Both shirred and coddled eggs start with breaking eggs into a small dish or ramekin. The key difference is that shirred eggs are then baked in the oven, whereas coddled eggs are cooked on the stovetop in a water bath. Both result in a firm egg white but a delightfully runny yolk that's perfect for dipping toast.
A shirred egg is sometimes referred to as a baked egg, and it consists of one or more eggs baked in a flat-bottomed dish with cream or milk. Topping the dish with herbs, grated cheese, or breadcrumbs will add both texture and flavor, but you can also use the dish as a blank canvas and add smoked salmon, bacon, or precooked vegetables for a more substantial dish.
The oldest recipes used simply butter, salt, and pepper, but the term quickly came to mean poaching eggs in milk or cream. You might find the term used interchangeably with oeufs en cocotte, which is a very similar French dish, but they're not actually the same. The key difference is that oeufs en cocotte are always cooked in a water bath in the oven.
A coddled egg is much like a poached egg but without the need to get any of the technique right. By placing the egg into a lidded coddler and submerging it in simmering water, you achieve a soft-cooked egg that remains tender and moist.
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