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I read in a manga (shokugeki no soma chapter 170) the main protagonist froze an egg, then removed the shell and dipped it in tempura batter, making a dish that seems impossible to be created in reality.

Can one achieve that kind of cooking technique in reality?

Gonçalo Peres
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SilverRay
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    An answer to this question (http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/18923/how-can-i-create-a-scotch-egg-with-a-runny-yolk?rq=1) mentions a similar technique for a scotch egg (freezing it first) - but I've no experience to say how it will turn out. – Megha Jul 01 '16 at 06:43
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    You should give it a try, it could be possible. Not sure whether it may defrost before the outer edge of the egg white cooks enough to hold it's form. Also timing/ internal temperature of the egg would be another important factor. Would be interested if anyone does try this technique. – Food Lover Jul 01 '16 at 13:10

2 Answers2

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It appears to be feasible!

I found this article in which a "cooking expert" gives a specific recipe:

Frozen egg tempura

Remove the shell of a frozen egg and cut the egg in half lengthwise without thawing. A peeled egg is slippery, so put a paper towel on the cutting board before you place the egg on the board. Lightly flour the halves of the egg all over, and dip it in a mixture of three tablespoons of tempura flour and two tablespoons of water. Deep-fry the egg in oil heated at 160 C for about three minutes.

They're not too specific about the results, but I imagine they'd have mentioned if it exploded or anything!

This answer mentions doing essentially the same thing for a scotch egg:

Freeze the raw egg in its shell, de-shell the frozen raw egg and wrap the sausage meat around it whilst it is still frozen. This can be difficult as the egg's albumen defrosts quickly. Coat in flour, egg and breadcrumb. Fry till the scotch egg floats and the crumb is a deep golden brown.

It's the only way I know that gives a soft runny yolk every time.

I don't know what frying temperature was used, and it's got sausage and breading around the egg rather than just tempura batter, but it's a deep-fried egg, starting from raw/frozen, and produces a soft yolk.

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Cascabel
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  • 160 C surprises me. Cutting in 1/2 would let vapor escape more easily and smaller size would have less thermal stress. – paparazzo Jul 01 '16 at 21:51
  • @Paparazzi Plenty of other things help too. It's not in a shell, so it can't build pressure and explode. If it weren't frozen, it'd be able to deform easily, have more surface area in contact with the oil, heat quickly, produce steam, and go everywhere. (Even an egg in a hot pan can splatter plenty.) And once it's thawing, the outside will already be cooked enough to hold its shape, especially with the batter crisping up, so it'll continue to get more moderated heat transfer into the interior. – Cascabel Jul 01 '16 at 21:59
  • Good answer +1. I don't want to argue with you but it can build up pressure. The white outer cooks and forms a seal. As heat gets inward water will vaporize and from pressure. The cooked portion is semi porous. In a soft boiled egg the liquid yoke does not escape. If the water vapor cannot escape fast enough it will explode. – paparazzo Jul 01 '16 at 22:12
  • @Paparazzi Sure, what you describe is possible. But it seems clear that it's not building up nearly enough to cause any problems, so I'm not sure it's relevant. Especially the soft runny yolk in the second example - not only is it not exploding, it's not even reaching boiling inside. The outer parts will still be plenty hot, of course, there's still steam, but... well, it's working anyway. – Cascabel Jul 01 '16 at 22:42
  • Come one man. I acknowledged it is working with 1/2 a egg. The soft runny of soft boiled is an example to show a cooked white is only semi porous. I am clearly talking about a full size with "white outer". I am clearly talking about a full cooked egg with heat inward forming vapor. At 325 F I think a full size egg would rupture. Half with more surface area to volume and the exposed much more porous yoke is different beast. You asserted without a shell it cannot build pressure. I gave a model where it can. At a high enough temp I think it can build enough pressure to rupture. – paparazzo Jul 01 '16 at 23:08
  • @Paparazzi The second example, the answer I linked to, is with a whole egg. It doesn't give the temperature, so it might be less than 325F, but it very clearly demonstrates that it's possible to deep-fry a whole frozen egg without the yolk bursting. I understand what you're saying, and I understand that there may be conditions under which a whole frozen egg would rupture. I'm not saying it's impossible for it to rupture, I'm saying it's possible for it to not rupture, i.e. it's possible to do exactly what the OP is asking about. – Cascabel Jul 01 '16 at 23:29
  • Let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/41934/discussion-between-paparazzi-and-jefromi). – paparazzo Jul 01 '16 at 23:38
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You can do this recipe, I have and it taste wonderful. You can change the batter and coating and eat with vinegar and all other sorts of other options. Do not cut egg in half before frying because will lose the effect and reason Soma did this. You want a raw center soft boiled egg that has thickened from freezing and is an astounding sauce for the seasoned rice. The only unsafe part of his experiment is that he used rather old "bargain" eggs which have a higher chance of containing salmonella and other bacteria if undercooked. Fresher eggs are safer and despite the anime and manga it won't over power the dish (in my opinion). I had to play around with the temperature of the oil and time in because too long in the oil it will cause the coating to burn and too short will leave you with a frozen yolk. Too high a temp will burn the coating and give you a frozen center and too low will overcook the egg or give you soggy non-crisp coating. Just play with it and figure out the best temp and time for you.

Jade So
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