Talk:Shirred eggs

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Replacement of removed external link

I replaced an external link to a non-commercial blog posting that was removed due to another editor thinking it was spam. Aktormedic (talk) 21:42, 8 July 2010 (UTC) aktormedic

It fails to meet WP:ELNO #11 criteria, in addition to being spammed against a coi. --Ronz (talk) 23:50, 8 July 2010 (UTC)

I agree with it's removal, which was removed by another editor. Please do not spam articles like this. Please read External links so you understand this policy better. Ronz is one of the best editors I know of at this project who is well versed in understanding spam vs. not spam. With a Conflict of interest involved you should also read this policy to get yourself to understand this one too. HTH, --CrohnieGal^Talk 12:00, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

Derivation of the term

The article says

The name comes from the dish in which the eggs are cooked

but then goes on to say that in the cooking method

The eggs are placed in ramekins

...which ought to make them "ramekinned eggs"! Is there, in any case, such a thing as a "shir(r)"? -- Picapica (talk) 17:59, 5 September 2010 (UTC)

I don't believe it

"The eggs are placed in ramekins with a knob of butter on top and baked at 180°C (350°F) until the white is set, but the yolk remains soft, which takes around 15 minutes." I know that if you hard-boil an egg, for 10 minutes at 100°C, the yolk becomes hard. Yet the article claims that 15 minutes at 180°C does not make the yolk hard. It's not that the ramekin protects them from the heat, a ramekin is open-topped.

My guess is that it should say 180°F (82°C). Maproom (talk) 20:17, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

I have never seen a recipe that recommends preheating the oven to any temperature lower than 180°C -- and recipes using the Fahrenheit scale generally indicate either 350° or 375°. (It is usually recommended that you cook them in the oven for 10-12 minutes then remove them and allow them to "rest" -- i.e. go on cooking on their own) for another 3 minutes or so.) Boiling (in water at 100°C) and baking (in an open earthenware vessel in air at 180°C) are clearly two different processes. Perhaps, in the interests of science, you should try preparing your eggs in an oven set to 82°C and see what happens! :-) -- Picapica (talk) 13:08, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

Pronunciation?

How do you pronounce it? Kevink707 (talk) 01:53, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

Like "stirred" only with an h instead of a t. I don't comprehend IPA but I think it is ʃɪrɛd Litch (talk) 23:53, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

Generally /ʃɜ(ɹ)d/, as it's spelt, and as I imagine Litch was going for. I say /ʃɪɹd/, but I think that's ultimately a spelling pronunciation. -Coreydragon (talk) 23:12, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

Need a better photo

The current picture File:Oeufs_cocotte_provencale.jpg is not a good representation of shirred eggs. Does anyone have a better one handy?Litch (talk) 23:48, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

Ramekins and en cocotte

Cooking in ramekins in a water bath (en cocotte) is coddled eggs, not shirred. This should be corrected. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.131.45.195 (talk) 19:16, 2 August 2014 (UTC)

US term?

I am an experienced British home cook, and I had never, ever heard the term 'shirred eggs' before encountering it here. Presumably this is just the American name for oeufs en cocotte. If 'shirred eggs' is a regional rather than global English term, which it appears to be, then the article should say so. --Ef80 (talk) 14:02, 18 June 2021 (UTC)

I'm an American, and I've only seen "shirred eggs" mentioned in books by British authors. 104.153.40.58 (talk) 21:03, 17 April 2022 (UTC)

Cream

From what i can tell, basically every modern recipe for shirred eggs found in the wild involves adding cream before cooking. Usually, by covering the eggs with cream, but sometimes, as a layer underneath the eggs. I think this should be part of the definition of the dish. Perhaps qualified as part of the modern definition, since some older recipes don't include cream.

I note that our French colleagues consider cream a defining part of oeufs en cocotte, which this article largely equates with shirred eggs: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%92ufs_cocotte

I have added a mention of cream in the paragraph about variations, but really, i think it should be earlier and more prominent. 217.169.25.2 (talk) 12:09, 19 September 2025 (UTC)