This French classic is usually an egg, in a ramekin baked in the oven for 15 minutes but it only takes 4 minutes in your pressure cooker!
The French tradition of en Cococotte says that you can use either cream or cheese with these little delicacies. I took some liberties with the ingredients to show you how flexible this recipe can be. Have fun with the flavors and combinations or follow the French tradition and make this with Ham, Gruyere cheese or Creme Fraiche and a sprinkle of Chives in the end.You are only limited by your imagination, here are a few I thought up with the ingredients I had on-hand, plus the classic at the end.
- Caprese – Sliced Tomatoes, Mozzarella Cheese, garnish with fresh tomato, basil leaf and toasted pine nuts.
- Tyrolese – Speck (smoked Prosciutto), Gorgonzola cheese, garnish with black pepper and fresh Thyme
- Swede – Smoked Salmon, no cheese, garnish with capers and fennel tufts.
- French Classic – Ham, Gruyère cheese (or cream), garnish with chives.
The glasses used in this recipe are heat-proof shot glasses designed for drinking hot espresso coffee (which should only be used at LOW pressure). Do not use glassware that is not specifically designed to resist heat in your pressure cooker! If you cannot find this type of shot glass, you can use cups, ramekins, or any other heat-proof container for your pressure cooker.
| Pressure Cooker | Accessories | Pr. Cook Time | Pr. Level | Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5L or larger | Steamer, Ramekin | 4 min. | Low (1) | Normal |
- 4 Eggs
- 4 Eggs
- 4 Slices of Meat, Fish or Vegetables
- 4 Slices of Meat, Fish or Vegetables
- 4 Slices of Cheese, or shot of cream
- 4 Slices of Cheese, or shot of cream
- 4 Garnish of Fresh Herbs
- 4 Garnish of Fresh Herbs
- Olive Oil
- Prepare the pressure cooker by adding one cup of water and the trivet and set aside. Prepare the ramekins by adding a drop of olive oil in each and rubbing the bottom and sides. Then, lay a slice of preferred meat or vegetable.
- Break an egg and drop it into the ramekin. Add sliced cheese, or cream, of choice.
- For a soft egg yolk, cover tightly with tin foil (to keep the extra hot steam from having direct contact with the egg) for a hard fully-cooked yolk leave uncovered. Place ramekins in the steamer basket and lower into pressure cooker.
- Close and lock the lid. Set the pressure level to LOW. Turn the heat up high and when the pan reaches pressure, lower the heat and count 4 minutes cooking time at LOW pressure.
- When time is up, release pressure.
- Remove the ramekins carefully and serve immediately on a little plate or saucer.
Is the texture of the egg the same using this method as with baking?
Anonymous, If you want the egg soft-boiled, yes. If you would ordinarily put it under the broiler and have little burned ends, no. Though, I would not rule out broiling after pressure cooking!
The texture is closer to the method of putting the egg in a sealed jar and cooking it Bain Marie – something my mother-in-law does all the time with the kids.
Mexican style: Refried beans, diced green chiles and/or jalapenos and/or salsa, jack and/or cheddar cheese, cumin. IMO, Ortega beans and peppers are the best canned brand.
Layer bottom to top: beans,, a bit of cumin, peppers, salsa, egg, cheese. Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro. Serve with corn or flour tortillas warmed in a dry skillet, or (most autentico) fry corn tortillas in a little oil. Yum!
Maybe the salsa could be the garnish so it doesn’t have to cook. But, ooooh.. what a great idea turn each egg into a mini meal!
Ciao,
L
I tried to Highlight and Copy your pressure cooked French eggs, but was unable to Highlight it. Any
ideas? — Thanks mucho. — Melba
Ciao Melba, I had to disable copy & paste for this website because a Pressure Cooking mailing list was copying all of my recipes and adding them to their archives without citing the source or my permission!
However, at the very bottom of this page (after the comment box) there is a green link called “Print Friendly” where you can print or save the page as a PDF file.
I hope this helps!
Ciao,
L
This was the first dish I tried (along side a hard boiled egg) in my Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker this week; it turned out great! I did have to put it back on to pressure a coupl minutes to cook it a little longer; it came up pressure much quicker than I anticipated! I started with boiled water in the bottom of my cooker—love it! Made the Carnitas today–another winner!
Nanc, thanks for telling us about your successes! Yes, you are right. If you start with boiling water instead of room temperature water the cocottes will need more time. Remember, the food in the cooker is also cooking WHILE the cooker is coming up to pressure!
Ciao,
L
So are the ramekins 4, 6 ounces?
