Wizard Recipes

We tend to think of eggs as breakfast food. And indeed the archetypal American breakfast almost always features them. But the standard plate of eggs, bacon, ham, what have you-a direct descendant of the typical English breakfast-now seems a bit over the top.

Many of the modern alternatives -from micro wave and toaster-cooked “treats” to overly sweetened dried cereal-are far worse, making you yearn for the days when a crust of bread left over from dinner, toasted and served with butter or jam or cheese, plus maybe a piece of fruit, was standard. Still, there’s no denying that a luxurious breakfast of eggs, pancakes, or something even more complex, along with breakfast meat, is a treat that many people look forward to all week. And preparing it is neither difficult nor time-consuming. Breakfast is an extremely flexible concept - in many parts of the world soups and stews are the norm - so this chapter is flexible as well. In it you’ll find not only what most Americans consider “normal” breakfast dishes but also a broad consideration of the egg and a variety of dairy dishes, including techniques for making your own cheese, something - like bread - all cooks should tackle at least once.

The Basics of Cooking Eggs

In our recipes is everything you need to know about cooking eggs. Beginning cooks can use this as a primer and a reference; those with experience may find some helpful tips here. (My method of hard-cooking eggs, for example, has changed over the years.)

If you do nothing else, try baking eggs , a technique that works perfectly for a crowd and is pure luxury. Really, boiled eggs should be called “poached,” because the water should never be at a real boil; all boiling does is bounce the eggs around the pot and crack the shells. The degree of doneness is only a matter of timing, but room-temperature eggs will cook in about a minute less than those straight from the refrigerator. If you’re cooking more than one egg, make sure you use a saucepan big enough for the water to circulate freely. You’ll also need to extend the cooking time to the maximum in each of the following recipes.

Slow and Low or Fast and High?

Eggs are so tolerant of a wide range of conditions that in many cases you can cook them in a hurry or quite leisurely; the only real rule is not to overcook or they will toughen. For example, for years I made my favorite scrambled eggs lovingly and leisurely, taking 40 minutes to do so ( here is a delicious recipe for The Best Scrambled Eggs). Then I discovered I could get just about the same texture by cooking them quickly, stirring constantly, and removing them from the heat the instant they threatened to overcook (here you can find the recipe for  Everyday Scrambled Eggs). Both ways work fine; the first requires more patience, the second more attention.

It’s important to be aware that eggs should never become completely hard; even “hard-boiled” eggs should have yolks that remain somewhat creamy. Often it’s easier to avoid toughening when you use low heat. Fried eggs stay tender and become evenly firm over medium to low heat; boiled and poached eggs develop better texture and are less like to be damaged in water that bubbles only gently. But you can cook quickly and keep eggs tender and soft, as in real omelets ; again, it just takes attention

In addition to being a popular breakfast food, eggs are a symbol of beginnings. Primitive humans recognized the egg as the beginning of life, and it became a symbol of spring and fertility.

Eggs have four main parts:

Shell - As the name suggests, this is the fragile and porous outer covering. The shell is made mostly of minerals - calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, and calcium phosphate.

Shell membranes - These are layers of protein fibers that stick to the shell. They provide additional protection for the egg’s insides, preventing mold and bacteria from getting in, for example.

Albumen - This is the white of the egg. It is almost all protein and water.

Yolk - The yellow bull’s eye of the egg, the yolk is made of a substance called “vitellus.” It can be a pale yellow or dark yellow. About 30 percent of the yolk is fat, and about 16 percent is protein. The remainder is made up of solids.

Eggs provide an inexpensive source of high-quality protein, vitamins, and minerals, including vitamins A and B12, folic acid, and phosphorus. They are an excellent source of riboflavin.

The egg is also said to be a complete protein, because it contains a complete count of essential amino acids. The white supplies more than half the protein in an egg. The yolk supplies the fat, along with the remaining protein, and most of the calories.

Eggs are also graded and are classified by both size and quality. The best are grade AA or A, both of which are related to the level of freshness and the quality of the shell at marking. Most recipes are based on large eggs. Nutritionally, there’s no difference between brown eggs and white eggs.

Different colored eggs come from different varieties of hens. The most common egg used for food today is the chicken’s egg, although eggs from other fowl can be bought in specialty stores.

Preparation Tips

When selecting eggs, check the container for any cracked or broken eggs and eliminate them from the carton. Place the carton in the refrigerator for up to 5 weeks. Do not place eggs in the designated egg holders in the door of older refrigerators.

It is too warm for the eggs there because they get a blast of hot air each time the door is opened. The egg carton helps keep eggs from absorbing odors from other foods and helps keep the eggs fresh.

When adding eggs to a mixing bowl, break the egg in a separate dish to make sure the egg is not rotten.

