Great Eggspectations

Now that you know how to choose fresh from foul eggs, you need to learn the tricks of preparing the perfect egg.

boiling egg

Boiling eggs is a tried, tested, and true method of cooking eggs and perhaps the most elementary way to prepare proto-fowl, but even something as simple as boiling an egg can be complicated—eggs crack, they over cook, they undercook, and they get discoloured. This quick and elementary guide will provide you with tips and techniques for faultless eggs every time.

Soft-boiled

runny soft-boiled egg

Soft-boiled eggs are a difficult to time perfectly. This is complicated by the fact that not everybody’s idea of what exactly constitutes a soft-boiled egg synchs up.

Wait till the water comes to a boil, and then turn the water down to a simmer; too roaring a boil and your egg might get cracked on the bottom of the pan. Cradle your egg in a spoon and sink it down to the bottom of the pan. Just dropping your egg into the pan nearly guarantees a crack.

Generic soft boiling times

• For a medium sized egg: 3 minutes for runny; 5 minutes for a medium-boiled egg (the yolk runs a bit in the centre, but everything else is pretty much solid). For large eggs add one minute to these cooking times, and for extra large eggs add one more minute to the cooking times.

medium soft-boiled egg

Plunge the egg into cold water after removing it from the pan. This will stop the cooking process and keep the egg at your desired runniness.

Hard boiled

Unlike soft-boiled, the timing with hardboiled eggs is a little more flexible. Thus, if you are in a rush, you don’t have to wait for pot to come to a boil before plunging the egg into the watery depths (just add a 3 minutes to the cooking time). Once the water is boiling, reduce your heat to simmer, again insuring your precious cargo doesn’t crack.

• Boil your egg for 10-12 minutes (judge based on sized).

Once the eggs are boiled submerge them into a cold bath promptly. But why you ask? Boiled eggs can’t over cook can they? Well, not in the same way that soft-boiled eggs can overcook, but the eggs can develop dark green rings around the yolks if cooked on too high of a temperature or cooked for too long.

overcooked franken-egg

What are those dark green rings that appear around yolks? When eggs are overcooked, cooked at too high a temperature, or the cooking water is iron rich, then a green ring appears around the yolk. This green ring is a manifestation of the iron and sulfur compounds in the egg. It doesn’t affect the taste, but it’s unsightly for some egg dishes, and over cooking does compromise the integrity of the egg’s protein. Ultimately, it’s just not optimal.

So, what if my egg did crack, do I need to start over? Nope, if there’s a small crack on your egg just add a little vinegar to the cooking water. Vinegar prevents the egg white from seeping out of the egg. A common reason eggs crack is due to heat expansion. Rather than throwing your fridge cold eggs in a pot of boiling water, warm them up a bit! By placing your eggs in warm water for a few minutes while the water is coming to a boil you will insure crack free eggs (nearly) every time.

Is there ever a time I should crack my eggs? Some people like to put a small puncture with the tip of a knife into the air cell of the egg to reduce the likelihood of cracking. I think this is nonsense and leads to more cracked eggs and undesired omelets than necessary. There is one time that cracking your egg is essential: before allowing your hard boiled eggs to cool in a bath of cold water. Cracking the egg before cooling it will make future peeling a breeze.

Eggsposé: Deciphering Egg Cipher

Eggs are fantastic. They’re so multifaceted. They can be beaten, boiled, fried, scrambled, baked, sweet, or salty, and they’re integral to so many different and delicious dishes from soufflés to flaeskeaeggekage (the Danish bacon and egg cake). Eggs are great for a healthy satisfying meal that’s quick and wallet friendly, but they’re a little secretive. How can you tell when an egg is fresh? You can’t squeeze it like a tomato, or smell it like a fish. This article will help you decipher egg cipher.

How do you tell if an egg’s fresh? Old eggs have a smooth and shiny shell, that when hard-boiled is easy to remove, while fresh eggs have a rough and chalky shell that is, you guessed it, harder to remove when hardboiled. If texture is not a clear enough indicator, there is an easy way to test the freshness of your egg.

