Cold smoking raw eggs

[Thesmokingdevil]

Hi All,

I'm new to this forum and joined up after struggling to find information on the web about cold smoking raw eggs. I have been cold and hot smoking for a while now and regularly make hot and cold smoked fish, bacon, poultry etc and recently came across these cold smoked raw eggs in my supermarket.

The Smoked Egg Company | Chilled Smoked Eggs | Australia

The Smoked Egg Company has the world patent on an advanced chilled smoking technique that stops the ageing process in eggs. Grown free-range in Victoria.

smokedeggs.com

So I was firing up the cold smoker to do some duck breasts (to later chuck in the skillet) and thought I would chuck a dozen eggs in there. Using a mixture of apple and hickory I smoked them for about 2.5hrs and here is the result.

Unfortunately when I cooked 2 for breakfast the next day - no smokey flavour. I know that egg shells are porous - salted duck eggs are just raw duck eggs placed in salt for a few weeks and very popular in Asian cuisine.
My question is do you think the commercial process mentioned on the weblink is actually more like soaking the eggs in liquid smoke or pressurizing the smoking vessel?
Perhaps I just need to smoke them for a couple of days? That would be feasible but I would want to fill the smoker to make it worth all the checking, topping up and wood chips!
What are your thoughts - there must be a way to get smoked eggs that I can turn into poached/scrambled and fried eggs without buying them online.

Cheers
The Smoking Devil

 

[Jabiru]

Interested. Never heard of eggs smoked in shells.

watching, in for the ride.

 

[mike243]

Welcome, never heard of them before, it would have to be done under pressure I would think, the liner under the shell would be what stopped yours from getting smoke. not sure how they done it without a crack or something to let the smoke in and sounds like they are shelf stable? or at least for a little while.

 

[daveomak]

There is a protective membrane on the outside of the shell... Maybe the eggs should be scrubbed, before smoke is added...

 

[gmc2003]

I've never tried cold smoking eggs, but I have warm smoked eggs in their shell. I didn't notice any real smoke flavor in the eggs just a slight browning of whites. Also two of the eggs cracked open and made a mess in my smoker. For cold smoking you may want to look into an AmazeN tube or maze. you'll get a longer more consistent smoke.

Chris

 

[HalfSmoked]

Welcome aboard.
I think raw cold smoked eggs is something I'll stay away from.

Warren

 

[Bearcarver]

Hmmmm---Made in Australia!!!
Might be Kangaroo Eggs!!

Bear

 

[Thesmokingdevil]

I've never tried cold smoking eggs, but I have warm smoked eggs in their shell. I didn't notice any real smoke flavor in the eggs just a slight browning of whites. Also two of the eggs cracked open and made a mess in my smoker. For cold smoking you may want to look into an AmazeN tube or maze. you'll get a longer more consistent smoke.

Chris

Hey Chris,
Thanks for the suggestion. I have the bradley smoker that I was given as a present and its great for hot smoking and temperature regulation but never really could hold low temps for cold smoked salmon and cheese etc. So I invested in one of these....

Smokai Smoke Generators for cold smoking or hot smoking food.

High quality smoke generators & smoking woods for cold smoking or hot smoking fish, game and other meat. Whether crafting that perfect cold smoked salmon, cold smoked trout, home made bacon or hot smoking brisket, pork ribs on the bbq or grill, a Smokai smoke generator makes it easy to smoke food.

smokai.com

Then I made up a plate to fit it to the side of the Bradley and couldn't be happier with the results. Too much smoke at times and I have to cut it back. I am easily achieving 5-8 hrs smoke on a single fill depending on type of wood etc.

Cheers
The Smoking Devil

 

[Thesmokingdevil]

There is a protective membrane on the outside of the shell... Maybe the eggs should be scrubbed, before smoke is added...

Hey Daveomak,
Thanks for the suggestion. I did think about this afterwards. The eggs looked pretty clean so don't know if they had been washed. Likely not. Depending on where you live and local regulations, eggs may be washed or unwashed. There's a whole word of info on this surrounding salmonella. If they are washed to remove any bugs, it removes the membrane and the eggs have to be refrigerated to store.
I will give some a scrub and try again and let you all know the results!

