Eggciting Adventures (Cooking with dried egg - member review)

[British Red]

We have all been chatting recently about dried egg (a great, light, simple way of carrying egg into the field). If you haven't been playing, here's the thread...

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57330

Now, Will68 mentioned that his company re-packages dried egg. He offered to send me 1kg for £10.

Now, no good deed goes unpunished :o. Poor old Will paid about £5 to send me a kilo of dried egg. As a result, if he has any sense, he will add P&P in future!

Anyway today, two middle size "ice cream" tubs turned up

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1105/5114399014_3fe1a3f931.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5114399014/)
1 - packaged egg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5114399014/) by British Red (http://www.flickr.com/people/british_red/), on Flickr

As a man renowned for patience, I wated almost ....minutes...before opening the first !

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1231/5114399114_fcdc210e17.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5114399114/)
2 - Open Package (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5114399114/) by British Red (http://www.flickr.com/people/british_red/), on Flickr

Then came the cooking. Suffice it to say, that I chuffed it up big time on the first two attempts (and I cook, with dried stuff, a LOT). So, having sussed it out, here is my guide to how to make a good scrambled egg, using the spray dried stuff.

Take a measure - doesn't matter what - and fill it with firmed up dried egg.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1354/5113797495_3a0149e7f0.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5113797495/)
3 - Measure egg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5113797495/) by British Red (http://www.flickr.com/people/british_red/), on Flickr

You need to blend the same volume of water in. If you just dump the water in, you have stuffed it. Add a little at a time. First blend to the consistency of thick paste

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1208/5114399330_aaf92dee4b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5114399330/)
4 - Blend slowly (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5114399330/) by British Red (http://www.flickr.com/people/british_red/), on Flickr

Keep adding water and blending hard with the back of a spoon until you get something as thick and smooth as pancake batter

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4089/5113797777_b9829fbb4f.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5113797777/)
5 - smooth batter (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5113797777/) by British Red (http://www.flickr.com/people/british_red/), on Flickr

Now go for a forage...

I found some Welsh onion

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1161/5114399730_813bcf593e.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5114399730/)
8 - welsh onion (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5114399730/) by British Red (http://www.flickr.com/people/british_red/), on Flickr

and some sorrel

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1145/5113798227_3bbeef35e8.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5113798227/)
9 - sorrel (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5113798227/) by British Red (http://www.flickr.com/people/british_red/), on Flickr

...neither was a surprise...they were in my herb garden :)

I added them to my egg mix with some black pepper

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4112/5114399926_cbb64c15d5.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5114399926/)
10 - mix (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5114399926/) by British Red (http://www.flickr.com/people/british_red/), on Flickr

Then I lit the stove and put a little oil in my pan

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1338/5114400000_41a09bc684.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5114400000/)
11 - light stove (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5114400000/) by British Red (http://www.flickr.com/people/british_red/), on Flickr

Put the egg mix in the pan - fry and stir

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1241/5113798457_db8dcb639d.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5113798457/)
12 - fry (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5113798457/) by British Red (http://www.flickr.com/people/british_red/), on Flickr

Plate up and sprinkle with a little smoke paprika

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1335/5113798643_1c8f5e2abd.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5113798643/)
14 serve (http://www.flickr.com/photos/british_red/5113798643/) by British Red (http://www.flickr.com/people/british_red/), on Flickr

How did it taste? Well, had it turned up in a cafe on a bit of toast, I would have been happy :) However, had the first two attempts turned up.....

As always, practice is the key!

I can't fault the ingredients. Will honoured his commitment - at a cost to his own pocket. He delivered a top end product that we can all use with a little effort.

This is really something that should be in every Bushcrafters pantry!

Red

[dave53]

can i boil it if so i want two eggs worth please lol regards dave

[Toddy]

Sounds like Will came up trumps :approve:
Might be worth sussing out a group buy ?

Vegans use a dried powder that is called Egg Replacer. It's in Holland and Barrett, Peter Graves, and many supermarkets as well as a staple from on line companies like Goodness Direct.
It works fine. Himself doesn't like it as 'egg' but is happy to eat it in food that normally would have had egg.
It's good to use at camp as well.
I don't remember what egg tastes like, never, ever did like eating egg so I must have been a child the last time I was fed egg as egg. This means my view is probably rather biased, but the replacer is out there and seems to be more easily available off the shelf than the real dried egg if folks are stuck.

cheers,
Toddy

[sapper1]

Sounds like Will came up trumps :approve:
Might be worth sussing out a group buy ?

Vegans use a dried powder that is called Egg Replacer. It's in Holland and Barrett, Peter Graves, and many supermarkets as well as a staple from on line companies like Goodness Direct.
It works fine. Himself doesn't like it as 'egg' but is happy to eat it in food that normally would have had egg.
It's good to use at camp as well.
I don't remember what egg tastes like, never, ever did like eating egg so I must have been a child the last time I was fed egg as egg. This means my view is probably rather biased, but the replacer is out there and seems to be more easily available off the shelf than the real dried egg if folks are stuck.

cheers,
Toddy

I've been waiting for this post Toddy.I'm off tomorrow to get some to try.Thanks

[Toddy]

Must admit I'm impressed with the way BR's scrambled stuff came out :cool:

I thought dried egg was effectively already cooked egg ground up small ?

BR, do you think adding carbonated water would help the mixing ? I use it when making gluten free batter and it makes a tremendous difference there in wetting down the flours and keeping the mix 'light'..........as recommended by the Plaice to Be chip shop in Pitlochry :D

cheers,
Toddy

[British Red]

Couldn't hurt Toddy - I use beer in batter (same effect). Thats said, I was going for something I could reproduce on a camp fire