Great Egg-spectations: a focus on Eggs

Published On: 22 August 20241760 words8.8 min read

Published On: 22 August 2024

Records suggest that both reptile and bird eggs have been consumed by humonoids & homosapiens for millions of years but it was in around 1500 BC that people in South East Asia began to harvest chicken eggs for food. It’s hard to image a time when chicken eggs weren’t a significant part of normal diet. This nutritious, versatile ingredient has dozens of uses apart from just being poached, fried and scrambled while having the lowest planetary impact amongst animal proteins. One of my favourite egg containing recipes is Meringues – keep reading to find my delicious, super easy recipe and instructional video ☺.

What’s in it for me?

Eggs are affordable power houses of nutrition. The whites are packed with complete protein (containing all 9 essential amino acids that our bodies need for growth and repair of cells and are particularly important for heart health and brain development) while the yolks are rich in the fat soluble vitamins A, D & E, Omega 3 fatty acids and carotenoid antioxidants.

Egg-stremely Useful!

My daughter is not a great egg fan, but thankfully she doesn’t realise that dozens of the recipes I make have a nutritious egg base – so she gets to eat egg, just in a more delectable & acceptable form than just poached, fried or scrambled!

The composition of an egg makes it the most versatile ingredient in baking and cooking. The Egg-citing uses of egg include:

Enriches Dishes and Improves Flavour: as eggs are so rich in nutrients, adding them to pastas, bread and pastry increases the nutritional value of such foods.
Raising Agent: beaten egg white, when added to baked goods, results in light, well risen products. This is because as the baked product heats in the oven, the air bubbles in the beaten egg white expand causing a lifting and lightening of the mixture. In some food such as sponge cakes, meringues or soufflés the only raising agent is air introduced by beating egg.
Binding Agent and Coating of food: egg protein coagulates or sets when heated, which makes it a great binding agent for crumbly ingredients like meat patties and croquettes. Egg is also frequently used to coat foods before frying so that the surface is sealed by the egg and limits the amount of oil that is soaked up. Food such as fish and chicken is dipped in beaten egg before coating with breadcrumbs – without the egg the breadcrumbs would not adhere properly to the surface of the food.
Thickening Agents: Lightly beaten egg is used as a thickening agent in custards and pie fillings.
Emulsifying Agent: Egg yolk helps join watery and oily substances together by forming an emulsion – like in mayonnaise.
Glazing and Sealing: Lightly beaten egg, when brushed over scones and pastry before baking, renders a beautiful golden shine to such baked products. When baking pastry blind (before the filling is added), brushing the raw pastry with beaten egg white to seal the surface prevents the pastry from becoming too soft after baking when the filling is added.
Eggs add structure and texture to baked products: nothing else comes close to rendering a fine, even crumb in cakes.

Purchasing Eggs

When choosing eggs in the shop, always purchase eggs with the furthest best before date, and then store the eggs in the fridge at home. Eggs left out of the fridge for long periods of time lose their freshness far faster than their refrigerated friends. Most recipes have been formulated around large eggs so if you purchase extra-large or jumbo eggs you may find that your baked goods are not as successful as you need to adjust the liquid content.

From a very young age my daughter has been the “Egg Monitor” in our house. She was taught to carefully unpack the eggs and place them into the egg storage racks in the fridge. To this day this prestigious job is one of her favourites and she is really quite possessive over it ☺.

Let’s unpack the various EGG-cellent types of chicken egg available in shops so that we know what we are buying. South African law however, does not yet have clear rules on organic and free-range practices so the egg industry is not yet properly monitored or controlled here. As with many things, you get what you pay for, so take note of the price of various egg types:

