Eggs- 6 ways
Check out the youtube video here: https://youtu.be/n-ph4fmtqdI
Eggs are one of the most nutrient dense, inexpensive, and easy to prepare foods we can get. If you are exhausted and don’t want to spend a lot of time preparing a meal, make some eggs in your prefered method and some whole grain toast, and you have an easy meal. You can also add eggs to avocado toast and have a more rounded meal. Below I am going to include some hints for each style of eggs as well as some general information that will help you overall in how to use eggs in the kitchen.
General tips:
Always crack eggs on a flat surface. When you crack them on the side of a bowl or cup, particles of the shell get pushed into the egg. 1 in every 20,000 eggs has salmonella on the inside, but almost all have salmonella on the outside, so you are contaminating the egg by cracking on the side of the bowl.
Eggs are able to be used for much longer than you would think. There is an easy way to tell if an egg is fresh. Fill up a bowl with water. Place the egg in the water. If it lays on its side, it’s fresh. If it stands on the end, it’s getting old. If it floats, don’t use it. The longer eggs sit, the more air enters the shell. So the older they are, the more air is in them.
If you are making something with raw eggs, you may want to use pasteurized shell eggs. These are whole eggs that have been heated up to kill any bacteria. This is especially important if anyone you are serving might have a compromised immune system. For elderly, preschool and younger, and those with medically compromised immune systems, you don’t want to use raw eggs at all unless they are pasteurized.
If you are making meringue or royal icing, consider using dried egg whites or meringue powder. This means you are not using raw eggs so foodborne illness risk is drastically lower. It still needs to be refrigerated, however.
Scrambled Eggs
When making scrambled eggs, it is all about what you prefer.
Adding in liquid helps the eggs be more fluffy. You can use:
Milk from skim-whole
Cream
Sour Cream (Adds flavor)
Greek yogurt (Adds flavor an nutritional value)
Even water
If you want them to look “fancier” use white pepper. It has a spicier flavor and doesn’t show as much.
Some say not to salt before hand, but it doesn’t have a huge impact on the final product structure wise and will help a lot with flavoring them all the way through.
Adding cheese after they are coagulated is a better idea since the fat and water in cheese can have a negative impact on structure.
Don’t cook on too high a heat. This causes the proteins to squeeze together too tight and too quickly and it squeezes out the water and then you have watery eggs.
The more you whisk, the smoother the final product will be.
If you are watching your fat intake, use a non-stick pan and a small amount of cooking spray. If you are not, you can use:
Butter
Let it brown a bit before adding to give extra flavor.
Bacon grease
Don’t keep after frying eggs.
Don’t throw away after cooking bacon. Save in one of these: Bacon Fat Keeper
Avocado, canola, or other oil of choice
Use a silicone spatula like this: Silicone Spatulas, to move around the pan rather than a conventional turner or spatula.
Take out before they look done. They will continue cooking on the plate and will get overcooked if you finish cooking completely in the pan.
Sunnyside, Over Easy, Medium, or Hard
If using bacon grease to fry these, strain it so that the particles don’t burn.
Use more fat than you think you will need. Eggs stick like crazy, so you want to give yourself some extra insurance.
For sunny side eggs, to cook the top of the white without cooking the yolk, spoon fat on top of the white.
For any fried egg, fresher is better. This is because the yolk will not have broken down as much and therefore will be less likely to bust when you flip.
For over eggs, cook on the 2nd side for approximately:
easy: 30 seconds
medium: 1 minute
hard: 2-3 minutes
Boiled eggs
Boiled eggs are much easier to make if you don’t boil them for long. I know that sounds strange, but we often forget to set timers so its easier to bring them up to a boil, turn them off and let them sit in the water for 20 minutes then chill with ice.
With fried eggs, fresh eggs are better, but with boiled eggs, older eggs peel easier due to the way the egg breaks down over time.
Refrigerating an egg for a day or two after cooking also helps with peeling.
Devilled eggs
Recipe:
6 eggs
1/4 cup mayo (only Dukes)
1 tbsp mustard
1/4 cup relish
2 tsp. sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Bring eggs to a boil, let sit in hot water for 20 minutes and then chill and peel.
Cut eggs in half and place yolks in a bowl.
Add other ingredients and stir or beat with a hand mixer.
the hand mixer makes the filling smooher
Spoon into egg white halves or put filling in a zip top bag, cut the corner off and pipe in.
Garnish with paprika or green olives.
I provided a recipe for devilled eggs as a starting point. You can change it up based on your preferences or on the way the product looks. Some prefer a firmer filling, so you may use less mayo. Some prefer it less sweet and so you may leave out the sugar and change the type of relish. Be as creative as you want to be.
Let us know in the comments what adaptations you would like to try and what way of cooking eggs is your favorite.