Flavored on the outside, creamy on the inside, marinated eggs often found in ramen or served on the side can be deeply delicious and near magical.
Fear of the Undercooked Food Police causes many a ramen shop to serve their eggs hard-cooked, with yolks that are chalky and crumbly. In short, ruined.
Keith Endo, executive chef at Vino Italian Tapas & Wine Bar, ran Slurp, a ramen pop-up restaurant that was located inside Vino for several months, and served these eggs with his bowls of noodles in broth.
He shared his method and recipe for creating the perfect, flavorful, creamy-yolked egg.
The eggs are soft-boiled, then plunged into an ice bath, where they sit “at least an hour,” Endo said, “just to make sure the yolk is completely cooled. You want that yolk to be creamy, congealed.”
Then they’re peeled, marinated and refrigerated. “We found that 24 hours is perfect.”
Serve the eggs with ramen or just to have with hot rice and maybe some chilled sake. Endo didn’t suggest the pairings, but they couldn’t possibly be bad.
One note:Fresh eggs are harder to peel than older eggs. At the restaurant, Endo would “get our eggs fresh that day, and we usually wait a week (to make) that egg recipe.”
Aji Tamago
- 6 eggs
- >> Marinade:
- 1 tablespoon light (usukuchi) shoyu (available at Asian markets)
- 1 tablespoon regular shoyu (Yamasa recommended)
- 3 tablespoons mirin
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- A pinch, up to 1/4 teaspoon hon-dashi
Prepare an ice-water bath in a bowl large enough to submerge six eggs.
Bring a pot of water, full enough to cover six eggs, to a full boil, then turn it down to medium-high to bring the water to a small-bubble simmer. Add eggs and simmer 5 minutes.
Remove eggs to ice-water bath for at least an hour.
Meanwhile, make the marinade, making sure the sugar and hon-dashi are thoroughly dissolved.
Peel eggs carefully, making sure not to damage the white.
Place eggs and marinade in a zip-top bag and gently squeeze out air. Refrigerate overnight, or for 24 hours.
Leftover eggs may kept refrigerated up to two days.
Approxmiate nutritional information, per egg (after pouring off marinade): 90 calories, 5 g total fat, 1.5 g saturated fat, 185 mg cholesterol, 250 mg sodium, 3 g carbohydrate, no fiber, 2 g sugar, 7 g protein
