Boiled Egg "Amber"

[paulsamotis]

On "Granada Reports", our local news programme in the north west of England, back in about 1977, there was an item on how to do something odd with an egg.

It said that if you boiled an egg (for a specified time that I cannot recall) then simply left it for several years, then the yolk would somehow become an amber-like stone.
I tried this but not having enough patience broke open the egg after about three years and discovered....

A very smelly rotten egg.

Now I swear this item did appear, and no it wasn't the first of April (I might have been about 13 years old but I wasn't daft!) Does anyone else remember it? Did you try the experiment?
Is there any theory to explain what on earth they were on about??

 

[austen27]

We have some painted eggs in a display cabinet (about 30 years old or more) which have a very hard dense yoke rolling around inside them. I'm not going to crack them open, but have shaken them and heard a dry taping sound.

 

[paulsamotis]

Please don't crack them open!! I recall a smell like Satan's arse when impatience got the better of me!

 

[austen27]

Please don't crack them open!! I recall a smell like Satan's arse when impatience got the better of me!

In that case I will certainly leave them alone!

Perhaps the eggs have to be laid by a skateboarding duck!

 

[Anonymous]

I heard if you boil, then freeze an egg (or vice versa?) the yolk becomes touch and rubbery. And like a bouncing ball.

I tried it, and yes, it worked. To an extent.

If you try the experiment again, just use two or more eggs. Then if you crack one and its not done, you're not set back three years

 

[marion]

My children in the past have for reasons of pure devilment put eggs in the oven, turned it on full blast and left them til I eventually wondered what the smell was.... They turn into very hard brownish plasticy things.

 

[rjmrjmrjm]

One of the funnest things I found to do was if you leave a raw egg in some vinegar all the shell fizzles off and just leaves the membrane around the yolk and the white. It feels like a balloon filled with honey gooey and soft and stronger than you may imagine.

Bet someone you can turn this jelly ball into scrambled eggs then just cook it as normal. Make sure you dont eat it though - unless you like vinegar.

 

[OneWingedBird]

One of my friends used to have this thing about 'hotel poached' eggs when he was a student. Apparently you boil a pan of water with a little salt in, then swirl the water round and crack the egg into the middle, as long as you can keep the water moving the vortex holds the egg together while it cooks into an oddly cuthulhoid form.

Then he'd slip them into people's pockets when they weren't looking as a nice surprise. It got weirder when he discovered food colouring too :eek!!!!:

 

[James_H]

what happens to the egg white if left for several years?

 

[austen27]

One of my friends used to have this thing about 'hotel poached' eggs when he was a student. Apparently you boil a pan of water with a little salt in, then swirl the water round and crack the egg into the middle, as long as you can keep the water moving the vortex holds the egg together while it cooks into an oddly cuthulhoid form.

Then he'd slip them into people's pockets when they weren't looking as a nice surprise. It got weirder when he discovered food colouring too :eek!!!!:

Thats the proper technique for poached eggs - it helps if you put a little vinegar in the water too. As for food dye - Fanny Craddock loved it - she had a canape receipe that involved dyeing hard boiled eggs blue, cutting the tops off and finishing them with a blob of mayonnaise and an anchovie! :cross eye
I think her food was meant to be looked at rather than eaten - she could have won the Turner Prize if she was still with us.

PS: I've just been reminded of an exhibition at the Edinburgh College of Art where one student covered a canvas with butter - no eggs though!

 

[scotmedia]

Is there any theory to explain what on earth they were on about??

Could it be connected to this?

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Re: Boiled Egg "Amber"

Could it be connected to this?

Fascinating! I intend to try out the recipie and see what the results are.
On a random note, Da Vinci's technique could maybe produce fake trapped insects, but by producing layers of colour would it be possible to carve the finished product into a cameo?
Experimentation time!

 

[Anonymous]

Actually, before I start, can anyone suggest a good modern equivalent to ox or pig gut? Whatever it is needs to be heat resistant enough to stand prolonged boiling.

 

[austen27]

Actually, before I start, can anyone suggest a good modern equivalent to ox or pig gut? Whatever it is needs to be heat resistant enough to stand prolonged boiling.

A sausage skin maybe - I'm not sure if a condom would work (most people avoid sticking them in boiling water ).