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Kitchen Myths
Facts and fiction about food and cooking
Tag Archives: eggs
Cold egg/hot water is why boiled eggs crack
Posted by on September 16, 2023
Many people hard-cook eggs by putting them in already-boiling water. The temperature shock, it is claimed, causes the shell to expand quickly and crack, with stringy egg white leaking out. But while this seems to make sense, it is not true.
First of all, an expanding shell in not likely to crack–a shrinking shell is. In this case, an egg might crack when it is done cooking and is transferred from the boiling water to the cold. Of course, by this time, cracks do not matter.
iI one saw Julia Child, on her show, demonstrate this. She took a bunch of raw eggs from an ice water bath directly into boiling water, and not one of them cracked. Pretty convincing!
So, why do some eggs crack? It seems to be two things. Some eggs already have invisible cracks in them from rough handling during production and shipping. These will indeed open up in hot water and release egg white. Also, rapidly boiling water will bounce the eggs around and cause new cracks. Thus, if you must boil eggs, use gently simmering water.
But the best way to cook “hard-boiled” eggs is, in my and many other cooks’ opinions, steaming. Please refer to this post.
Poach eggs in water with vinegar for a better shape
Posted by on June 2, 2022
Eggs set up when their proteins denature, typically when exposed to heat. But acids–such as vinegar–also can cause egg whites to denature. Thus, some people add vinegar to the poaching liquid on the theory that it will give eggs with a nicer shape.
Nice theory, but it doesn’t work. The problem is that acid denatures egg proteins slowly, and by the time the vinegar has an effect the eggs are already set up from the heat. And the vinegar can make the eggs a bit tougher and, of course, add a vinegar taste. So, skip the vinegar!
What about salt? It has no effect on the cooking but can help the flavor.
For best results, salt scrambled eggs at the end of cooking
Posted by on May 25, 2022
My usual technique was to beat the eggs with salt (and maybe a touch of milk) and cook them immediately. The other day I got distracted and the salted, beaten eggs sat for about 30 minutes before they went in the pan. They were unusually good! So I did some research and turns out I was not imagining it.
When eggs beaten with salt sit for a while, the salt causes some physical changes. You can see this in their color–after sitting, the salted eggs take on a deeper, richer yellow color. It also leads to particularly moist and tender curds when cooked. Beating in the salt just before cooking gives fine results too, just not quite as fine! And adding salt near the end of cooking gives tougher curds that may be watery. So, salt early when you can!
When making a meringue, you must not get even a tiny speck of yolk in the egg whites or they won’t beat up properly
Posted by on April 20, 2012
There’s a kernel of truth in this one. When you beat egg whites until they are stiff, you are actually creating a foam in which the egg white proteins form bubbles with the air you are beating in. Fats tend to collapse foams and an egg yolk contains a lot of fat, hence the origin of this “rule.” It may have had some validity when people made meringues by hand, but with today’s power mixers you’ll be able to make a perfectly good, stiff meringue even if a bit of yolk gets mixed in.
Brown eggs are more nutritious than white eggs
Posted by on December 31, 2011
In fact, you can’t judge an egg by its cover, or some such. The color of an egg’s shell has nothing to do with the quality of what’s inside but rather is related to the color of the hen’s feathers and earlobes.
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