Serving Suggestions

Eggs serve many purposes in cooking and preparing food, including a leavening agent in baked goods, a base for mayonnaise, and a thickener in sauces and custards.

Served alone, eggs can be poached, boiled (soft or hard), fried, scrambled, or made into an omelet. From a safety standpoint, it is recommended that both the yolk and the white be cooked until firm. Because they are made mostly of water and protein, eggs are best cooked over low heat.

As has been previously stated, the substance in eggs that requires special care in the cooking process is the protein, which occurs in this food in the form of albumen. Because of this, certain points concerning the treatment that the albumen requires should be kept in mind. In a raw egg, the albumen occurs in a semi liquid form, but it coagulates at a lower temperature than does the yolk, which contains a high percentage of fat.

After coagulation, the consistency of the two parts is very different. The white is elastic and more or less tough, while the yolk, upon being thoroughly cooked, becomes powdery, or mealy, and breaks up into minute particles.

The egg white begins to coagulate at 134 degrees Fahrenheit, and it becomes white and jellylike at 160 degrees. Bringing an egg to such a temperature produces a more desirable result than cooking it at a high temperature–boiling point, for instance-because the albumen, instead of becoming tough, as it does at a high temperature, acquires a soft, tender consistency that exists throughout the entire egg.

An egg cooked in this way is more digestible and appetizing than one that is boiled until it becomes hard and tough.

The low temperature at which eggs will cook in the shell applies also to eggs when they are combined with other foods. Sometimes, however, a mixture in which eggs are one of the ingredients must be cooked at a high temperature because the materials mixed with them require it.

This difficulty can be overcome when eggs are combined with starchy foods, such as corn starch, rice, and tapioca, that require long cooking. In such a case, all the ingredients except the eggs may be cooked the length of time they require, after which the eggs may be added so that they will cook just long enough to become coagulated. Longer cooking is liable to spoil the texture.

Often the starchy mixture retains sufficient heat to set the eggs without further cooking after they are added.

A very nutritious way in which to prepare eggs when they are to be used for a dessert is to combine them with milk to form a custard, which, after being sweetened and flavored, is baked. The proportion that has been accepted as ideal to produce a dessert of the right thickness is one egg to each cupful of milk; however, an entire egg is not always required, as one yolk is often sufficient to thicken 1 cupful of milk.

Care should be taken in the cooking of such custards, for if they are cooked too long or at too high a temperature they will curdle and whey; whereas, a properly cooked custard–that is, one cooked slowly at a low temperature and for the required length of time–will have a smooth, jellylike consistency.

A slight variation in a dish of this kind is secured by reducing the number of eggs and thickening it with corn starch or some other starchy material. While such a mixture is not a true custard, it makes an excellent dessert.

In the cooking of mixtures containing eggs, no utensil proves quite so satisfactory as the double boiler, which has already been explained and illustrated. In fact, it is almost impossible to cook an egg mixture directly over the flame on account of the difficulty encountered in preventing the eggs from curdling.

The low temperature at which cooking is possible in the double boiler makes it a comparatively simple matter to bring a mixture to the proper consistency without the formation of curds. Still, a certain amount of precaution must be taken even with a double boiler.

If the degree of heat that is reached in this utensil is applied too long, the result will be no more satisfactory than when mixtures are exposed directly to the heat and cooked at a high temperature.

While every effort should be made to cook mixtures containing eggs, such as custards or mayonnaise, so as to prevent curds from forming, occasionally they will form in spite of all that can be done. However, it is sometimes possible to remedy the matter by placing the vessel at once in cold water and beating the mixture rapidly with a Dover egg beater until the curds disappear.

The cold water cools the mixture and prevents the formation of more curds, and the beating breaks up those which have already formed, provided they are not too hard.

In addition to the uses already mentioned, eggs have numerous other uses in cooking with which the housewife should be familiar. For instance, slightly beaten egg is used to a great extent to make crumbs or meal adhere to the surface of croquettes, meat, oysters, etc. that are to be sauted or fried in deep fat, a coating of this kind preventing the food from becoming soaked with grease.

In addition, egg is used to stick flour together for certain kinds of dough, such as noodles. Then, again, it is much used to puff up mixtures and produce a hollow space in them, as in popovers and cream puffs. While such mixtures do not require beating, spongy mixtures, such as omelets and sponge cakes, do.

In these, eggs are an important factor, and they must be thoroughly beaten in order to incorporate the air in small bubbles and thus produce the desired texture.

Eggs are of great importance in the diet, and to appreciate this fact fully the true nature of this food must be understood. For domestic use, the eggs of guinea hens, turkeys, ducks, and geese occasionally find favor, but as eggs laid by hens are the kind that is commonly used, it is to such eggs that this article is devoted.

A hen’s egg may really be considered as an undeveloped chicken, because it contains all the elements required to build the body of the chick and provide it with the energy it needs to pick its way into the world.

