I am not talking about the eggs being raw, I mean the outside of the eggs, the shells are being in the pan cooking with the potatoes.

Sue

I personally would never do that either. Gross! I remember when my brother in law was in restaurant management classes in college, he got all into the sanitary part of it and was telling us how gross the egg's shells are and all the bacteria. I think he washed them before he would use them.

My mother used to do that.

Hasn't killed me yet. I usually separate, because the potatoes and eggs take different times. Unless you are using farm fresh eggs, all eggs in the USA are washed and pasteurized anyway. That's why we can't leave out on counter like in Europe.

ETA: Evidently not all are pasteurized. They are all washed in soap and water and then refrigerated.

It's boiling water, for pete's sake! The idea does not bother me, not at all. But eggs and potatoes take different time to cook in the first place.

Potato skin probably is dirtier than egg shell.

dcarch

Sherry, the eggs I buy are washed but not pasteurized. When you buy raw egg prodcuts like mayonnaise they are, but not the shell eggs I buy. Washing does reduce the amount of time they can sit out.

Egg shells are also permeable, but potatoes aren't strong enough flavored to do anything, I wouldn't guess. To me, it feels wrong, but as has been said, there probably isn't anything dangerously wrong with it. Peeled potatoes would seem weirder... But since I steam eggs and usually roast potatoes, it's not even a thing for me. :)

I know Sue......just saying if I don't care about then being raw I'm sure not worried about boiling them with potatoes

If you wash the potatoes and then cut them up, the potatoes and the eggs will get done in about the same time. I have done it for potato salad. Since I now cook the potatoes whole, they take longer than the eggs (25 minutes for potatoes and 15 minutes for the eggs). I cook the potatoes first and set them out to cool. I then cook the egg in the same pot. I fail to see what the problem is with cooking them together. If you have the smaller whole potatoes, they would probably get done at the same time as the egg.

ETA: I would love to have chickens for eggs, but the Powers-That-Be have dictated that you can only have them in the city if you are 150ft away from anyone else. Not roosters mind you, just hens that lay eggs.

I've never seen one of those videos. I would not do it but mainly because I like to control things separately. Also, I use the water that I boiled the potatoes in when I make bread dough.

One thing you could do, however, is use a Chinese steamer, cook the potatoes in the bottom, and steam the eggs on an upper level.

This is the first I've heard of boiling eggs and potatoes together.

No, this does not bother me.

I wouldn’t worry about cooking store bought eggs and potatoes together, but I don’t because they require different cooking times. I prefer to boil my potatoes whole and unpeeled to minimise waterlogging. I would never boil eggs laid by my own hens as I don’t think you could get the shells clean enough.

Yes it bothers me even though I know that the boiling water would kill any bacteria on them. I have chickens and I know the deal. Yuck.

I do it all the time....that's how I make potato salad...

I've never thought about doing that or seen it done, but I wouldn't have an issue with it. Heck might as well throw the macaroni into the pot while you're at it!

I have chickens and although I've never cooked the potatoes and eggs together, it wouldn't concern me. Store bought eggs, I might be concerned, but not from my hens. There is a bloom on eggs that keeps bacteria from getting in. I rarely get eggs that are are soiled. I do wash my eggs before I use them. I do not wash them as soon as I collect them nor do I refrigerate them as soon as they're collected. They are still safe.

Madonna

Like Madonna, I have chickens. I wash the eggs before I use them, so I don't have a problem with cooking eggs and potatoes together. The potatoes are grown in my garden, in the dirt, laced with a good healthy helping of cow manure, so they're most likely dirtier than the eggs. So I peel the potatoes or scrub them, and cook them, I wash the eggs and cook them, it's all the same to me.

I have cooked them together but it doesn't work all that well for me so I usually don't. I drain the potatoes in a colander and sprinkle some sweet pickle juice or cider vinegar dressing over them while still warm, so they can absorb some of that flavor. If the eggs are in the same pan then I'm stuck with trying to remove hot eggs from the pan of potatoes, or from the colander, so that I can proceed with the potatoes, it's just cumbersome, so it's easier for me to cook them separately.