• Fill up a bowl, or glass, with cool water. The water level should be at least three times as high as your egg is tall.
• Place your egg in the water and wait while the egg settles.
• Observe your results: the fresher your egg, the deeper in the water it will settle. A very fresh egg will settle on the bottom and lay on its side. A moderately old, but still edible, egg will lie on the bottom balancing on its smallest tip. If your egg floats to the surface then it is no longer edible and should be thrown away.

The reason this trick works is that as an egg ages it absorbs air that causes the cell expands. Thus, the older the egg is the higher it will float when submerged in water. It’s like there’s a tiny balloon in the egg, that grows in girth with every passing day. If you want to slow down the egg aging process it is best to keep your eggs dirty. I know that sounds strange, but by washing the egg you remove their protective coating; without their film of dirt the eggs will spoil faster and absorb fridge odors.

Is the colour of the yoke an indication of freshness? No, it’s not. The colour of an egg yolk reflects the chicken’s diet and has nothing to do with freshness. The yellow colour is the result of the chicken eating foods high in xanthophylls (this fancy chemical is what makes leaves turn pretty colours in fall). Chickens that eat barley or wheat have lighter yolks, whereas chickens that dine on corn or alfalfa yield medium yellow yolks. Some farmers will even feed their chickens marigolds, or other orange plant matter, to induce that bright orange yolk colour associated with free range eggs.

What are those weird red spots in the egg? When I was little my friend Jordan and I tried to hatch a clutch of chicken eggs, and so we made a nest out of old clothes and placed the eggs next to the radiator to keep them warm. I think we might of even tried sitting, ever so delicately, on the makeshift nest; however, after about a week her older sister kyboshed the eggsperiment. Jordan and I were particularly distraught because in one of the eggs there was a large red spot that looked like an embryo about to take on life.

Later I discovered that the embryo in question, referred to by ovologis, and internet eggsperts, as a blood spot, did not signify fertilization. Blood spots are caused by a ruptured blood vessel during the formation of the egg; they do not indicate that the egg is fetid. In fact, the their presence denotes freshness, because blood spots dilute as the egg ages.

What about those rope-like strands of egg white? What’s their deal? Those are called chalazae, and they help to keep the yolk of an egg centered. By keeping the yolk suspended the chalazae protect the yolk from damage insuring better embryonic development. Chalazae are also indicator of freshness—the more prominent they are the fresher the egg. If you are really bothered by them you can remove them with the tip of a knife or with tweezers (blood spots can also be removed this way).

Are brown eggs more nutritious than white eggs? Neither brown nor white eggs are any better than the other. A chicken with red earlobes will lay a brown egg, whereas a chicken with white earlobes will lay a white egg. The colour of an egg has no impact on taste or nutrition– the differences are purely cosmetic.

So, to recap…

This is how to tell if an egg is fresh

1. Rough, chalky shell
2. Sinks when placed in a bowl of cold water
3. Has red spots
4. Has white ropey strands

In the next tips segment I’ll give you tips for perfect eggs every time. Stay tuned.

AvocaDo’s and Don’ts

Avocados need to be seduced. You can’t just pick one up, cut it open, and have at it. No, that would be too simple. Avocadoes are a complicated fruit that demand perfecting timing, a little coddling, and a few sweet caresses. Undress an avocado too early and they’re less appetizing than styrofoam, too late and they’re nothing but a pit in an oversized avocado hide.

Here’s my quick and dirty guide to avocado courtship

Which kind of avocado?
Over the past few years different cultivars have started showing up in North American stores, from the oversized behemoths to the “slimcado” that promises all the flavour with half the fat, but which avocado’s best?