Cheers
The Smoking Devil

 

[Thesmokingdevil]

Ok - so my curiosity finally got the better of me - I'm determined to crack this project so today at my local supermarket I bought a packet of these. Retail was $5.50 AUD
I'm in Tasmania so maybe they are cheaper on the mainland but this is in the name of SCIENCE!
First off they look as if they have been exposed to some liquid. This may or may not be liquid smoke, as it is not uncommon for really cold items in my smoker to sweat when going from fridge temps to the 5-ish degrees Celsius I try to maintain when cold smoking. Perhaps they simply dripped on each other or just sweated???
Second - they do have a hickory style smell - based purely on my own experience with smoking stuff.
Tomorrow I am going to poach some for breakfast and I will let you all know what the result/taste is.
I am then preparing two methods to try and match the (supposedly) smokey results;
1. I will scrub a dozen normal chicken eggs and cold smoke at approx 5 degrees C for 12 hours
2. I will fill a vessel with natural smoke (from the smokai unit) and pressurise the vessel to 5 BAR (Atmospheres) using a compressor
3. If 1 and 2 fail - I will soak the eggs in some liquid smoke I have ordered. I'll determine solution strength and soak times as a separate experiment.

I'll let you all know the results as they come in this week!

Cheers
Thesmokindevil

 

[daveomak]

Quail eggs are a bit tough to come by at my place... My dog goes out and hunts them down and eats them....

 

[Thesmokingdevil]

Well I thought I might as well close out this thread so that anyone else looking for info regarding cold smoked eggs can do so.
We ate the commercial cold smoked eggs 3 ways. Pan fried in a non-stick pan with a tiny bit of butter to help the process, scrambled with a touch of milk and poached in plain water.
The results I must say are disappointing. All three ways of cooking gave a slight hint of smoke. It could be tasted, but almost as if it needed to be mentioned otherwise you may think its just some crisp bits from the pan. They had almost the same level of smoke flavour as the ones I did myself.
In future I will go back to the peeled hard boiled and smoked which has excellent results. Alternatively just throw some of my smokey bacon in the pan with the eggs!

Cheers
Thesmokindevil

 

[Winterrider]

Have never done hard boiled either. How long did you let them roll and did you cold smoke them?

I will go back to the peeled hard boiled and smoked which has excellent results. A

 

[Thesmokingdevil]

Have never done hard boiled either. How long did you let them roll and did you cold smoke them?

Yeah Mate, just boil them to your liking (soft or hard) then peel and place in the cold smoker for about an hour. I usually throw them in with bacon/fish/cheese that I am doing.
They go great in a salad or even mashed and placed in a sandwich.

 

[Bearcarver]

Well I thought I might as well close out this thread so that anyone else looking for info regarding cold smoked eggs can do so.
We ate the commercial cold smoked eggs 3 ways. Fan fried in a non-stick pan with a tiny bit of butter to help the process, scrambled with a touch of milk and poached in plain water.
The results I must say are disappointing. All three ways of cooking gave a slight hint of smoke. It could be tasted, but almost as if it needed to be mentioned otherwise you may think its just some crisp bits from the pan. They had almost the same level of smoke flavour as the ones I did myself.
In future I will go back to the peeled hard boiled and smoked which has excellent results. Alternatively just throw some of my smokey bacon in the pan with the eggs!

Cheers
Thesmokindevil

That's what I figured!!
But you don't know unless you try.
Thanks for the report!
Like.

Bear

 

[hawgrider]

Hard boil them remove shell cold smoke for 3 hours and enjoy the best deviled eggs, eggs salad you've ever had. Smoking with the shell on is.... Useless.

 

[Jabiru]

Here is the info on how they cold smoke the eggs in the shells, they cold smoke just above freezing.

Like eggs and bacon — without the bacon: Victorian farmers perfect a smoky delicacy

Victorian farmers successfully infuse a smoky flavour into raw eggs, delighting chefs and increasing their shelf life to five months.

www.abc.net.au