EGG COOKERY

The incredible versitle egg! Where would our cooks be without them. Besides being a nutritious meal by themselves, they are used for structure, color, leavening, for adhering (glue),  souffleing, and to make products richer and last longer (shelf-life).

Eggs make omelets; we soft and hard cook them;  they are scrambled; they are poached, and they are fried–over hard, over easy or  sunny side up. Eggs are basted and baked.  We can apply the same needs when cooking all the different methods. Eggs coaulate at low temperatures; eggs therefore should be cooked at low to medium temperatures; eggs turn into “rubber” and become tough at high temperatures.

How To  hard cook eggs,
place eggs in enough COLD water to cover completely, bring to a ROLLING boil
over HIGH heat; then reduce heat to a lower heat and simmer/not boil for an
additional 12 minutes. Promptly chill eggs in ICE WATER to chill promptly so
egg yolks remain nice and bright yellow.
Hard boiled eggs are good for one week if kept in the shell, not in
water and not cracked, in the refrigerator.

Having a hard time peeling the eggs? Extremely
fresh eggs will not peel easily. In fact, an egg that is just a day or two old
is almost impossible to peel. As eggs age, the shells will peel more easily. It
is advisable that eggs used for hard cooking (including Easter Eggs) be at
least 2 weeks old before cooking for easier peeling.

How long to keep eggs?
Eggs can be kept refrigerated in their carton for at least 4 to 5 weeks beyond
the pack date, Use-by dates are set 45 days from the time they are placed into
cartons. Eggs age more in one day at room temperature than in one week in the
refrigerator. A cloudy white is a sign of freshness, not age, because of high
carbon dioxide content when the egg is laid. A fresh egg will sink in water while
an older egg will stand up; as the egg gets older the air space in the egg
increases causing it to float.

Nutrition?  Eggs contain the highest quality protein you can buy. Egg protein has the perfect mix of essential amino acids needed by humans to build you own tissues. In
addition, eggs have thirteen essential vitamins and minerals?  Egg yolk is one of the few foods that contain Vitamin D; egg yolk is the major source of the egg’s vitamins and minerals; alarge egg contains only 75 calories and 5 grams of fat; eggs have no vitamin C.

How to Separating white from yolk is best when cold. Egg whites will beat to a better volume if they’re allowed to stand at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before beating. To safely warm an egg to room temperature, it may be placed in hot tap water for a few minutes. The white is then easier to whip, though may be harder to separate from the yolk.