Mayak Eggs to Momofuku Eggs-Eggtraordinary
Originally this post was going to just be about the latest Korean craze, Mayak Eggs (마약계란). Tik Toks, Reels, IG Stories, folks “egging” everyone on to try Mayak Eggs. The eggs are cooked Ramen Style (we’ll get into that later) and soaked in a bath of soy sauce, sweetener, chilis, garlic, and green onions. Yep, pretty darn tasty, a flavor explosion of sweet, salty, spicy, and garlicky.
Egg-a-Licious
Ramen Style eggs are cooked in a pretty specific way. Bring water to a boil and carefully drop your eggs in the boiling water. Let them boil for 6 minutes before immediately plunging them into an ice bath to stop the cooking. The end result is a soft-boiled egg, where the egg white is cooked through but still tender and the yolk is just beginning to set around the edges. The center of the yolk is oozy, unctuous, and scrumptious, perfect in a bowl of ramen.
I have a confession to make…
I didn’t cook my Mayak Eggs this way. A couple of years ago, (you all know I LOVE kitchen gadgets right? Donut pan, meat grinder, Instant Pot….) I bought an egg cooker. Yep, a good for only one thing gadget, cooking eggs. So I used it for my Mayak Eggs.
Well, I am not going to tell you to go buy an egg-cooker (don’t do it) so I needed to make Six Minute Ramen Eggs for myself. I still had Mayak Eggs in the fridge so I decided to make Dave Chang’s Momofuku Ramen Eggs. His recipe was part of Food52’s 10 all-time favs, so this was an easy call.
6 Things You Need to Know
- Both these recipes are incredibly EASY.
- Both are riffs on a soy sauce-based brine to flavor the eggs
- Plan to make them in advance as the eggs need to sit in the brines for awhile
- Mayak means drug in Korean. Yes, they are addicting-that good
- The longer the eggs are left in the brine the more color and flavor they will absorb
I saved the best for the last…
- The hardest, most frustrating THING will be peeling those damn eggs!
Key points before the deep dive into the unappealing task of peeling.
Do You Mayak?
The sauce for the Mayak Eggs is delicious on rice or noodles. The soy sauce and sweetener (you can use corn syrup, rice syrup, or honey) balance each other so it is okay to leave the eggs in the brine/sauce to store. The aromatics, garlic, chilis, scallions pump up the flavors in the sauce and take the eggs to a whole new level. Absolutely delish. Mayak Eggs can be served as a banchan (side dish) or as a topping on a bowl of rice (my fav) or noodles. I tossed one in my bowl of Congee, along with a splash of the sauce this morning. Delicious.
For less spicy eggs, de-seed and/or de-vein the chilis or reduce the number of chilis. You can definitely play with this sauce and make it your own. Add a little fish sauce for a briny flavor or a Ponzu instead for citrus notes. Go crazy, it’s all good.
Dave is a Good Egg
Momofuku Eggs are closer to a traditional ramen egg. Not only great with ramen or Udon, but also delicious as part of a rice bowl like Taiwanese Pork Belly Rice Bowl or Buta no Kakuni (Japanese Pork Belly) or Simple Minced Pork Bowl. The brine is salty. Marinade your eggs for no more than 4 hours and use a low-sodium soy sauce. Once made, the eggs can be stored sans sauce in an airtight container. For a sweeter egg, add another tablespoon of sugar.
It’s the Big Egg…Here’s the Hard Part…Peeling
The goal is to end up with a smooth, pristine, beautiful egg…after peeling it. The eggs are a little softer than a hard-boiled egg adding another layer of difficulty. Peeling without leaving little divots in the eggs, not an easy task.
- Boil enough water such that the water level is one inch over the eggs.
- Add 1 tablespoon vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt to the water. ( I see just as many recipes that don’t include this-optional)
- When the water comes to a boil, carefully lower the eggs into it.
- For the first minute of boiling, stir the eggs around the pot, this helps center the yolk.
- Boil (not crazy boil, gentle rolling boil) for 6 minutes for a runny yolk, an additional minute for a jammy egg.
- Have an ice bath ready to transfer the eggs into.
- Allow eggs to cool for 5 minutes in the ice bath.
- Crack the eggshell by tapping on it with a spoon. Carefully peel the eggshell off along with the membrane between the shell and egg. It helps to peel the egg in water or under running water.
- Invert your teaspoon so the bottom is facing you, and slide it under the eggshell and membrane, lift the spoon to separate the shell from the egg.
- Rinse any shell fragments off eggs and place them in brine. Done!
Mayak Eggs
Ingredients
Cookin' Da Eggs
- 4-6 eggs room temperature
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
Da Marinade
- 1/2 cup soy sauce I use Sempio 701 Soy Sauce for this dish
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup rice syrup corn syrup or honey
- 3 garlic cloves chopped
- 3 to 4 green onions chopped
- 1 green chili chopped (optional)
- 1 red chili chopped (optional)
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
Instructions
Cookin Da Eggs
- Heat enough water to cover 6 eggs by 1 inch in a pot. Add salt and vinegar and bring it to a rolling boil. Using a slotted spoon add eggs to water. Cook the eggs for 6 minutes for runny yolk or up to 10 minutes (Nooo, don't do it!) for hard-boiled eggs. While eggs are cooking, make a water bath of ice and water in a medium-size bowl. When the eggs are done, Immediately transfer them to the ice water bath. Cool for 5-7 minutes before peeling.
Da Sauce (marinade)
- Combine soy, water, and sweetener and stir to blend. Add garlic, green onions, chilies and sesame seeds, stir.
- Peel the eggs carefully without damaging them (easier said than done) and place in an air-tight container. Pour the sauce mixture over the eggs, cover and store in a refrigerator for at least 6 hours to overnight before serving.
- It will last 5 to 7 days in fridge!
- Drizzle with sesame oil! Serve with hot steamed rice.
Momofuku Marinated Ramen Egg
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons warm water
- 1 tablespoon sugar addtional tablespoon for a sweeter egg
- 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
- 3/4 cup soy sauce low-sodium or Tamari
- 4-6 large eggs
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the water and sugar to dissolve the sugar, then stir in the sherry vinegar and soy sauce.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Carefully put the eggs into the boiling water and cook for exactly 6 minutes and 50 seconds, stirring slowly for the first 1 minute. Meanwhile, fill a large bowl with cold water and ice. When the eggs are done, transfer them to the ice bath.
- Once the eggs are cool, (5-7 minutes) peel them in the water. See notes above.
- Transfer the eggs to the soy sauce mixture and marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours and up to 4 hours, making sure they are completely submerged or occasionally rotate eggs.
- Remove the eggs from the sweet and salty marinade. You can save the soy sauce mix for another round of eggs, if you wish. Refrigerate eggs in a tightly sealed container.