so if you try and sous vide to get the yolks just so, then the whites are usually undercooked? seems like alternative would be using a lot of water to act as enough of a heat sink to get repeatable simmering temp but that wastes a lot of energy
It’s more that they require different temps to get to the ideal textures. The water isn’t losing heat (well it is, but not so much that the circulator can’t keep it heated)
Egg whites don’t set until 160-165F, but eggs yolks set around 150f (while still being very soft)
This can be mitigated by boiling the egg to set the white but again you can just get an egg with a yolk like this by boiling it so why drag out a goofy nerd cooking setup when you’re just going to end up boiling it anyway. Also much faster
The latter can obviously be preferable depending on application and is fine but I would prefer the former (with properly set white) for something like ramen, personally
so if you try and sous vide to get the yolks just so, then the whites are usually undercooked? seems like alternative would be using a lot of water to act as enough of a heat sink to get repeatable simmering temp but that wastes a lot of energy
It’s more that they require different temps to get to the ideal textures. The water isn’t losing heat (well it is, but not so much that the circulator can’t keep it heated)
Egg whites don’t set until 160-165F, but eggs yolks set around 150f (while still being very soft)
If you cook at 150f for 45-60m you’ll get excellent yolks and the white will be somewhat set but still very liquidy (see https://www.seriouseats.com/thmb/Qo2lF7uFHXngvuyIZj3iqc3CAIA=/750x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/__opt__aboutcom__coeus__resources__content_migration__serious_eats__seriouseats.com__images__2013__10__20131004-sous-vide-101-egg-chorizo-corn-crouton-temperature-05-7c5031c49294495c941815cdf657142b.jpg
This can be mitigated by boiling the egg to set the white but again you can just get an egg with a yolk like this by boiling it so why drag out a goofy nerd cooking setup when you’re just going to end up boiling it anyway. Also much faster
However, at 165 the whites will set but the yolk will harden considerably. Still a lot better than what’s pictured above of course: https://www.seriouseats.com/thmb/nL7xypKeJmmTCZfQukUlDuMBnw8=/750x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/__opt__aboutcom__coeus__resources__content_migration__serious_eats__seriouseats.com__images__2013__10__20131004-sous-vide-101-egg-chorizo-corn-crouton-temperature-03-e29b43cd9a7a44b9902d459b0ad0b1c4.jpg
The latter can obviously be preferable depending on application and is fine but I would prefer the former (with properly set white) for something like ramen, personally