When it emerges from the shell, it is fully developed, and in a short time it begins an independent existence, seeking and finding its own food. The fact that eggs store so much nutritive material explains to some extent why they are a valuable source of food for man and why they are used so extensively.

However, as in the case of milk, the elements that eggs contain are not in just the right proportion for the sole nourishment of a human being, so they must generally be used in combination with other foods.

Most persons are familiar with the appearance of eggs, but in order that satisfactory results may be obtained in their selection, care, and cooking, it will be necessary to look into the details of their composition.

As is well known, an egg consists of a porous shell lined with a fine, but tough, membrane that encloses the white and the yolk and serves to protect them. The yolk is divided from the white by a delicate membrane, which permits it to be separated from the white when an egg is carefully broken.

This membrane extends to each end of the shell in the form of a small cord, and it is so fastened to the shell as to hold the yolk evenly suspended. The porous nature of an egg shell is required to give air to the developing chick, but it is this characteristic that permits eggs to spoil as they grow old and are exposed to air, for through these minute pores, or openings, the water in the egg evaporates and air and bacteria enter. Of course, as the water evaporates and is replaced by air, the egg becomes lighter.

Because of this fact, the freshness of eggs can be determined by placing them in water. When they are fresh, they will sink in cold water, but as they decompose they become lighter and will float.

Since it is known that the spoiling of eggs is due to the entrance of air through the porous shell, it may be inferred that their decay may be prevented either by protecting the shell so that air cannot enter or by keeping the eggs at so low a temperature that bacteria cannot grow.

Although stored eggs always deteriorate more or less, both of these methods of preservation have proved very satisfactory, the former being used largely in the home and the latter finding its solution in cold storage.

A knowledge of how eggs can be preserved, however, is of great value, for if there were no means of preservation and eventual marketing, the price of eggs would at times rise to actual prohibitive limits.

That eggs as an article of food are growing in importance is indicated by the fact that their production has come to be a large and widely distributed industry. Owing to the private consumption and sale of eggs, an accurate statement of the number of eggs produced is difficult to give.

Still, in a report, the United States Bureau of Agriculture estimated the value of the yearly egg production at something more than three million dollars, with an allowance of about 210 eggs, or 17-1/2 dozen, per capita each year, or 4 eggs a week for each person.

These figures, however, are only suggestive of the production, use, and value of eggs, for as the population increases so does the use of eggs. In fact, they are proving to be almost indispensable to the cook, the baker, the manufacturers of certain foods, and many others.

With the increase in the demand for eggs has come a corresponding steady advance in the money value of this product and, consequently, an increase in its price. The housewife who would practice economy in cookery can readily see, therefore, that with reference to the number of eggs required and the ways in which they are used, she must choose carefully the recipes and methods she employs.

If the eggs are always considered a part of a meal, their use is seldom an extravagance, even at such high prices as they sometimes attain. On the other hand, if a dessert that requires the use of many eggs is added to a meal that is itself sufficient in food value, it is not unreasonable to regard such use of eggs as an extravagance.

A point that should be taken into consideration in the use of eggs in the diet, especially when their price seems very high, is that there is no waste matter in them, unless the shell is regarded as waste.

Therefore, they are often more economical than other foods that can be bought for less money. It must not be understood, however, that eggs are used only as an article of diet.

They are also a very important food ingredient, being employed in the preparation of many kinds of dishes. For instance, they are often used to thicken custards, sauces, etc.; to clarify soups and jellies; to lighten cakes, puddings, hot breads, and other baked mixtures; to form the basis for salad dressings; and to combine or hold together many varieties of food.

Cooking an egg properly is not as easy as boiling water. You can ruin eggs, or dishes containing eggs, in seconds, and there’s no bringing them back to edible. The major problem in cooking eggs is that they are as sensitive to heat as rubber-and heat them too fast or just a little too long, and they’ll will be like eating rubber. But first let’s explore their uses.

Besides being a good source of nutrition, eggs also perform three culinary tasks with profound significance in western cookery:

1. Binding-for example, in custards the yolks and whites act together to thicken and bind other ingredients in the liquid. You activate this by low heat until both coagulate, solidify and incorporate the rest of the ingredients into their structure.

2. Emulsifying-for example, in mayonnaise, salad dressings and hollandaise sauce. It is the egg yolk that permanently suspends oil in water. Yolk is an emulsion, which makes it an efficient emulsifier with other ingredients. Emulsions are complex systems that form according to physical and chemical laws.

3. Foaming-as in sponge cakes and soufflés. The albumen in the egg white is able to hold enormous quantities of air in its structure when you beat it, and it forms a semistable foam. Here beaten egg whites act alone in two similar capacities-as leavener to give a light, airy texture and as a semisolid network of support to give structure to the baked product.

