I'm posting this process because it took quite a few eggs to get to the proper time/temperature method to achieve them. Josh at Big Water posted a hazelnut crusted egg and for some reason we became determined to make one. Although he suggested 7 minutes at 68ºC, that was definitely not working out for us. The problem with lower temps was that the yolk was cooking before the white gained enough solidity to survive the breading process. I've been accused of posting recipes that do not work several times, so I am definitely not suggesting that Josh's is incorrect information. This is just an alternate path to the same address. My imagination is often sparked into different thoughts from reading BIg WAteR, as with all others in my daily blog roll. Some people read politics or sports in the morning... I run through about 20 or 30 chef blogs.
We needed 2 things to get success here... a higher temperature and shorter cooking time... and also help making the eggs easier to peel due to their delicate structure. We tried setting the thermocirculator to a simmer point of 82ºC and experimented again. No luck. Finally, we decided against the thermocirculator and opted for a more traditional method.
It did not take long afterwards to find the perfect time and temp for us. I used 1 gallon of water with 1/2 cup salt and 2 tsp baking soda. Place a basket in the pot (to control the eggs from moving around the bottom of the pot, and cover it. Bring the water to a rolling boil. Place a chilled egg (directly from the refrigerator) into the water and set your timer immediately for 4 1/2 minutes. Remove the egg from the water and shock it in an ice bath for at least 5 minutes. Carefully peel the egg... we used a water bath to peel them because it seems to provide more control.
The result will be an egg white that it almost completely coagulated and a liquid yolk. To fry it, carefully take it through a double-breaded standard breading procedure (flour, egg, flour, egg, bread crumb). Fry the egg at 360ºF for exactly 1 minute.
The eggs can be cooked and shocked ahead of time and reserved in the cooler until it's time to peel, bread, and fry them.