Quality Egg Recipes
Egg Recipes
Cooking Terms & Techniques
Certain terms, phrases, or techniques occur with regularity in egg recipes. Here
are many of them along with an explanation as they apply to egg recipes.
Cook until knife inserted near center
comes out clean: Baked custard mixtures are done when
a metal knife inserted off center comes out clean. The very
center still may not be quite done, but the heat retained in
the mixture will continue to cook it after removal from the
oven. Cooking longer may result in a curdled and/or weeping
custard. Cooking a shorter period may result in a thickened
but not set custard.
Cook until just coats a metal spoon: For
stirred custard mixtures, the eggs are cooked to the proper doneness
when a thin film adheres to a metal spoon dipped into the custard.
This point of coating a metal spoon is 20 to 30 degrees below
boiling. Stirred custards should not boil. The finished product
should be soft and thickened but not set. Stirred custards will
thicken slightly after refrigeration.
Slightly beaten: Use a fork
or whisk to beat eggs just until the yolks and whites are blended.
Well beaten: Use a mixer, blender,
beater or whisk to beat eggs until they are light, frothy and
evenly colored.
Thick and lemon-colored: Beat
yolks at high speed with an electric mixer until they become
a pastel yellow and form ribbons when the beater is lifted or
they are dropped from a spoon, about 3 to 5 minutes. Although
yolks can't incorporate as much air as whites, this beating does
create a foam and is important to airy concoctions such as sponge
cakes.
Add a small amount of hot mixture to
eggs/egg yolks: When eggs or egg yolks are added to
a hot mixture all at once, they may begin to coagulate too
rapidly and form lumps. So, stir a small amount of the hot
mixture into the yolks to warm them and then stir the warmed
egg yolk mixture into the remaining hot mixture. This is called
tempering.
Room temperature: Some recipes
call for eggs to be at room temperature before eggs are to be
combined with a fat and sugar. Cold eggs could harden the fat
in such a recipe and the batter might become curdled. This could
affect the texture of the finished product. Remove eggs from
the refrigerator about 30 minutes before using them or put them
in a bowl of warm water while assembling other ingredients. For
all other recipes, however, use eggs straight from the refrigerator.
The following cooking terms apply specifically to
egg whites:
Separated: Fat inhibits the
foaming of egg whites. Since egg yolks contain fat, they are
often separated from the whites and the whites beaten separately
to allow them to reach their fullest possible volume. Eggs are
easiest to separate when cold, but whites reach their fullest
volume if allowed to stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes
before beating.
Many inexpensive egg separators are available. To separate,
tap the midpoint of the egg sharply against a hard surface. Holding
the egg over the bowl in which you want the whites, pull the
halves apart gently. Let the yolk nestle into the cup like center
of the separator and the white will drop through the slots into
the bowl beneath.
Drop 1 egg white at a time into a cup or small bowl and then
transfer it to the mixing bowl before separating another egg.
This avoids the possibility of yolk from the last egg getting
into several whites. Drop the yolk into another mixing bowl if
needed in the recipe or into a storage container if not.
Add cream of tartar: Egg whites
beat to greater volume than most other foods including whipping
cream, but the air beaten into them can be lost quite easily.
A stabilizing agent such as cream of tartar is added to the whites
to make the foam more stable. Lemon juice works much the same
way.
Add sugar, 1 to 2 tablespoons at a
time: When making meringues and some cakes, sugar
is slowly added to beaten egg whites. This serves to increase
the stability of the foam. Sugar, however, can retard the foaming
of the whites and must be added slowly so as not to decrease
the volume. Beat the whites until foamy, then slowly beat in
the sugar.
Stiff but not dry: Beat whites
with a mixer, beater or whisk just until they no longer slip
when the bowl is tilted. (A blender or food processor will not
aerate them properly.) If egg whites are under beaten, the finished
product may be heavier and less puffy than desired. If egg whites
are over beaten, they may form clumps which are difficult to
blend into other foods in the mixture and the finished product
may lack volume.
Stiff peaks form: Stiff but
not dry.
Soft peaks or piles softly: Whites
that have been beaten until high in volume but not beaten to
the stiff peak stage. When beater is lifted, peaks will form
and curl over slightly.
Gently folded: When combining
beaten egg whites with other heavier mixtures, handle carefully
so that the air beaten into the whites is not lost. It's best
to pour the heavier mixture onto the beaten egg whites. Then
gradually combine the ingredients with a downward stroke into
the bowl, across, up and over the mixture motion, using a spoon
or rubber spatula. Come up through the center of the mixture
about every three strokes and rotate the bowl as you are folding.
Fold just until there are no streaks remaining in the mixture.
Don't stir because this will force air out of the egg whites.
If you have a stand mixer, put the mixing bowl on the turntable
for easier turning as you fold.
Curdling: Also known as sunrises
or weeping. When egg mixtures such as custards or sauces are
cooked too rapidly, the protein becomes overcoagulated and separates
from the liquid leaving a mixture resembling fine curds and whey.
If curdling has not progressed too far, it may sometimes be reversed
by removing the mixture from the heat and stirring or beating
vigorously.
To prevent sunrises or curdling, use a low temperature, stir,
if appropriate for the recipe, and cool quickly by setting the
pan in a bowl of ice or cold water and stirring for a few minutes.
The term curdling is usually used in connection with a stirred
mixture such as custard sauce, while weeping or sunrises are
more often used with reference to pie meringues or baked custards.
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