting This Summer

Verizon Is Buying AOL for $4.4 Billion

Shell Gets Conditional Approval to Start Drilling in the Arctic This Summer

Uber-Rich Uber Might Be Getting Even Richer

Life

Doonan

May 14 2015 1:41 PM Style in Numbers Learning to harmonize with a cappella fashion. Simon Doonan

Brussels' Zinneke Pis Statue Is a Canine Compliment to the Famous Manneken Pis

A Father Designs Minimalist Vocabulary Posters to Teach His Daughter Complex Words

Is a National Fund to Promote Organic Produce a Good Idea? Organic Farmers Don’t Think So.

Who Would Win in a Fight Between Jaime Lannister and Khal Drogo?

Help! My Wife Flirts With My Brothers and Trashes My Sisters-in-Law.

Adults Love the Four-Day School Week. Is It Good for the Kids?

African Leader Tells Gay Men: “I Will Slit Your Throat”

Double X

The XX Factor

May 13 2015 4:02 PM House Passes 20-Week Abortion Ban With Exciting New Hassles for Rape Victims Amanda Marcotte

Austin Greets Female-Majority City Council With Workshop on How Women Are the Worst

Why Is Australia Turning Its Back on Paid Family Leave?

Women Are Shut Out of Power in Hollywood. Now We Might Find Out Why.

Surprise! Unwed Birth Rates Are Going Down.

Worst State of the Week for Women: Deluxe Mother’s Day Edition

Let’s Create Urban Policy for the Families We Have, Not the Families We Wish We Had

For Mother’s Day, a Defense of the “Mom’s Night Out”

Slate Plus

Political Gabfest

May 14 2015 9:03 AM We Were Doing It Wrong: The Very First Political Gabfest Watch Emily, John, and David review their inaugural Gabfest from 2005. Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz

Finally, a Slate Podcasts Soundboard!

What Is It Like to Be a Child-Abuse Detective? Working Podcast Transcript.

When an Advice Columnist’s Inbox Is Filled With Cries of Existential Despair

What Was Gay? Here’s How I Got the Story.

Arts

Brow Beat

May 14 2015 12:33 PM The Simpsons Just Lost the Voice of Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, and Principal Skinner Laura Bradley

A Library That Hangs From a Tree

Keeping the Spirit of Occupy Wall Street Alive With Stickers and Street Art

What It’s Like Being a Fat Amy–Sized Actress in Hollywood

Why You Should Hard-Cook Lots of Eggs and Soak Them in Soy Sauce

Watch Don Draper’s Kodak Carousel Project Seven Seasons of Mad Men Memories

Olivia and Rowan Pope Are the Most Twisted Father-Daughter Pair on TV—and the Best

Technology

Future Tense

May 14 2015 12:12 PM Can Students Click Their Way to a Better World? Technology could help young people learn civics lessons—and use them, too. Chris Berdik

Apple Should Probably Fix This Glaring Flaw in the Apple Watch

One of the Best Avengers Characters Is an Emotive Android

Netizen Report: Are Blogger Assassinations Becoming Routine in Bangladesh?

Greenland’s Glaciers are Accelerating So Fast, They're Getting Stretch Marks

The U.S. Is Running Out of Internet Addresses. For Real This Time.

If This Is the Future of Journalism, Maybe It Isn't So Bad

Health & Science

Medical Examiner

May 14 2015 11:16 AM Docs on Wheels Mobile clinics are a great way to deliver health care. Venkat Srinivasan

Sunset Over the Nile ... From Space

Video of Landslide Causing Small Volcano Eruption in Hawaii

Smarter Every Day Goes to Space