Cooking Tips

Eggs are delicious, nutritious and versatile. They can be used as an ingredient in cooking or as the star of a whole meal. An egg can be added to a dish for extra nutritional value, and even your pet will benefit from a raw egg as a tasty treat.

Here are some common terms explained.

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 centre 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 or a 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 just right when a thin film adheres to a metal spoon when dipped into the custard. Stirred custards should not boil. This act of coating a metal spoon is 20 to 30 degrees below boiling. The finished product should be soft and thickened but not set. Stirred custards will thicken slightly after refrigeration.

Slightly beaten:
Use a fork or a whisk to beat eggs until the yolks and whites are blended.

Well beaten:
Use a mixer, blender, beater or whisk to beat until they are light, frothy and evenly coloured.

Thick and lemony-coloured:
Beat yolks at a 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) for about 3 to 5 minutes. Although yolks can't incorporate as much air as whites, this beating creates foam and is important for airy creations such as sponge cakes.

Add a small amount of hot mixture to eggs/egg yolks:
When eggs or egg yolks are added all at once to a hot mixture, they may begin to coagulate too rapidly and form lumps. 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 used at room temperature before combining with a fat and sugar. Cold eggs can harden the fat and the batter might become curdled and effect 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 separated from the whites before beating 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.

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 centre of the separator and the white will drop through the slots into the bowl beneath.

Add cream of tartar:
Egg whites beat to greater volume than most other foods, but the air beaten into them can be lost quite easily. A stabilising agent such as cream of tartar is added to the whites to make the foam more stable. Lemon juice works also.

Add sugar, 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time:
When making meringues and some cakes, sugar is best 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, and 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. 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.

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.