The egg that will tell you when it's perfectly boiledBy Brian McGinley
(source)(Filed: 31/07/2006)
It could be an answer to the prayers of people who, quite literally, cannot boil an egg. Or at the very least, a godsend for a new generation of students struggling with the most basic of culinary tasks.
Revolutionary "self-timing" eggs designed to overcome the perennial problem of how to avoid runny whites and overcooked yolks will appear on supermarket shelves in the coming months.
Perfect every time: an egg cooked with the new label. The eggs are marked with logos in "thermochromic" invisible ink, which turns dark when it reaches a certain temperature.
Inks have been created to appear after three minutes to indicate a soft-boiled egg, after four minutes for medium and after seven minutes for a hard-boiled egg.
Shoppers will be able to buy the eggs of their choice in cartons marked "soft", "medium" or "hard".
The project was launched by the quality assurance scheme Lion Quality Eggs in response to thousands of people asking how to boil eggs properly.
Gilly Beaumont, of B&H Colour Change, which developed the logos, said: "We are still perfecting the technology, but we are very excited at the prospect of sorting a problem that has wound people up at breakfast time for decades."
The egg logos are the latest application of heat-sensitive technology, which is likely to transform future kitchen landscapes. Other inventions include oven gloves that not only have temperature sensors built in, but also "talk", with phrases such as "The food should be checked in 40 minutes".
Scientists have also been exploring the use of thermochromic technology on fire doors that change colour when hot, football jerseys that can tell when a player is overheating and on road signs that change colour to indicate icy road conditions.
Nestlé Rowntree has experimented with thermochromic logos on its chocolate wrappers in an attempt to cater for consumers who hate a soft KitKat bar. The label is printed directly on to the wrapper.
Once placed in the fridge, the bar cools down while a note appears indicating that the chocolate is ready to be eaten.
Such materials have already been used for some time on a range of products, such as for chill indicators on beer bottles and as safety features on baby spoons.
Meanwhile, a student has come up with a device designed to solve the morning-time conundrum of how best to soft-boil an egg.
The PerfEGG device keeps water temperature constant for 8.5 minutes without reaching boiling point, which aims to let the egg white coagulate but keep the yolk runny, regardless of egg size.
The timing of the device can also be adjusted for hard-boiled eggs.
Brunel University design student Ben Harris, 22, from Dublin, is in talks about launching his gadget.
He said: "I love soft-boiled eggs with toasted soldiers but I get so frustrated if I get the timing wrong and the egg is too hard to dip my soldiers in."
In response to the above article...
副刊 2006-08-08
夏枯早－
煮蛋难(source)● 夏枯早
虽然从来对科技不热衷，程度再厉害不过停留在勉强读懂微波炉使用说明书的阶段，可是有时候免不了，仍会被花边式的科技新知报道吸引。譬如刚在英国BBC 新闻网站上看到的这一则：《英国开发出高科技煮鸡蛋法》。
报载，不，应是网载，英国研发了一种高科技的墨印方法，用来印在蛋壳上，煮鸡蛋的时候，蛋壳上的高科技墨印就会随着温度变色。让煮蛋的人得以“察蛋观色”，凭墨印的深浅，掌握鸡蛋的老、嫩或熟的程度！
在我心目中，鸡蛋一直是最亲民、跨文化、无国界，放诸四海皆普遍，且自备完美容器的食材。
于水煮蛋，应是烹饪里最基本，连第一堂课都不能算的简单。
可是现在居然搞到要出动高科技来煮蛋，让我想起老城区曾经有一家越夜越多人，位子摆满半条马路的嫲嫲档，其脍炙人口的招牌，正是水煮半生熟鸡蛋。
这嫲嫲档就开在马路旁的空地，营业时间从傍晚至凌晨，每晚开档短短七八个小时，但却可以卖出一千多个水煮蛋！
如果不曾亲眼目睹，相信很难想像在午夜半条街坐满人，大家齐齐在吃两个半生熟鸡蛋的盛况，而且也不会明白不过是两个半生熟鸡蛋，真有这么特别，有这麽吸引吗……
真的确是如此。那时身边一票朋党，不约而同都爱吃半生熟鸡蛋，且都处于不知胆固醇为何物的花样年华，一个星期里至少有三个晚上，为了一杯拉茶和两个半生熟鸡蛋在此嫲嫲档报到。我机心比较重，每次还特地选最靠近那位煮蛋印度高手的位子坐，整晚瞪住他的举动，希冀可以偷师到一点他的煮蛋功夫。
不过，直至我瞪他瞪得惹来暗恋疑云，始终没能识得他的秘诀一二。这位每晚忙得头抬不起来的印度大兄，拿捏火候的精准可与瑞士的钟表专家比美。他煮鸡蛋统共仅用一个精钢的有盖漱口盅和一锅放在火炉上沸腾着的开水，无需计时器，也没有任何高科技器材辅助，却神奇的从来不失误，每一个半生熟鸡蛋的蛋白总是刚刚好从透明过渡至雪白的不透明之间，蛋黄溏心则得浓凝合度，增一分嫌老，减一分嫌生。
直至今天，如何煮出一颗嫩得来不太生也不过老的半生熟鸡蛋，或是煎出一个形韵皆美生熟恰到好处的荷包蛋，仍是我在厨房的罩门、一道跨不过的门槛。所以现在看到高科技煮蛋法的出现，十分欣慰──高兴倒非为高科技真能解决煮蛋的技术问题，而是从而得知原来不会煮鸡蛋并不是我一个人有问题，原来全世界有很多人也不会煮鸡蛋。
处世往往最简单的最艰难，做人如是，没想到连煮一个鸡蛋亦然。
(传自吉隆坡)
（作者电邮：
summerpagi@gmail.com）
WYSIWYG... ooh.
lag or lag, i juZ realized wad this weird string of letters meant. =P
Labels: 不疑靈境難聞見, 食べ物
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