Organic: it is generally accepted that the term “Organic” refers to chickens that have had no harmful or toxic chemicals added to their lifestyle with no exposure to growth hormones, antibiotics or preservatives. This means that the chickens are housed in a large open area where they are free to move during the day, interact and feed as they would naturally. These tend to be smaller flocks and the eggs produced are far more expensive because of the labour intensive, costly farming practices used. We have friends with a farm and their chickens are the epitome of organic, being allowed to forage around the homestead for whatever they can find all day and also getting get supplemental uncontaminated corn based chicken feed daily. Organically raised chickens are not only healthier and happier, but produce eggs rich in nutrients (especially Omega 3 fatty acids). The yolk of such eggs usually has a rich orange colour as opposed to the pale yellow, nutritionally deficient yolk of battery raised chicken eggs.
Free Range: chickens have access to some outside area (often for only part of their lives) where they can roam and forage. The size of the flock they are housed with is smaller than battery chickens and they tend to produce decently nutritious eggs. Chickens in a free range setting are often treated with antibiotics and their feed is not carefully controlled by SA legislation.
Battery Chickens: most eggs available in shops were produced in a battery where chickens are kept in very small cages in indoor batteries with no opportunity for movement. Due to the extremely large number of chickens housed in these batteries, they are fed the cheapest, highest calorie food and are fed antibiotics and growth hormones to ensure the biggest returns for the farmers. These eggs often have a thinner shell, pale yolk and lower nutrient content, however they do form an important source of protein for much of the lower income population.

Testing Eggs for Freshness

Egg quality degrades over time. Egg shells are porous and are designed to allow an exchange of gasses through them. The older an egg, the more gas is produced and the bigger the air sack in the egg becomes. There is an EGG-stremely easy way to test the freshness of eggs while still in the shell. This graphic from CookistWow on Instagram is so cute and simple to understand that I have decided to include it here:

All you need to check egg freshness is a glass or jug of water (I don’t add salt). Place an egg into the water filled container. If the egg sinks to the bottom the air sack is small and the egg is fresh. If the egg floats just off the bottom, then the air sack has enlarged and the egg needs to be used. If the egg floats on the top of the water it is filled with gas (probably the awful smelling sulphur dioxide) – DO NOT CRACK IT OPEN, DISCARD IT IMMEDIATELY – you have been warned ☺!

Storing Eggs for Future Use

Did you know that you can freeze eggs? Whole eggs can be frozen, but as their contents are liquid and EGG-spand as they freeze, it is best to break eggs into ice-cube trays, cover with plastic film and freeze individually. Once frozen these egg ‘ice- cubes’ can be stored in well sealed plastic bags for up to a year, however it is recommended to use whole frozen egg within 6 months to ensure the best results and freshness.

Ever used a recipe that needs either the egg white or yolk and haven’t been sure what to do with the left over egg? Egg white and yolk can also be successfully frozen separately too!

Egg white – after separating the egg, place in an airtight container, label the container with the number of whites (or place each egg white into an ice cube tray), seal well and freeze for up to 12 months. Defrost in the fridge and allow to stand at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before using.

Egg yolk – after separating the egg, place individual yolks into ice cube trays and sprinkle with sugar or salt to prevent the egg yolk drying out and becoming glutinous. I get the best results adding a 2,5 ml of milk to each yolk too before freezing. Cover and freeze and store the frozen yolk ice cubes in well sealed freezer bags or containers. Defrost in the fridge overnight and use as soon as they are defrosted.

Here’s the recipe you have eagerly been EGG-specting!

Meringues are a family specialty – my mom is the queen of meringue making and is frequently asked to supply her fabulous cream filled meringue baskets to family or church functions. Learning how to beat egg whites to the right stage is a right of passage for every cook and essential in making meringues successfully. In this online instructional video I cover all the stages of beating egg while showing you how to make my moms delicious meringues. For those of you who are prefer to have an actual recipe, here it is:

Quick to make, these light, crisp, sweet treats can be made into nests, sandwiched together with cream or crushed up to make delectable Eton Mess.

Meringues

Ingredients:

4 egg whites
310 ml granulated sugar (1 ¼ cups)

Oven: 120⁰ C
2 large baking trays lined with baking paper

Method:

Beat egg whites until stiff peak stage (must follow beater when it is lifted and then flop over just slightly).
Slowly add the sugar to the beaten egg white, beating all the time.
Beat until all the sugar is added and the mixture is thick and forms stiff peaks.
Spoon or pipe mixture onto greased baking sheets. If making meringue nests, create ‘crater’ in the centre of each meringue using a wet teaspoon.
Bake at 120⁰ C for 1 hour until lightly golden, risen but firm to the touch. Then turn off the oven and leave until cold.
Serve with cream and fresh berries/ berry coulis/chopped pecan nuts.

Store in an airtight container for up to 4 weeks out of the fridge.

If you make these meringues, please send me pictures and let me know how you enjoyed them!