Walking on eggshells

[ewx]

[Poll #975103]

Comments

[karen2205]

I've heard that the best way to remove egg shell from egg/baking mixtures is with another piece of egg shell. Not tried it for myself so don't know how well it works.

[kake]

It works very well. Fingers are also good, though. Both are better than spoons. Spoons are better than knives or forks.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

That's what I do. It seems to work.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

boringly, the "some other way" of fishing it out is with a spoon.

[hotbadgerdeluxe.livejournal.com]

Same here - mastery of the teaspoon is a vital culinary skill.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

And then you get to put MTsp after your name, too.

[aldabra]

I thought a teaspoon was morally in the knife-or-fork category.

[mtbc100.livejournal.com]

Me too.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

All cooks should be prepared to use their fingers.

The fingers should be clean, naturally, but food should be felt. Cooking should be tactile. You should be prepared to taste it, sniff it, look at it, listen to it and feel it. Anyone not prepared to do all of the above isn't a cook.

(Tasting may be suspended if the item in question requires the addition of heat to become non-toxic, or safe in other ways. Raw beef - taste. Raw port ... err, pork ... - no.)

So, yes, losing a piece of eggshell is an occasion for diving in. Unless it's too small to pick out, in which case some tool may be required. In that case, something that can get at the eggshell without it slipping to one side in the albumen is required. If it's too small for that, well, it's not toxic.

[kake]

Also: was this poll designed to make me subconsciously crave fishfinger sandwiches?

[mtbc100.livejournal.com]

Oooh, that's a new concept for me.

[kake]

Fishfinger sandwiches are fantastic. I like tartare sauce and ketchup in mine.

[kaet.livejournal.com]

I've not made an omlette, but when I use eggs I always break each one into a cup, check my efficacy (usually in separating egg from yolk, rather than looking for shell) and, if successful, pour it into the mixture.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

I believe that's standard advice for avoiding a bad egg contaminating the three your already broke. However, I don't remember ever having encountered a bad egg...

[kaet.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that, I guess that makes sense. I've had bloody eggs before. I doubt they'd do much harm, but I'd rather not bake with them, anyway. I've never had a classic black and smelly egg.

[liv]

I do that, break the eggs into a separate glass and check them before adding them to my mixture. I have never found a properly "bad" egg either, but bloody eggs aren't kosher and I don't want to (ritually) contaminate the mixture and the bowl I'm mixing in if one comes up. It's interesting that you have a similar custom but with no religious basis.

[ex-lark-asc.livejournal.com]

As I understand it (from an outsider's point of view) a lot of kosher practise actually is basically about food hygiene - seafood is still a superb way to get food poisoning, for example, and raw meat really should be absolutely kept away from pretty much everything else, especially in hot climates where you're likely to eat salad. Blood is a great medium for disease transmission, so I'm not entirely surprised bloody eggs come under both religious and scientific prohibitions :)

[mtbc100.livejournal.com]

I go via-cup so that all the eggs hit the hot oil at the same moment.

[sphyg.livejournal.com]

Damn, I want scrambled eggs now.

[mtbc100.livejournal.com]

I may leave it in if the food is destined for someone ignorant of the accident and the fragment is so small that they won't plausibly notice.

[mhoulden.livejournal.com]

Not tempted to go for frozen omelettes then?

When I do omelettes myself (not very often because I don't buy eggs very often) I usually use 3 eggs, stir in some dried herbs before they go in the pan, and then add quartered mushrooms, decent sliced ham and grated cheese. Serve with a baked potato and a green salad.

Hungry now.

[gareth-rees.livejournal.com]

What you need is liquid egg — in a carton!

[armb.livejournal.com]

Fingers if it's big, knife or fork or spoon if it's small enough to be fiddly, leave it in if it's smaller still.