Annie

I will never boil the two together. I do not boil my potatoes for potato salad, I microwave them. Faster and easier for me. The video I saw, she had peeled the potatoes. I know how chickens are, even with clean nests..

Sue

Understandable. You, like Annie, are much closer to the 'exit ramp', the rear gift giver...coop to table. Those pushing a grocery cart purchasing nice clean packages would not necessarily think of it. Even though boiling water will kill any pathogens in just about 1 minute.

Our water at the farm comes from a natural spring. I don't drink it. We could filter and boil it but don't. We bring jugs from the city home filter tap. Not much trouble. I've cleaned the filter from the spring where it comes into the barn sink. Cleaned it of crawfish and some unknown particulates many times when it gets clogged.

So many other things can be much worse. Packaged salads that are eaten raw. Spices that are not cooked in the pot but ground at the table like peppercorns.

Re-calls are most often raw un-cooked foods.

I've done it numerous times, but only if the potatoes are being boiled unpeeled. I scrub the potatoes with a brush, and thoroughly wash the eggs.

The different cooking times is not a problem at all. Put the potatoes in the pot, place eggs on top of them, add enough room temperature water to cover. When time for eggs has been reached, remove them with a slotted spoon, let potatoes continue to simmer until done.

Rusty

Yeah, it would bother me.

What bothers me most about this is starting off with a vague topic like Does this bother you? I need more information about what "this" is. Why not just put a question mark? It conveys just as much information about what bothers you. Here's my suggestion for a better topic name.

Cooking eggs with potatoes: does that bother anyone else?

Dchall, we've known Sue for years. It doesn't matter to the regular participants here what she was talking about. We'd have opened the thread if it was just "?" because we'd want to see.

Do join in and become a regular so we'll be interested in your mysteries too!

Re raw packaged salads: After a bone marrow transplant, recently, a friend was advised by her doctors not to wash the pre-washed greens. That washing them was more likely to introduce something harmful to her non-existent immune system than the extremely small chance that the greens hadn't been correctly washed.

"What bothers me most about this is starting off with a vague topic---"

That makes the discussion and comments interesting. Which can lead to many unexpected information .

dcarch

This has been ones of my favorite posts lately.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/4970335/toasted-antique#21103572

I think you would have to describe it as extreme vague.

I repeat what I said before, I'm sure the boiling process gets rid of anything that can make you sick. But seriously, have you ever taken a good look at a chicken's rear-end??

"--- have you ever taken a good look at a chicken's rear-end??"

Fowl play? To each his own fetish.

dcarch

But seriously, have you ever taken a good look at a chicken's rear-end??

So you are squeamish about it - I totally get that. But that doesn't mean the food will be contaminated. Boiling (212F degrees) will kill anything.

Worse for me is the fact that true tiramisu is made with uncooked eggs (a thought that makes me gag).

Mayonnaise, chocolate mousse.....anything with beaten egg white that's not cooked.....we eat a lot of raw eggs.

Well, in the USA a lot of raw egg preparations are made with pasteurized eggs, nowadays because salmonella inside the eggs is so common. I've made mayonnaise with them (done with my sous vide circulator) and it was lovely. The cloudiness when you crack them feels like an uh-oh, but mayo is opaque anyway. :)

Rita, I had to smile at that. A few years ago, when The Princess was younger, we were unpacking beef that had just been picked up from the processor. Among the packages was ox-tail and she asked what it was. I told her and her response was (with wide eyes) "you can't eat that, it's.......poopy". (grin)

I have a stepdaughter who happily ate several slices of venison sausage at a Christmas party, then asked how we made it. When her Dad told her it was venison she spit it out onto her plate, although she'd just eaten and enjoyed quite a few bites before that.

Sometimes your brain won't let you enjoy something no matter how much you KNOW that it's fine and safe to eat.

That said, I have to tell you that all my chickens just have fluffy feathered rear ends, they are clean and happy and my nests have lots of straw bedding so the eggs are pretty clean too. I admit that I've sometimes wondered who the first human was that thought "that came out of a chicken's butt, I think I'll eat it". (grin)

Annie

What's good for the mongoose is good for the man gander?