Eggs are useful in two other ways: they lend their delicate yellow coloring to whatever you bake with a yellow pigment (xanthophyll) in the yolk and, secondly, they also act as a glue for breaded foods. When the egg coagulates in the heat (oven or deep-fry oil), a tight adhesion forms between the food and the breading material.

Cooking whole egg in the shell

If you can boil water, you should be able to boil an egg, right? But cooking them and ending up with easily peelable shells and perfect, bright yellow, still-moist yolks in the dead center of the whites is somewhat trickier.

First, let’s straighten out our terminology. The American Egg Board declares that there is no such thing as a hard-boiled egg. Eggs simply should not be boiled, the egg people maintain. It is a hard-cooked egg that we are after, and we accomplish this by cooking them in barely simmering water or letting the eggs stand in water that is just been brought to boil.

Although the American Egg Board may be correct, the terms hard-boiled and soft-boiled are too firmly entrenched in our kitchen terminology to change. An overcooked egg has a dry and discolored yolk. Too much heat eventually breaks down proteins, and discoloration occurs as these react with sulfur and iron compounds in the yolk.

To avoid this fate, set your timer and cook an egg no more than 10 minutes. A centered yolk is critical only when you are planning to cut the cooked eggs in half. The Egg Board says storing eggs pointed end down gives a better chance of a centered yolk. Egg packers always pack

To peel the shell off both easily and fast, leaving a fully intact egg behind is visually important for some recipes, especially hors d’oeuvres. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to remove a shell that won’t let go of the egg white. You end up with an egg that looks like an outer-space-pitted meteorite.

Let’s look at the physics of what makes one egg peel readily and another cling to the shell as if its life depended on it. I discussed above the two membranes that is between the shell and the white.

First, the fresher the egg, the stronger the bond of the outside of those two membranes. With aging, the membranes shrink and the bond weakens. Because of that strong bond, hard-boiled fresh-laid eggs are the toughest to peel. Once they are about a week old, the membrane’s bond begins to weaken considerably. That is one thing you don’t need to worry about when you buy eggs at the supermarket. No eggs are likely to be less than a week old by the time they hit the supermarket shelf.

Not only their freshness, but the way you cook eggs can also affect the shrinking of the membrane. First, bring eggs to room temperature before cooking them. Starting with cold eggs ups the chances of cracking while in the cooking water because there is too much temperature change.

Eggs should warm up in an hour or two on your counter (depending how warm your kitchen is), or in a pot of very warm water in a few minutes.

Place the eggs in a cooking pot. Fill the pot with water to about an inch above the top of the eggs. (Adding salt to the water, as some cookbooks recommend, does nothing to aid in peeling, and it doesn’t help the flavor, either. The salt does not penetrate the shell.) Turn the burner on high and keep an eye on the pot. As soon as the water starts to boil, put the lid on and reduce the heat. Simmer in barely bubbling water for 10 minutes.

Remove the eggs from the hot water with a slotted spoon (don’t pour the hot water off yet), set them in a bowl and run cold water over them for half a minute to give them the shock of their lives (this helps prevent yolk discoloration, too), then put them back in the hot water for another half a minute for another shock.

Drain the hot water and place the pot under running cold water until the eggs feel cool, 3 to 4 minutes. The shocks should shrink the fine membranes enough to separate them from the shells and the eggshell should come off easily, but don’t be in a hurry. If you have the time, the shell comes off even easier if you let the eggs chill for a few hours.

The first step in peeling is to place all the eggs in an empty pot, cover with a lid and shake them gently up and down and side to side, so they bang against the pot and each other. This shatters the shells into a network of cracks, another help to peel. Be gentle so the eggs themselves don’t break. The shells are now as easy to remove as freshly blanched tomato skins.

Soaking the eggs in water for half hour after cracking them is also helpful if you have the time. The water seeps in under the shells, and they almost fall off by themselves. Peeling under running water or in a large bowl of water is another good idea. Start peeling at the flat end as that is the end that contains the air pocket.

Peel the shells off so the membranes remain with the shell, not on the egg white. Food industry egg peelers who peel eggs by the thousands, day in and day out, use this technique, piling the perfect oval, shiny, nude eggs in small mountains. No machine

has yet been invented for this job that can match the human touch.

Soft-boiled eggs

Soft-boiled eggs are simple because you don’t need to worry about easy peeling. Bring them to room temperature before cooking to avoid them shocking in boiling water and the shell cracking. If you are in a hurry, place refrigerated eggs in a bowl of very warm water.

In 10 minutes they will be near room temperature. When the water is boiling, slip the eggs in the pot one at a time with a spoon and start the timer. Cover the pot and keep the water on a gentle simmer. For large eggs, 4 minutes of cooking gives you firm whites with runny yolks in the middle.

Adjust this time half minute either way for softer or firmer eggs. Similarly, adjust the time if you use smaller or larger eggs than the standard large size.