Pearls, Curls & French Cuisine – Chapter 8: Oeufs en Cocotte

Siiri
Jul 6
2 min read

Dearest reader,

Ever since I learned to make a French omelette I have been itching to try Julia Child's other egg recipies in the hopes that they would be equally as easy and delicious. That is why, a few weeks ago when I was preparing a late June dinner for one, I finally decided to try oeufs en cocotte – a delightful little egg dish cooked in the oven and, apperently, as quick as they come.

So I put on my pearls,

tied back my curls and

opened a page 113 of

Mastering the Art of French Cooking

The Process of Oeufs en Cocotte

Like most recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking oeufs en cocotte is a remarkably simple dish with only few key ingredients.

All you need for oeufs en cocotte are:

eggs, butter, thick cream, salt and white pepper

Preparing oeufs en cocotte starts with buttering a small ceramic tin after which you add in a tablespoon of cream which you heat up in the oven or, as I did, in the microwave. Then you crack an egg or two over the hot cream, add another tablespoon of cream and a knob of butter for taste. Then the egg is put into an oven in a water bath for 7 to 10 minutes. According to Julia is very important that you use a water bath, otherwise the egg can become rubbery.

an egg in an oven tin with butter and cream. — Oeufs en cocotte in its water bath before going to the oven.

Needless to say, everything went smoothly until the egg was cooking in the oven. It turned out that I had to cook it longer than what Julia had suggested, and after a couple of trials, I arrived to a conclusion that about 14 minutes in my oven is perfect for a thoroughly cooked but certainly not rubbery oeufs en cocotte. As I came to understood it, the egg is not suppose to be super runny but softly cooked.

Finally, after 14 minutes, it was time to season my egg with salt and white pepper.

The Result

I don't think that I have ever used white pepper in cooking before but, henceforth, I am excited to have an awareness of sprinkling it with my eggs. Moreover, of course, I am in love with oeufs en cocotte! It is exactly the kind of little dish that discovers lost hopes and reintroduces unpretentious happiness to a wavering walk of life one bite at a time.

Overall, oeufs en cocotte is a reminder that all familiar things can be made fresh if you simply look or eat them differently. The level of mundane dullness is, after all, only a reflection of the mind's particular scope of imagination – in this case, the ability or disabilty to reinvent eating an egg.

Until next time!

Yours Truly,

Siiri