Pink? Yes. When I was a kid, my mother would make what she called steamed eggs instead of serving them sunny-side up or over-easy. And by steaming them, you turn the yolk "skin" pink, but not the entire yolk itself. Of course, my brother and I could never remember to ask for them steamed, so we nicknamed them "pink eggs."
Steamed eggs? Never heard of them except maybe in reference to a Chinese dish? Let's take a step back and look at the different kinds of cooking methods.
- Baked
- Shirred (baked in ramekins)
- Quiche (baked in pie/tart shell)
- Sauteed
- Scrambled (sauteed by continuous turning)
- Omelets (left to cook flat, filled & folded)
- Frittatas (open-faced omelet)
- Pan-Fried
- Sunny-side up (not turned)
- Over easy/medium/hard (turned after partially being cooked on one side)
- Basted eggs (cooked over low heat and basted with hot butter or by adding a small amount of water and then covering the pan, therefore, steaming them.
- In Shell (Simmered)
- Soft/Hard boiled
- Poaching
- Coddled (poaching but inside a ceramic container)
Well there you have it, steamed eggs are the same thing as basted eggs (with water).
Sometimes you can get a pink egg by cooking it over easy or by poaching, but by steaming them you will turn them pink every time (unless you overcook them to hard). And why does the exterior wall of the yolk turn pink? Google hasn't helped me at all here. And neither have my cooking books. AND I still don't know enough about food chemistry. But what I can tell you is how to make a steamed (basted) egg.
- Heat pan. Lightly spray nonstick coating.
- Drop in egg, making sure it doesn't break.
- Pour in hot water, making sure only a modedst amount is used (enough to cover bottom of pan).
- Cover (ideally with a glass top).
- Watch until egg turns pink and there isn't any liquid goo (I mean uncooked albumen) around the egg.
- Remove immediately and eat.
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