Friday, July 18, 2014

French Fridays with Dorie - Coddled Eggs with Foie Gras


Today´s recipe for the French Fridays with Dorie group is "Coddled Eggs with Foie Gras“. Coddled eggs are not just eggs that have been treated in a pampered sort of way, they are actually eggs that have gone through a particular process of cooking. To be precise, "to coddle" is to cook them in water at a temperature just below boiling. Or to immerse them briefly in boiling water.




The original British "egg coddlers" that I know are small porcelain jars with a screw-top lid that essentially allow you to soft-boil eggs after having dispensed of their shells. The advantage being that you can "boil" or rather "coddle" them with any assortment of butter, herbs, cheese, meats, and seasonings, developing tasty egg combinations of all sorts. Here, Dorie`s French version of  a coddled egg calls for some lovely pâté de foie gras or mousse as the main flavor component.




To make this recipe you butter the inside of your ramekins, divide the pâté de foie gras among the ramekins, crack open one very fresh organic or farm-fresh egg per dish, being careful not to break the yolks as you do so. Add fine sea salt and some freshly ground black pepper and then spoon a bit of cream over the egg white. No need to mix the ingredients. Then you place the four ramekins in your steamer basket. Place the saucepan on a burner on medium heat, bring to a simmer, and cook the eggs in their ramekins for five to seven minutes. After having being properly steamed, the eggs will have set, the yolks will still be runny, and the ingredients will have worked their magic throughout.




A final sprinkling of that delicately anise-flavored herb terragon, that is common to French cooking, adds just another elegant flavor component to this wonderful French appetizer.




I must admit that one of the pleasures of eating coddled eggs has to do with swirling the ingredients with some lightly toasted bread that you dig down into the ramekins.




We love our soft-boiled eggs and our eggs sunny-side-up, but every couple of weeks coddled eggs could make for a particularly nice brunch. Like this one – Coddled Eggs with Pâte de Foie Gras.




To see how much the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie group enjoyed this recipe, please go here.

If you happen to own Dorie Greenspan´s "Around my French Table", you will find the recipe for the „Coddled Eggs with Foie Gras“ on pages 194-5.



32 comments:

  1. I agree Andrea, nothing like dipping soldiers in runny egg.

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    1. Gaye, quite right, nothing like dipping those toast soldiers in runny egg!

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  2. I have never made or enjoyed coddled eggs before. Must change! Your description of the whole experience was delightful

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    1. Monet, coddled eggs are fun and easy and delicious to boot - a should-try-recipe if you can find the time.

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  3. Totally agree that the pleasure is in the swirling of the toast soldiers in the egg yolk :)

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    1. Mardi, toast soldiers are quite perfect with coddled eggs - everyone seems to agree on that!

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  4. The colors in your post are vabriant and fresh! I enjoyed my version of this week's recipe too!

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    1. Emily, nice recipe indeed - glad you enjoyed your version of this week´s recipe s well.

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  5. Looks wonderful. I apparently need to work on my coddling technique because mine did not work out so well and came out looking quite watery, even after the whites had set.

    Hope you are finding ways to stay cool this weekend. I currently have two fans going and my husband is out picking up ice cream.

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    1. Rose, what a heatwave indeed - we ate a ton of ice cream today and went to the swimming pool to keep cool - looks as if the weather will change on the weekend though.

      As far as "coddling" is concerned - it is all a question of timing, some say "seven minutes" is the magical time, some say less...in my humble opinion, it depends on how large the egg is, its temperature etc. but it always tastes nice, especially with some lovely toast soldiers.

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  6. First, let me say your photos are beautiful. Your egg looks perfect in the ramekin. This was a wonderfully delicious recipe that I will make again. Even though I overcooked them, they were still great.

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    1. Dear Nana, so nice to see that you and Tricia are blogging again! Hope you are doing well and that life is treating you kindly these days! Looking forward to all your upcoming posts!

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  7. gorgeous
    delectable
    ART.
    WOW.
    Love from Minnesota. xxxx

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    1. Thank you so much, dear Kim! Hope all is well with you and that you and your family is having a wonderful summer!

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  8. This sounds like an exquisite breakfast! Definitely easy for a group, too! Thanks of sharing your beautiful photos. Ganz liebe Grüße aust Tucson, David

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    1. Dear David, a breakfast/brunch treat indeed - for that every-once-in-a-while-day that calls for a fancy egg dish!

      Lieben Dank für deinen netten Kommentar und ganz liebe Grüße an euch beide,
      Andrea

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  9. H Andrea, this reminds me of a "poached egg", love the addition of tarragon, love eggs like this.

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    1. Cheri, although this tastes a bit like a poached egg, you need a "vessel" to make a coddled egg, preferably made out of porcelain. Thanks for stopping by!

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  10. Your pictures of the silverware, tarragon and daisies is gorgeous. Just beautiful. I will probably return to this method again although my attempt was not particularly successful like yours. Perhaps baking would work for me. I just am quite fearful of eating eggs that are too runny. Yours look perfectly done. An accomplishment, I believe. I didn't realize you were having such a heat wave but I'm glad your little swimmers have an opportunity to cool off. Hopefully, you're all having a great time during their break.

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    1. Mary, having a great vacation time - the weather gods do not seem to be able to decide whether it is summer or not - heatwave here, rain and hailstorm there but it is certainly wonderful to have some "time off" with the family!

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  11. Gorgeous, gorgeous photos. I am ashamed to say but my favorite did not even involve the coddled egg (I hope Dorie doesn't read this.....) but is that amazing shot of the fork. Inspiring, as always. And yes, fabulous job with the coddled egg and lovely toast strips as well !

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    1. Tricia, same here - who needs a picture of a coddled eggs when you can have one with lovely, anise-flavored fresh French terragon or "Estragon" as we call it around here!

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  12. Beautifully done, Andrea! And I love, love the idea of toast sticks!!!

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  13. There's something similar I do occasionally called "Herb Baked Eggs." This looks gorgeous!

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    1. There are lots of similar dishes but this particular recipe called for foie gras - which made it kind of extra special to begin with - thanks for your comment, Colette!

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  14. Your eggs came out absolutely beautifully. I really want to try this one again--I love runny eggs yolks and you're right, this would be a very elegant brunch dish.

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    1. Jora, thank you - a nice way to enjoy eggs, especially when served for brunch.

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  15. As usual, your dish looks lovely! I served mine with fresh peach & blueberry muffins - but I think the toast soldiers would really be better (or at least an addition!). This wasn't my favorite, but it was a fun technique to try!

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    1. Candy, indeed a fun technique to learn - could not agree with you more! Thank you for stopping by!

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  16. Hi Andrea, I'm sorry it's been so long since I've visited your blog. I was away on vacation in June and never quite caught up with reading FFWD posts until now. I loved these coddled eggs with pate. We ate them for breakfast, but what a special day would begin with these for breakfast. As always, your photos are so beautiful I love how the daisy mirrors the colors of the eggs. Hope you and your family are doing well. Have a great week!

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  17. Sorry that I am just now catching up with your lovely egg dish and perfect looking toast soldiers :-)
    These would make a lovely treat every once in a while.

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