ajitsuke tamago

Ingredients

• 4 eggs.
• 100ml soy sauce.
• 100ml sake.
• 100ml mirin.
• 2 tablespoon sugar.
• 2 pinch of MSG (optional).
• 2 pinch of Hon Dashi (optional).

Prep

1. This recipe works for refrigerated eggs. Cooking time may differ for room temperature eggs.
2. Fill a bowl with water and ice. This will serve as the ice bath for the cooked eggs.
3. (Optional) Prick holes into the bottom of the eggs. This will allow air to escape from the shell when boiling.

Method

1. Mix soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar, MSG and Hon Dashi in a pot. Stir thoroughly and simmer over medium heat.
2. Bring another pot of water to a boil. Ensure that there is enough water to cover all the eggs. High heat recommended.
3. Remove the soy sauce mix from the heat after ~3 minutes and let cool. This reduces the solution to enhance the flavor and also helps evaporate some of the alcohol.
4. Boil eggs for 7 minutes. Depending on how many eggs you are preparing, this timing needs to be tweaked. The cold mass of the eggs will bring the temperature of the water down, which might results in hard to peel eggs if not fully hard-boiled.
5. Yeet the eggs into the ice bath. Start peeling them bad boys.
6. Place peeled eggs into a zip-lock bag and pour the mix in. Ensure all eggs are all fully submerged to prevent uneven spotting.
7. Remove excess air from the zip-lock bag and seal. Let sit in the fridge for a minimum of 12 hours.

Notes

• The eggs taste best (IMO) after soaking for a day or two. Any longer and they may be indelibly salty.
• Dip the eggs in the ice-bath frequently to make peeling easier.
• Don't throw throw the soy sauce mix out when done! It can be reused for another batch of eggs. As for how many time times it can be safely reused, that's an exercise left for the reader :)