Hass, Fuerte, and Bacon are the three most common store varieties. Hass has a rich taste and strong flavour, whereas Fuerte and Bacon have subtler, lighter taste. Hass has a robust flavour and a long shelf life, it is best to have around the house for sandwiches and salads, but both Fuerte and Bacon make a meaner avocado milk shake. For the casual ‘cado consumer I recommend picking up the Hass. One great thing about the Hass is that it’s communicative; unripe Hass is a dull green, but when it’s ready to be peeled it darkens to a purplish-black. The Gwen variety is similar in shape and taste to the Hass, but doesn’t change colour when ripe. For a comprehensive avocado glossary visit avocado.org.

this hass is unripe

Patience Is A Virtue
I know you want your avocado ripe and ready at the store, but store ripe often means black and blue. Fruit etiquette is slipping, and most store goers have no problems poking, prodding, and squeezing. If you select a firm ‘cado you’re less likely to end up with a fruit that suffers from a history of store abuse.

Strategy

But now I have a rock hard fruit and the party’s in two days! Don’t fret; there are ways to coax your fruit into ripeness.

• The easiest strategy to induce ripening is to close your avocado in a brown paper bag with a few apples, bananas, or tomatoes, and store in a warm, dry, place for 2-3 days (like on top of the fridge). Why does that work? Well, the aforementioned fruits naturally produce a lot of ethylene gas allowing you to trick your fruit into ripening. Ethylene is a hormone in plants that regulates life functions. Ethylene gas is also synthetically manufactured to help the agriculture industry increase yields by producing speedy crops.
• Even faster? I don’t particularly love this trick because it’s a little sloppy, but some people rave about it. In a small zip lock bag place your avocado and half a banana peel. Close in a drawer for one to two days.
• Faster still? Some people will tell you it’s ok to put your avocados in the microwave on the defrost setting. This is not okay. Make another recipe and wait until the avocados naturally ripen. Microwaving avocados may soften them slight, but they’ll be flavourless.
• Not in a Hurry? Or maybe you just don’t have time, a paper bag, or spare apples? You can leave your avocado out and wait 3-5 days, or just wrapping the an avocado in newspaper, and placing it in a dry, warm place, will help aid in speeding up the ripening process.

Is it ready yet?
You can always do the pressure, or squeeze, test. The skin should be firm, but the flesh underneath should yield to pressure. Another way to get your avocados to confess their ripeness is the stem test—this test also avoids unsightly bruising. If the stem gives when you poke it gently the fruit is ripe.

this hass is ripe

 

Oups You told me to leave them in a brown paper bag on top of the fridge and now I’ve forgotten them. If you allow your avocadoes to over ripen they will develop dark veins and brown age spots, but they’re still usable. Especially for guacamole purposes.

Leftovers I don’t want to eat the entire avocado, but if I put it in the fridge it’s destined to turn brown and unappetizing. The avocado starts to turn brown due to oxidization. A quick and dirty way to keep your avocado fresh for later is to spread a thin layer of lemon juice, just a squirt, on the exposed flesh and wrap fruit in cling film. Make sure that the cling film is pressed tightly against the exposed flesh, keeping air out and flavour in.

• It’s a kitchen myth that putting the avocado pit with the fruit will help it stay fresher longer. Leaving a pit in a halved avocado will keep it fresher longer because there is less fruit exposed to the air; however, if you take the pit out and put it back in it will have no impact on the fruit’s freshness.

souper saver

A penny-wise way to have your soup and eat it too.

Now, a lot of people turn their nose up to uber-discounted, not so fresh, fruit and veg that gets put in the dollar bags and pushed to the back of the store. I know that wilted celery isn’t the most tempting, but please don’t turn your nose up just yet! Last-leg vegetables are great fodder for soup.

So, check out the dollar bin and make your soup a souper-saver!

No more tears!

There’s enough to cry about in this life, like spilt milk, but you don’t need to cry over onions. Here are a couple techniques to avoid the saline task of peeling and cutting onions.

• Freeze your onion for 25 minutes prior to cutting.
• Soak your onion in cold water, and peel while submerged, let the onion soak in the water for half an hour, dry and chop. Some people like to cut the onion under water, I do not suggest this method—you might cut yourself rather than the onion.
• Hold a piece of wheat bread in your mouth while chopping. Change the bread if it begins to get soggy.
• Wear a mask and snorkel.