The little transparent heat-proof galss ramekins I used are 3oz. but a 4oz. ramekin will also work!
Ciao,
L
Hi Laura,
What size eggs do you use?
I found I had to pretty much double the time for these. About 8 minutes all up. And still they were only soft yolks. This was what I was after but…! My normal altitude correction is about 15%.
Room temperature eggs and water. 5L KR. The only thing I can think of is that you use much smaller eggs than I do. My eggs are nominally 60g. I weighed the ones left in the pack and they ranged from 58 to 66g
I don’t have any fresh eggs to weigh at the moment – but the thickness and material of the container you are using will also affect the pressure cooking time!
Ciao,
L
Good point. I used the 90 ml glasses from the Duralex Provence range.
http://www.duralex.com/?fond=rubrique&id_rubrique=32
They are virtually indestructible, but the glass is a little on the thick side. My sister is still using my mother’s. Bought in the 1950s. Mine are more recent.
My other half, at best doubtful about eggs, has now placed these firmly off the menu, so I probably won’t get the chance to experiment enough to work out the right parameters.
Cheers Greg.
PS. Not sure why, but sometimes I get a formatting bar, including a link option, and sometimes I don’t. This time I didn’t, so I just pasted the URL.
Yes, unfortunately, while using accessories there is a wide variation in size and materials (add that to the variety of pressure cookers, pressures and altitudes) and the challenge for perfect results is even greater. I hope to remove at least some of these factor in the future.
I’m in the early stages of designing my own pressure cooker accessory set. No dates or even manufacturer yet, but I have some early designs and we’re talking to metallurgy companies in Italy and India. Hopefully, once I can get the cookbook launch out of the way we can get some movement on the set!
The ultimate goal is not to just sell accessory sets, but write recipes with the cooking times that match the size and material of the set. Maybe by then, your better half will be ready to try these eggs again.
Ciao,
L : )
P.S. The formatting bar only displays for forum posts. It shouldn’t matter but unfortunately comments and forums are segregated into separate systems even if they’re part of the same package using the same database.
I’ve been using well-buttered half pint wide mouth canning jars to cook eggs en cocotte lately, with 2 refrigerated medium to large eggs per jar, plus additional ingredients which are usually cold, too. For easier eating, I like to shred or dice the meat before adding it to the buttered jar.
Covered with foil, they take 10 minutes on Low pressure to cook in my Instant Pot Duo electric pressure cooker. If I don’t add a glug of heavy cream before cooking, the egg whites are softly cooked, with yolks that are warm & runny when punctured. If I add cream, the whites have turned from clear to white, but have not set very much – after a slight stir, the whites combine with the cream to become saucy.
Yum. Love these!
My breakfast this morning: pressure cooked eggs en cocotte with diced salami, 2 pastured eggs, feta cheese, & salsa. Leftovers from last night’s dinner on the side: pressure cooked lentil salad with chickpeas & lemon dressing; heirloom tomato salad with slivered basil, sliced red spring onions, mozzarella cheese, & EVOO.
Can you make these ahead? Would like to take them with me for lunch the next day…
Absolutely, what a great lunch idea!
Ciao,
L
Yours look so pretty! I dont have a steamer basket for my electric pressure cooker. Can I just set the ramekins on the metal trivet that came with it? It would raise the slightly off the bottom.
Absolutely, you can use a trivet instead of a steamer basket for this recipe. : )
Ciao,
L
BTW, I get this error every time I leave a comment:
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Thanks for letting me know. I think I fixed it. : )
Ciao,
L
Would this work in small mason jars?
Absolutely, even a small bowl will work.
Ciao,
L
Hi. I tried this using Le Creuset ramekins and the timing was waaay off. Just a heads up to anyone doing the same. I’d say they needed more like 10 mins. I put them back in twice over after finding them uncooked each time!
Laura, what size were the ramekins?
Ciao,
L
Laura,
There is a typo
1)
(Oef en Cocotte) >> Oeuf en cocotte
If you technically want to be grammatically correct it’s “œuf” with the “ligature”
as you said “eggs” I would use the plural “œufs”
2)
The French tradition of en Cococotte >> “en Cocotte”
No need to publish that, you can delete this post once you’re done
Grazie mille,
Ciao,
Thanks for the correction and explanation, Steve. You deserve all the credit for setting me straight. : )
Ciao,
L
P.S. Apologies for the late response I was in the hospital during the holidays. Everything’s OK, now. : )
Laura, It looks delicious, yesterday cooked for your recipe, very tasty! Thanks you)