Smoked Eggs

Imagine all the great stuff that could be had with smoked eggs.

Have you ever smoked eggs? If you don’t know me well, you’ll soon realize that I’ll smoke or grill anything…at least once. Oftentimes I have success, as well as my share of disasters. An example of one that worked well are eggs. Of course you have to hard boil them first, otherwise the damn things drip right through the grill grates.

Smoked eggs are great to snack on, but the real magic happens when the eggs are used as an ingredient in another dish. Sliced on top of a fresh garden salad, in an egg salad or what have you, they will impart a trace of smoke flavor without going overboard.

If the thought of smoked eggs alone isn’t enough to excite you, wait until you see what smoked eggs add to my Devilish Eggs. They’re eggcellent! I’d almost bet that you’ll soon be smoking a lot of eggs.

All you’ll need is hard boiled eggs and smoking chips. Soak the chips in water for 30 minutes so they don’t ignite on the hot coals.

Here’s how they’re done.

1. Prepare the eggs by bringing them to room temperature. The eggs should be turned upside down from how they were in the egg carton. This will allow the yolk to center itself within the egg.
2. Place the desired amount of eggs in a pan large enough to hold them in a single layer.  Add enough cold water to cover the eggs by about an inch.
3. Using high heat, bring the water to a boil. Immediately remove pan from heat and cover.
4. Allow eggs to sit in the water for 10 minutes.
5. Drain pan and immediately submerge eggs in ice cold water.
6. Peel eggs.
7. Prepare a medium-low (225°F  | 110 °C) fire for indirect grilling.
8. Once the fire is ready, sprinkle chips over coals. If working with a gas grill, wrap chips in a foil packet and pierce holes with a fork. Place packet under the grill grates on top of flames.
9. Once the wood chips begin to smoke, place the eggs on the cool side of the grill and cover.
10. Allow eggs to smoke for 20 minutes, maintaining a temperature of no more than 225°F (110 °C). Remember, the eggs are already cooked. We don’t want to cook them too much more. Watch that heat!

Pretty darn tasty, huh! Don’t eat them all right now! Get out your recipes that use hard boiled eggs as an ingredient and see just how much smoked eggs make them zing.

Give the Devilish Eggs a try. Here’s the recipe…Smoked Devilish Eggs.

Recipe © 2011 Gary Glen | Photo © 2011 Gary Glen | All rights reserved

A Few Hard Boiled Egg Tips From the American Egg Board

• For easier peeling, use eggs that are 7 to 10 days old. Pack hard-boiled eggs for lunch. Slice or cut into wedges for tossed salad. Dice for egg salad. Color and decorate for Easter.
• Banish the greenish ring. This harmless but unsightly discoloration that sometimes forms around hard-boiled yolks results from a reaction between sulfur in the egg white and iron in the yolk. It occurs when eggs have been cooked for too long or at too high a temperature. Our method – cooking eggs in hot, not boiling, water, then cooling immediately – minimizes this.
• Food safety precaution: Piercing shells before cooking is not recommended. If not sterile, the piercer or needle can introduce bacteria into the egg. Also, piercing creates hairline cracks in the shell, through which bacteria can enter after cooking.
• Never microwave eggs in shells. Steam builds up too quickly inside and eggs are likely to explode.
• Very fresh eggs can be difficult to peel. To ensure easily peeled eggs, buy and refrigerate them a week to 10 days in advance of cooking. This brief “breather” allows the eggs time to take in air, which helps separate the membranes from the shell.
• Hard-boiled eggs are easiest to peel right after cooling. Cooling causes the egg to contract slightly in the shell.
• To peel a hard-boiled egg: Gently tap egg on countertop until shell is finely crackled all over. Roll egg between hands to loosen shell. Starting peeling at large end, holding egg under cold running water to help ease the shell off.
• Storage time: In the shell, hard-boiled eggs can be refrigerated safely up to one week. Refrigerate in their original carton to prevent odor absorption. Once peeled, eggs should be eaten that day.
• High altitude cooking: It’s almost impossible to hard-cook eggs above 10,000 feet.

Courtesy of: The Incredible Edible Egg