A Girl Trying Things

For three months — THREE MONTHS — I have planned to make soy-marinated eggs, also known as “shoyu” or “ajitama” eggs. I have been haunted since I discovered these at a ramen shop years ago, but I decided it was time to try this one at home.

I love few things in the food world more than a perfectly jammy egg. Pairing that with the rich, umami flavors of a shoyu marinade on a bed of hot, fluffy rice? Heaven. Give me a baker’s dozen and leave me with privacy. I don’t want to be saved.

The execution of the marinade was very straightforward — I will say that. It came out beautifully. I decided to go with a simple base recipe, but added some toasted sesame oil, green onions, and crushed red pepper flakes for additional depth. All optional, but very good choices.

I decided to set up and make the marinade while the eggs were cooking.

Here is the recipe I used:

Ingredients

6 large eggs, boiled to preference
1/2 cup soy sauce (I used low-sodium)
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp mirin (can sub with honey or brown sugar)
1 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp grated or ground ginger

Optional, but recommended: 1 crushed garlic clove, 2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil, 2 tbsp green onions

Instructions

Combine all marinade ingredients in a measuring cup and stir. Fully submerge 6 eggs in the marinade, seal the container, and let marinate in the fridge. (Any container can be used, but try to make sure the eggs are completely submerged.)

Note: Marination time depends on preferred result.

Lightly Seasoned: 2-4 Hours

Moderately Seasoned: 8-12 Hours

Deeply Seasoned: 24 Hours

So far, so good…

Alas, this is where things started to go a little off the rails. A small, but important detail here is that while I do have an egg cooker, I have only ever made hard-boiled eggs in said egg cooker.

In hindsight, I did not research enough before beginning this mission.

It was at this point that I realized I had set myself up for failure, preparing the egg cooker to make six soft-boiled eggs. At the start of this process, I truly thought that I would end up with the most perfect jammy eggs. I was, at that time, blissfully unaware that I was setting the stage for a relatively frustrating 20 minutes ahead. I spent the entirety of those 20 minutes muttering profanities to a half-dozen chicken fruit, questioning my life choices.

I do want to know, however, why there would be a setting to make an egg that cannot actually be PEELED? (My way of evading admission that this is 100% a skill issue and I certainly did not know how to make jammy eggs in my egg cooker.)

I digress.

I promised you fine individuals from the start that this blog would not be a highlight reel and I meant that. So here we are, off to a strong start!

Maybe I should stick to the rivers and the lakes that I’m used to...

Just kidding. I fully plan to mess this up try this again in a week’s time.

As long as I do even just a little bit better next time, I will be satisfied with this endeavor. Progress is progress.

Having now warned you about my egg-peeling mishap, I am turning over the photo evidence:

Simply marvelous, wouldn’t you say?

I am hard-pressed to believe that I could have outdone myself any further.

I should consider changing professions.

Anyway, I decided to put a positive spin on this. Perhaps this just means the marinade can really get into the nooks and crannies, you know?! Who’s to say? Intensive flavor permeation was the goal, so I am choosing to believe that some critical objectives have been met.

Despite how big of a flop the egg cooking portion of this experiment ended up being, the marinade came out so delicious that I didn’t even care. Truly.

I submerged them in the liquid gold and wrapped them with care, placing them in my fridge to hang out for the next 24 hours, which I would be using to begin writing this post and further researching how to properly use an egg cooker.

Knowledge is power.

Cut to the next day…

By the following afternoon, I decided I had waited impatiently enough for these to marinate. I couldn’t wait any longer and decided it was time to eat. I made a bit of warm jasmine rice in my rice cooker to nestle the eggs in.

Although somewhat unsightly, I can say that I am really pleased with how they turned out in flavor and texture.

Here are some final photos to show the consistency of the yolks and depth of the marination that occurs during this process:

I actually ended up very satisfied with the runny yolk of the soft-boiled eggs in this application. I think I will still try to make true jammy shoyu eggs in the future, but I also want to attempt re-making them with soft-boiled eggs that I can peel properly. This will be my culinary homework in the meantime.

Overall, I would say this was a pretty fun process (even despite the peeling debacle). I definitely had to stop myself at three eggs or I would have just eaten the entire half-dozen. Next time I will likely opt to make more.

Having them with jasmine rice was good, but I think making some kind of sushi rice will be the best move in later attempts. Topping them with toasted sesame seeds, more fresh green onions, and maybe even a drizzle of the sesame oil at the time of serving would also be really nice.

Oooooh….and perhaps some chili crisp oil? I’m already excited to try again!

So, tell me — What is something you recently tried making for the first time? Did it go smoothly and come out the way you had planned? Better? Or are there areas for improvement? Please share in the comments! I would love to know!

In the end, I hope this post has inspired you to try something new soon. The world is our culinary oyster and I look forward to sharing my next kitchen adventure.

Until then, eat well and prosper!

A Girl Trying Things