Oeufs en cocotte
A French breakfast with a single task: set the white without touching the yolk. Only a few degrees separate them, so the eggs bake in a water bath where the temperature never passes 100°C. Even then the margin is narrow: twelve minutes gives a runny yolk, sixteen a set one. They come out while the white still trembles slightly — it finishes in the ramekin.
Your own work in that: 5 min.
- Ramekins 10 min
- Water bath 14 min
- Serving 5 min
Step by step
0 / 7 doneButter the ramekins
Grease four ramekins generously with butter, sides included. The butter does more than stop sticking — it gives the egg a flavour cream alone does not, and helps it warm evenly from the sides.
Ingredients: 4 pcs eggs · 120 ml whipping cream (30%) · 20 g butter · ½ tsp salt · ½ tsp black pepper · 1 pinch nutmeg
Line the base with cream and additions
Pour a spoonful of cream into each ramekin and add the ham, cheese and chives. If using spinach, wilt it in a pan first and squeeze it hard to remove the water, then spread it on the base. That base layer matters: it insulates the egg from the hot ceramic, against which the white would set faster than the centre.
Ingredients: 60 g gruyère · 80 g ham · 3 tbsp chives · 100 g spinach
Cream on the base insulates the egg from hot ceramic.Crack in the eggs carefully
Add one egg to each ramekin, cracking it into a bowl first and then sliding it in. Insurance against a broken yolk or shell — in a vessel this small neither can be retrieved.
Ingredients: 4 pcs eggs · 120 ml whipping cream (30%) · 20 g butter · ½ tsp salt · ½ tsp black pepper · 1 pinch nutmeg
Add the rest of the cream and season
Pour a spoonful of cream over each egg, avoiding the yolk, and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Salt directly on a yolk leaves pale speckles — harmless, but visible in a dish this simple.
Ingredients: 4 pcs eggs · 120 ml whipping cream (30%) · 20 g butter · ½ tsp salt · ½ tsp black pepper · 1 pinch nutmeg
Set them in a water bath
Stand the ramekins in a roasting tray and pour in hot water to two-thirds of their height. The bath keeps the temperature below boiling — without it the white sets violently and turns rubbery before the centre warms.
Ingredients: 4 pcs eggs · 120 ml whipping cream (30%) · 20 g butter · ½ tsp salt · ½ tsp black pepper · 1 pinch nutmeg
Water to two-thirds up the ramekins.Bake twelve minutes and check
Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C for 12 minutes and check; give it another minute or two if needed. The egg is ready when the white is set but still trembles slightly when moved and the yolk is glossy. Every extra minute turns a runny yolk into a set one.
Ingredients: 4 pcs eggs · 120 ml whipping cream (30%) · 20 g butter · ½ tsp salt · ½ tsp black pepper · 1 pinch nutmeg
Lift them out at once and serve with soldiers
Take the ramekins out of the water immediately — the hot water would keep heating them, and the ceramic alone carries on cooking the egg for another minute. Serve with strips of buttered toast for dipping into the yolk.
Ingredients: 4 pcs bread · 20 g butter
The yolk runs out — exactly as it should.
Before you start
Fridge-cold eggs ruin the timing
A cold egg needs 2–3 minutes longer, and in that time the white against the sides turns rubbery. Take the eggs out of the fridge half an hour ahead — then the timings in the recipe hold.
Variations
Classics: fried mushrooms, smoked salmon, wilted spinach squeezed dry, pieces of goat's cheese or a spoonful of pesto. Always on the base, never on top — anything over the egg slows the baking and hides the yolk.
Without an oven
The ramekins can be steamed in a covered pan for the same time. The result is very close, though the top misses the faintly baked film that dry oven heat gives.
