Recently, during a trip to Florida, I was at a coffee shop where they had a menu item called “Eggspresso”. Wondering what kind of sick concoction involved espresso and eggs, I inquired about this item. Would this be some sort of caffeinated cousin to egg drop soup or would I find Folgers Crystals in my omelette? The real menu item wasn’t so daring.
What I found out was that “Eggspresso” was a method of cooking eggs that involved no espresso at all. It did, however, require the frothing wand of an espresso machine. After seeing this dish prepared before my own eyes was all I needed to get my wheels turning. On most mornings, I have a double espresso and a couple eggs. I really like both items. Now, I could see a way to streamline my morning ritual and have less to clean up.
Photo by Annie Mole
Selecting The Equipment
While making quality espresso requires you to have a high quality espresso machine, making eggpresso doesn’t have such restrictions. Making eggspresso only requires a good steam wand. Most home espresso machines have good decent frothing wands with which to cook the eggs. Next, you will need a good container to put the eggs in.
Oddly enough, I have found that coffee mugs work very well because you can fit 3 eggs in them and they have enough depth for the wand to reach into. Using the frothing pitcher that came with your espresso machine or even your favorite coffee mug is probably a bad idea unless you don’t mind the risk of salmonella poisoning from your next latte.
Cooking the Eggs
The first step in this dish is to crack your eggs into your container. Whip them a bit with a fork. Try not to be tempted to add such things as salsa, sauces or other things you might find in an omelette. The moisture content of these items will add to the moisture which will come from the steam. Such ingredients should be added after the eggs have cooked.
Next, open the steam valve on your espresso machine to bleed off the excess water which has collected. Shut the valve quickly. Immerse the wand into the eggs and begin steaming fully.
Cook until the eggs solidify. Shut off the steam valve. Congratulations! The eggs are now cooked. But before you begin greedily consuming, take care to clean the eggs from your frothing wand.
At this point you can either dump the eggs onto a plate or eat them straight from the cup.
Since the eggs are a bit more moist than normal, I have found that around a tablespoon of quick oats work well to absorb the moisture and don’t adversely affect the flavor. Going much further than this is probably a bad idea though. The idea I had for mixing espresso directly into the eggs with oatmeal was disastrous. Some might need to find this out first hand, but at least you were warned.
Ryan Jacobs
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