Eggs and soldiers, or dippy eggs, are comfort in a cup for kids
"That one's from Marshmallow," explained my 5-year-old student. Her family has chickens, and she collects the eggs. She can tell at a glance which ones come from each hen. I knew I had to use those multicolored, super-fresh eggs for something special. Like most Americans, these kiddos had never eaten dippy eggs, also called eggs and soldiers. You would call them something far less whimsical - thin strips of buttered toast (the soldiers) dipped into the open top of a soft-boiled egg. They are a British comfort food, which my daughter enjoyed regularly during her first five years while she lived with me in London.
I still had a few egg cups on hand but had to improvise for the dozen that I needed. Shot glasses and napkin rings did the trick. Anything that will hold the egg upright will do, so hunt around your cabinets or bar cart to find something suitable.
In the U.S., all commercially sold eggs must be washed before they get to the grocery store. This removes the bloom, a natural barrier that seals the shell and prevents air and bacteria from entering. Ironically, the washing away of the bloom means eggs are more susceptible to spoilage and contamination, hence the need for refrigeration. In their natural state, eggs, like the ones we ate in Europe, can be kept on the counter. You need to wash them under running water before using them.
A perfect soft-boiled egg needs 6 minutes in boiling water if it comes cold from the fridge; 4-5 minutes if it is room temperature. The white will be firm, but the yolk will be runny. The British Food Standards Agency has stated that raw and runny eggs are safe even for pregnant women, infants and senior citizens if those eggs meet the production standards meriting the British Lion logo. Mass-produced American eggs would not meet this standard, mainly due to the above-mentioned washing. I use locally sourced eggs from Marshmallow and her friends to be safe. They haven't been washed and then put through a long transportation chain from farm to warehouse to store to shelf. If you aren't lucky enough to know someone with backyard chickens, you may want to add a minute or two to the cooking time, though that may lessen their dippability.
I did the math, and if there are 142,000 U.S. cases of salmonella linked explicitly to chicken eggs, and 95,786 million eggs consumed each year, there is a .001% (one 1,000th of a percent) chance of getting infected. I like those odds even with supermarket eggs, but the choice is yours.
The kids got to work on the somewhat challenging skill of spreading butter using the "press and pull" technique, then practiced knife skills by cutting the toast into soldiers. Gauging the right amount of pressure to crack the tops of the eggs was also a test of nerves.
Of the dozen kids in this class, 11 of them gave this dish a double thumbs-up. The one hold out? Marshmallow's tiny human. She told me that she doesn't like eggs, just chickens.
• Leslie Meredith is the winner of the 2019 Cook of the Week Challenge and teaches people how to grow and cook "real" food. She runs Farmhouse School on a historic homestead in Campton Hills. See the school's Facebook or Instagram pages @FarmhouseSchool or contact Leslie at food@dailyherald.com.
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Eggs and Soldiers, aka Dippy Eggs
1 egg
1 slice of bread
Butter for spreading
Bring a saucepan of water, enough to cover an egg by 2 inches, to a boil. Carefully lower egg into the water and boil for 6 minutes. Meanwhile, toast the bread, spread with butter, and slice into 4 long rectangles. When the eggs are cooked, carefully remove with a slotted spoon and place the cooked egg in an egg cup. Tap the top of the shell with the back of a spoon to crack it. Using a butter knife, slice off the top. Dip toast slices into egg yolk, then spoon out the whites when you're done.
Makes 1 serving
Leslie Meredith