You don't need much to do some quick and easy egg blowing. With these simple tools I can take eggs out of the refrigerator, blow them and have them on my workstation in just five minutes with rarely a cracked shell. Click on the thumbnails for a closer look.
) |
Supplies: Egg(s) Bowl to hold egg contents Something to puncture the shell with (I use a tack) A syringe with a needle A source of water |
| The size of the needle isn't really important. My preference is the huge needle because it makes the egg blowing so much faster, but I've used the fine, small needle shown at the bottom of the picture, too! You go with what you have available to you and, if you have choices, choose the one that will fit the size hole you want to leave in the bottom of your egg. | ) |
) |
I use a tack to punch through the shell. Pick the egg up and hold it in your hand to pierce the shell. If you leave it against the worksurface, you'll crack the bottom of the egg with the pressure. After making the initial hole, I use the tack to chip away at the hole, making it at least twice as large as the thickness of the needle. You need to have the space so you can poke the needle in, but room for the contents to come out. If the hole is only large enough for the needle, the shell will split open with a pop. Since I also put beads, etc. into my eggs, I usually make my holes large enough to accomodate them. |
| Pick up your syringe and pull the plunger back. Insert the needle into the hole. The needle will automatically pierce the yolk. If your needle isn't long enough to pierce the yolk at first insertion, don't worry about it. As the egg white blows out, the yolk will settle down toward the hole. It will get pierced by the needle eventually in plenty of time. | ) |
) |
Turn the egg so the hole is facing downward and is over the bowl. Press the plunger of the syringe down slowly to force air into the egg. Since there isn't enough room for air and contents and the egg hole is facing down, the egg white will exit through the hole into the bowl. The egg white always comes out first. When the first syringeful of air is depleted, pull the needle out of the egg, pull the plunger back, reinsert it into the egg and press the plunger again. Repeat as many times as necessary. Don't worry if you get some egg into the needle when you pull the plunger back, that will come out in the next step. |
| When all the contents of the egg are in the bowl, move to your water source. You want to use cold water as hot water will cook the protein of the egg within the shell. Pull the plunger all the way out of the syringe, fill the syringe with the cold water and replace the plunger. | ) |
) |
Place the needle in the hole of the egg and fill the egg with the water in the syringe. No need to be gentle, I'm not. I squeeze it pretty hard to get any egg in the needle out. |
| Plug the hole and shake that puppy up, do the chacha! Really beat that water around in there! | ) |
) |
Now, the water won't come out by itself, so you'll have to blow it like you did the original contents. The difference is, you don't have to be gentle. Water is much thinner than white or yolk and rockets right out. If you don't get all the water with the first syringeful of air, pull the needle out, pull the plunger back, replace the needle and squeeze. Repeat this and the previous step two more times. It takes a total of three rinses to get the water to run out clear. |
And there you have it. Now - if you do not have access to a needle or medical syringes, you can probably use basting syringes. You can also, if you do not have a needle, poke one hole in the top of the egg to accomodate the syringe and another hole in the bottom for the contents to exit and blow the egg from the top hole.
At this point, you are ready to do whatever you need to do with your egg shell. If you bake the empty, uncovered shell at 200F plus degrees for about 15 minutes, you will harden the egg for handling and dry out the interior as well. Enjoy!
For different methods to blow and clean eggs, go to the Eggers World online magazine and check out their Ways To Drain An Egg.
