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I'm thinking about making a sauce for burgers. Requirements are the following:

  • Tastes of concentrated egg yolk - for me perfection is the taste of yolk in a fried egg
  • For seasoning salt and pepper only should do the job, but I'm keen on trying some MSG
  • Thick, almost mayo-like consistency

I've tried many hollandaise recipes, with double boiler or blender methods, but nothing quite satisfies me. Butter in those recipes just weakens the taste. I also tried thickening with flour, however the texture change was unforgivable (maybe I messed this up somehow?)

Honestly, I'm cool with just putting fried egg into burger, taste is great, however it's a bit too runny and messy to eat.

I'm willing to try and report any ideas, I got like 50 spare eggs :)

Luciano
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emteka
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    Recipe requests are considered off-topic, since there are many recipes that could be equally valid, and the "right" answer is a matter of opinion--so I suspect this question will end up being closed. That said, you might try looking into how slight temperature differences can change egg yolk texture fairly dramatically. Between 145°F and 150°F yolks go from "barely thick" to "firm jelly". – AMtwo Nov 10 '21 at 15:15
  • Welcome to the site! Unfortunately your question is off-topic, it's a recipe request, and it's also asking for opinion. – GdD Nov 10 '21 at 15:22
  • While I agree that recipe requests are off topic, my response below shares a technique for cooking egg yolks. – moscafj Nov 10 '21 at 16:31
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    I disagree that this is fundamentally a recipe request; to my mind the underlying question is "how can I thicken egg yolk" and there are plenty of questions on this site about thickening (search for "thicken" to see). The OP was simply unaware that thickening egg yolk without making it into a different sauce was an option, which is why they started with the idea of hollandaise. – dbmag9 Nov 10 '21 at 17:28
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    You say you're "cool with just putting fried egg into burger, taste is great, however it's a bit too runny and messy to eat." If you're good with that, it there a reason you don't just cook the fried egg longer/to a slightly higher temperature, so it's a bit more done? If your main issue is really that it's just "a bit too runny and messy to eat", it seems that merely cooking the egg longer would easily fix that issue to whatever point you desire. Given that doing so appears obvious, what is the reason that doesn't solve your issue? – Makyen Nov 10 '21 at 23:24
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    @Makyen most ways of cooking eggs cause very inhomogeneous consistency – part of the yolk already solid while another is still completely liquid. – leftaroundabout Nov 11 '21 at 00:09
  • @leftaroundabout Yes, but they literally said "for me perfection is taste of yolk in a fried egg" without specifying if they mean any particular consistency. Without any particular consistency specified, there's reason to wonder why just frying it for longer is not a possible solution for them. So, I asked them to provide more information. They also need to specify if it's really a *fried* egg that they are wanting the taste of, or if other cooking methods are acceptable. Other cooking methods can make precision in the level of cooking easier, but tend not to have the same exact flavor. – Makyen Nov 11 '21 at 00:24
  • Mmm...... burger with a fried egg on top. Excellent! – gnicko Nov 12 '21 at 01:14

2 Answers2

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Not a recipe, but I will share a technique. Using sous vide you can cook egg yolks to a consistency where they will behave like a sauce. You separate the yolks, and drop them into a container of oil, which is being heated in a water bath. Time and temperature determines consistency, which can range from runny to fudge-like (or hard boiled, but that is not what you are going for). Fish them out, and place them on your burger. Season as you like. Here are more precise instructions.

moscafj
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  • They could also just cook his eggs a degree or two further so they’re not so runny, if they had a sous code rig. – Joe Nov 10 '21 at 16:42
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    @Joe there is a range of consistency that can be achieved based on time and temperature, as I tried to make clear in my response. – moscafj Nov 10 '21 at 16:47
  • Is this the same technique as for making ice cream? – Thomas Nov 11 '21 at 09:54
  • Why the oil? just for ease of fishing the yolks out? – Luciano Nov 11 '21 at 10:16
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    Also, for temperature I always go by the Dave Arnold's egg chart, it never fails https://img.apmcdn.org/95b4ae71584e4738f1895c5755e735cc49349b26/uncropped/081a10-splendid-table-egg-chart-use.jpg – Luciano Nov 11 '21 at 10:24
  • @Luciano the oil is only needed if you want to cook the yolks (and only the yolks) whole. In that case, you can't plop them into the water itself: they'll get damaged by the circulator (assuming you're using one to heat the water). If the yolks don't need to stay whole, you can seal them in a plastic bag as with most conventional sous vide cooking. – LSchoon Nov 11 '21 at 16:37
  • @Luciano oil also provides a lubricant so that the yolks don't stick together. – moscafj Nov 11 '21 at 16:45
  • @LSchoon ah I see, like a confit. I thought about just bagging the yolks since it's going to be a sauce anyway. – Luciano Nov 11 '21 at 16:45
  • @Thomas you can create a custard base, then cook that sous vide. This technique results in whole yolks. – moscafj Nov 11 '21 at 16:46
  • @Luciano if you don't care about the yolks being whole, you could just bag the yolks and create a sauce of the consistency you want. The whole yolk, topping a burger, which then, when broken, becomes the sauce does have an appeal. – moscafj Nov 11 '21 at 16:48
  • ah good point! I forgot about the presentation :) – Luciano Nov 12 '21 at 09:18
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Okay guys, thanks for contribution and sorry for not knowing that question could be mistaken for recipe request.

After reading your feedback, I finally succeeded. I went to the shop and bought tall, narrow steel cup. I decided to hold it directly above smallest fire my stove can produce and sticking hand mixer into my yolks. They lost deep orange color due to incorporating air, however they quickly became more and more solid up to the point i was satisfied with consistency. I'm sure double boiler with hand whisking would also work, but this is just less messy and faster. Salt, pepper and MSG with lemon juice to balance helped to achieve perfect runny yolky taste. It doesn't behave quite like mayo, however its solid enough to not fall off the burger on every occasion, I was little scared of going further than 2-3 mins, but I'm happy with the results. Thanks!

emteka
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