How to make cool eggs for bento

I am by no means an expert at bento, but I do have a few people who ask me how to make molded eggs, hatching chicks,  and tamagoyaki    ( rolled egg omelettes) from time to time. So this post is for friends and egg-lovers alike!

I will show you what little I have learned this past year, and I will put links to some other tutorials from some bento masters at the end of this post, who I hope to be like someday when I grow up : )

First, I'll show you how to make perfect molded eggs.

Have you seen those cute eggs shaped like stars, bunnies, hearts, and fish?

Did you buy yourself some egg molds, hoping the package would tell you how to make them, then realized that you don't know how to read Japanese, and you have no idea how to use the darn things?

Then did you ask Google for help, and it took you far too much reading to find just the info you were looking for?

Been there, done that! I hope you can learn from my trials and errors. I have a way to make molded eggs that is ( nearly) foolproof. It all starts with how you boil the eggs:

First, make sure you are using large eggs.  Only large will fill out the egg molds completely, (especially that star one)
Then put the eggs in a pot of water on the stove.  For about 8 - 12 eggs, add 2 - 3 Tablespoons of salt. that's right, I said tablespoons! For the 3 eggs shown here, I added 1 Tablespoon.

This extra salt does not flavor the eggs at all - as the water boils, the salty liquid penetrates the shell through osmosis and provides sort of a cushion of liquid between the egg and the shell. This makes it much easier to peel.

So bring it to a boil, and set your timer for 18 minutes. That may seem like a long time, but the magic of osmosis seems to need that long to work. I've tried it for 15 minutes, but the shells always stick to the eggs and they're awful to peel! I've never had a rubbery egg cooked this way - they turn out great.

After the timer goes off, I pour my eggs out into a colander in the sink. I tap, or crackle the shell a little against the side of the sink.

Then I quickly run each egg briefly under cool water. The contrast of the cool water against the hot egg seems to loosen it from the shell.

You don't want to keep it under the cold water too long, since the egg needs to be hot to fit into the egg mold - but don't worry, a brief pass under the faucet should do it.

Now open the egg mold. BTW, you can find the all the egg molds that I have here. ( Scroll through the pages to see all the egg molds, they're not in order)

Gently and carefully squeeze the hot egg a little to fit it into the mold better. Don't go too fast or the egg will crack. The egg is still very pliable when its hot.

After it's tucked into its mold just right, you can close the lid. If the mold you're using doesn't lock closed very well, try using rubber bands to keep it tight.

When the molds are all filled, put them into an ice bath. I put this bowl into the fridge for about a half hour or so.

I drain the water, put the lid on the bowl, and store the eggs in their molds in the fridge. I've tried popping them out of their molds and storing them in the fridge naked, but they soften and lose their shape after a day or so.

When you're ready to take one out, run it under hot water for a second. It helps loosen it from the mold. Open the mold and wiggle the egg a little until it comes out easily.

Ta-da!       Here's how the star turned out. And here's how the heart turned out:

Next, I'll show you how to make a hatching chick. 

Some will tell you that you can do this with a small paring knife. I've tried it, and when I opened the egg, the poor  yolk/chick inside looked like it had been the victim of a brutal massacre! Yikes!

So I found the perfect solution. I bought this set from All Things For Sale. It comes with a tiny egg zig-zag cutter that is perfect for the job! Since we eat a lot of eggs in our family, it's been worth the money. It looks like this:

It has a triangle shaped edge that cuts through the egg white but leaves the yolk intact. It's very easy to use, and a lot faster than using a knife.

Just press it into the egg, traveling around until you reach the point where you started. If it doesn't match up to your starting point exactly, just face the crooked part towards the back so no one sees  : )

Now you just open it up,  punch eyes from nori ( dark green/black  papery sheets used to wrap sushi) with a hole punch,  and add a scrap of carrot for the beak. A wet toothpick makes this easier.

And there you have it! This chick just turned out okay... I've made better. And I bet you can make better too : ) But it gives you an idea of the process.

Are you sick of eggs now, or are you hungry for more?

If you would like to learn how to do egg sheets, here's a link to the best tutorial I've found on the subject:

Lia from Bentolicious does it best!

And if you want to make tamagoyaki ( rolled or folded egg omelette) here's a great tutorial:

Biggie, from Lunch in a Box has a great one, and Lia, from Bentolicious, has a tutorial on how to make very fancy tamagoyaki. I haven't tried this one yet, but it looks so cool! Maybe over the summer I can practice it. Like I said, I want to be like these moms when I grow up : )

I hope you enjoyed this "egg-cellent" post all about eggs, and if you have any great tips of your own that have to do with eggs, please share them in the comments! I'm still a beginner, and I'd love to learn more!

Here's the bento cutter set that has the cute egg cutter: