July 12, 2014

Hard Boiling Eggs Without Water

Well, technically I supposed they can't be hard boiled if I didn't use water, so let's just say hard cooked. How? With my solar oven.

Hard cooking eggs in my solar oven.

I learned how from a video at the Sun Oven website. We have a lot of eggs so I hard boil a lot of eggs and had to give it a try. Eggs are placed in a cardboard egg carton and put inside a preheated solar oven. That's it. It takes about an hour or so, but they come out perfectly hard cooked.

The video states that even fresh eggs are easy to peel and I found this to be pretty much true. Mine apparently have a pretty tough membrane, so fresh solar eggs don't peel without a few bits pulling off, but I no longer have to wait until eggs are "aged" to hard boil them. And I no longer have to hang around the stove so I won't forget they're on! (Don't ask.)

Besides being a novelty, so what? I have to say that the Sun Oven folks bring up several good preparedness points in regards to solar cooking. Besides being able to cook for free, it also conserves on two precious storage items - fuel and water. Eggs aside, solar cooking a moist heat method of cooking, so less liquid is needed for cooking most foods.

I use my solar oven almost every day because it has become one of my primary cooking tools. If there's sun, I'm cooking.

25 comments:

1st Man said...

OK, now THAT is awesome. I had no idea. That alone makes me interested in a solar oven! thanks!!!

Kev Alviti said...

What a great way to cook eggs!

Harry Flashman said...

I would have bet that they would explode. That's handy to know.

Dawn said...

That is realy interesting, can they over cook at all.

Nicole and Andrew said...

i know what you mean about boiling eggs, lets just say ive had quite a few black pots to clean.

Frugal in Derbyshire said...

What temperature does your oven get to? I also have exploding eggs and black saucepans!
I was rising bread in the greenhouse yesterday and nearly cooked it as it got so hot! That and your post makes me wonder if there are possibilities here!!! As soon as I saw you post I thought "pickled eggs" for winter stores.
Gill

Dani said...

Leigh - I cook my eggs in my solar oven in boiling salted water - also for an hour. Never thought to try them in a cardboard box - that's definitely worth a try :)

Like Harry, I would've thought they'd explode - do you prick a small hole in them before putting them in your solar oven?

Tuesday said...

I'm going to have to look into one of these someday, so cool!!!


PS: we closed on 10 acres this week!

Leigh said...

1st Man, good to hear from you! The other lovely thing about a solar oven is not heating up the house while cooking.

Kev, pretty cook, huh?

Harry, I know they'll explode in a microwave, but that's a totally different way to heat. I confess I wouldn't have thought of this all by myself, but it works!

Dawn, I'm sure they can overcook, but I've always managed to not forget they're there. :) The first couple times mine were undercooked, i.e. soft boiled.

Nicole, bad news, isn't it!

Gill, the oven typically heats to 300° - 325° F / 150° - 165° C. I haven't dared use it for rising bread, but I do let it rise in the sun, covered with a clean cotton dishtowel. Then I bake it in the solar oven, yum!

Dani, I wouldn't have thought to it this way either. I've been going through the videos on the Sun Oven site and learning a lot! I don't do anything to them, no pin prick. I'm guessing that the even heat keeps them from exploding. A pan of boiled away water would continue to get pretty hot. (Just a guess on my part).

Tuesday, how exciting! I hope you're blogging about this because I'm coming over for a visit. I want details!

Farmer Barb said...

I know I have enough sun for this. I just don't have the chickens anymore! I will be looking into this for my preparedness suite. I have the Berkey. I have the water containers. I have the spring. I would like some solar goodies like the oven and a shower. We did put an old baby pool filled with spring water on the patio. The hot stones raised the temperature 20 degrees F in an hour. It went from bracing to refreshing.

Mama Pea said...

I think your solar oven cooking is just the coolest (warmest? haha.) thing! If we had to rely on a solar oven for our cooking these past few months, we'd be deader than door knobs by now! (Or on a totally raw diet.) We've had a rainy, nearly sunless spring and first part of summer. I guess we're just not situated in solar oven territory. But sure is interesting reading your posts about same.

Velva said...

That is totally coo!!

Velva

Renee Nefe said...

I have a friend who shared that she has been baking her eggs in the oven, so the solar oven makes sense. I bet she would have a blast with a solar oven.
I've shared your blog with her. I wonder if she's peeked.

Su Ba said...

Wow. Leigh, this oven sounds right up my alley. This year we're not getting much sun, but next year it looks like we're in for an El NiƱo drought. When that happens we get week after week of good sun. Sounds like it would be a good investment to add a solar oven to my homestead. I'd love to hear more stories of your cooking adventures with it.

...Su Ba, www.kaufarmer.blogspot.com

Tuesday said...

Leigh, blog coming very soon, will let you know!

Ed said...

I think the best way to get eggs to peel easily is when they are fully cooked, immerse them in an ice water bath for ten minutes and then peel before they get back to room temperature. This works with the tough membrane ones too.

Chris said...

If the sun shines, why not use it? Very inventive for a solar oven. I'm taking notes.

Sandy Livesay said...

Leigh,

Another good reason to have a solar oven. I had no idea you can cook eggs this way.

Tuesday said...

www.bothfeetin.weebly.com

:-)

Leigh said...

Barb, very interesting about the stones in the pool! I have to say I love our Berkey, but envy your spring! We're talking about expanding our rainwater collection because there never seems to be enough. I'd also like to get a solar water heater installed on the roof.

Mama Pea, if we're going to live where there's merciless hot sun in the summer, why not take advantage of it! ;)

Velva, thanks!

Renee, they are pretty neat and I'm finding it's just a matter of habit to use it regularly. I love the free cooking and not having to worry about keeping an eye on things so closely.

Su Ba, this definitely sounds right up your alley! Very bad news about El Nino though.

Ed, someone else just told me the same thing! I'll have to save that idea for rainy season, when I'm back to boiling eggs on the stove.

Chris, exactly! My solar oven is truly a handy tool

Sandy, I agree. :)

Tuesday, thank you! So glad you're blogging about it. It's a wonderful record for yourselves, but also helpful for others. Dan and I have found that our community is truly online.

Anonymous said...

Good to know. The one thing I am totally incapable of cooking is hard-cooked eggs. I can boil them for an hour and still have runny yolks (how is that possible?!). It used to be Daughter's job when she came home from college, to cook me up how ever many I needed. Now, I use an egg cooker. It uses a very limited amount of water, and the eggs are perfect every time. I can even use it on duck eggs.

Is there a way you preserve the hard cooked eggs? Curious minds want to know...

Leigh said...

Sue, that's actually pretty amazing, lol. I've never heard of an egg cooker, but it sounds like a pretty good thing.

As far as preserving, pickling hard boiled eggs is probably the best way, although ours don't usually last too long. The peeled eggs are put in a wide mouth jar and covered with leftover pickle juice. Very easy and tasty!

Anonymous said...

This is brilliant! After seeing all your great posts on solar cooking, I have added that diy one to my "project list". With the amount of sun here, I should be able to use it every day. Thanks for sharing!

http://caffeinatedhomestead.weebly.com/blog

Kris said...

How absolutely clever! Tell me, Leigh, have you tried cooking potatoes? (Sweet or white?) I wonder if they would come out nice and mealy like a baked spud...

Unknown said...

I am going to definitely look into this. With living on a hill with nothing blocking our exposure, I could see it being used frequently. And my kids would get such a kick out of it!

Cheers,
Heidi
houseonthehillwv.blogspot.com