Cutting the Top Off an Egg

I was watching some ancient (2004) Iron Chef America when they had Chef Sakai on with Morimoto (before he joined the American version).

Anyhow, Chef Sakai under time pressure and just with his knife topped a bunch of eggs so the shell could be preserved and used for serving.

I tried it with a few eggs, but failed miserably. Is there some trick to this?

k.

Did he swipe it off? That sounds impossible on raw eggs!

You can use the point of the heel to carefully crack a hole in it, that's what we did at the sushi bar with quail eggs.

Yeah, they were raw. He sort of poked a little, cut a little, poked some more with the tip and ended up with a near perfect topped egg. Alton seemed impressed too and showed it twice during the show. I was wondering if brown eggs were easier than the white eggs I tried. Or maybe the eggs have to be really fresh.

k.

I could ask him for you. He'll be a guest at an event we're hosting in January. :whistling:

doooo it.

White eggs have something to do with it because the shell is slightly thicker, Quail eggs are probably the easiest to do it with. The Technique I use, is the "score" a line around the egg and then slice it off gently. When I say score a line in the egg, I really mean more like make a groove in the egg shell so that when you're cutting through the egg the shell has a clear path to crack along and won't just shatter. Think of it like cutting glass.

chefofthefuture said:

The Technique I use, is the "score" a line around the egg and then slice it off gently. When I say score a line in the egg, I really mean more like make a groove in the egg shell so that when you're cutting through the egg the shell has a clear path to crack along and won't just shatter. Think of it like cutting glass.

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This is the best technique that I have been able to mimic with any success, but if you have to do a lot of eggs there are tools available that make the job much easier.

There are two styles of tools that I know of that work. There is a scissor style one, but you are limited to large chicken eggs. This is generally not a problem for pros, because large eggs is the restaurant standard. It works well but the finished cut is a little rough. Then there is a plunger style that work really nicely. It is basically spring loaded and leaves an impression around the top portion of the egg and then you can remove that piece. I own both and got them at JB Prince.

I love JB Prince, they have a tool for everything.

Karing always starts the most interesting and obscure topics. After reading this I had to give it a try: great success on 1st attempt using the poke/cut/poke method, but maybe it was just luck, because the next 2 attends where total fail. I'm gonna keep messing with this until I "crack" the secret.
My dog and I are going to be eating alot of eggs over the next few days...

This may sound really odd, and I am no Chef by any stretch. But why not score it with somthing like a triangle or knife edge file and then cut?


God Bless
Mike

[video=youtube;ylKTKKPkoCs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylKTKKPkoCs[/video]

[video=youtube;3DV_dptLlxg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DV_dptLlxg[/video]

Hahha! Nice! I'll have to try that with something other than a mug or whatever that ceramic nest-holder is, haha! What does your knife look like now? Was that the KS?

Yeah, a little of it went up in sparks.

was the spark the knife or the mug?

1. Wow.

2. :coolsign:

i agree wow.

Not nearly as fast, exciting, or "sparky" as Salty's technique (but then again: is anything, ever?):
[video=youtube;Xbb4y5ErO4k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbb4y5ErO4k[/video]

Very good Justin. Clap clap clap. Is that that Carter knife?

k.

Yep, it's the "factory 2nd" neck knife that I got for "cheap." I experimented with several knives and this one worked the best because it has a very sharp, but also very strong tip. If you look at it straight on from the tip, it almost looks triangular. It also seemed to pierce the shell in the most controlled manner and the thick spine kinda wedges the top off. I was taking it slow in the video because I had to hold everything at an awkward angle to get it under the camera, but under normal conditions I've gotten this down to 20seconds or so per egg. -still about 20x slower than Salty though.....

I am fairly certain I have seen a video of someone saw the top off an egg using what looked like a Japanese detail saw.

Mr.Wizard said:

I am fairly certain I have seen a video of someone saw the top off an egg using what looked like a Japanese detail saw.

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I'd imagine that that would work, but I wonder if it would get lost of very fine shell chips in the egg.

I saw a device on an Iron Chef show that decapitated eggs cleanly and quickly a while back. They didn't say what it was called, as I recall.

I saw that episode too. It was something like this tool that was used.

egg topper

k.

I suppose that would take all the fun out of it, though.........

SpikeC said:

I suppose that would take all the fun out of it, though.........

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Yep! And it certainly doesn't involve sparks or danger (booooooring).