Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with eggs

Throw 'em yolk recipes at me!

kitchencrush — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:17:49 -0800

How can I use leftover egg yolks? I want to make a chocolate mousse from a recipe that calls for a large number of egg whites but I feel guilty about just throwing the egg yolks away. So... please give me your best ideas and recipes for what to do with the yummy yummy yolks, folks.

If you like it then you should have put an egg on it

CharlesV42 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:48:46 -0800

What foods are commonly (or rather, uncommonly, i.e. not necessarily breakfast foods) served with a fried or poached egg? Making a list of foods that sometimes come with eggs on them. Any and all would be appreciated. So far:

- Corned Beef Hash
- Bi bim bap
- Pizza
- Hamburger
- Pasta carbonara
- Croque Madame
- Fried rice (sort of)
- Ramen

Any more delicious ideas?

Hardboiled.

molecicco — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:27:58 -0800

Should I eat it? Hard boiled eggs left in water over night. I made a bunch of hardboiled eggs, and then left the house for the evening before putting them away (so they were left in the hot water they were cooked in, but the stove off, so they cooled over night).

On the one hand, eggs go bad fast. On the other, they were left in a fairly airtight container (first the shell, then the water).

My inclination is to eat them... so should I?

How to eat fried eggs.

willpie — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:09:45 -0800

What are some good alternative ways to eat a fried egg? I have finally mastered the art of the over-easy fried egg. It's (unspeakably) delicious with toast, but I'm worried about getting bored. Aside from on toast, on a roll with cheese (and pork roll here in NJ), on an english muffin, and with bacon, what are some great ways to serve this deceptively simple treat?
Also, read a blog post a couple days about serving it over salad. Can anyone confirm or deny the awesomeness thereof?

Poke 'em with a stick!

Acacia — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:36:03 -0800

What is this slimy mess? Hubby and I plopped the canoe in Round Lake in Camas, Washington today and came upon these slimy masses hanging in the water from low branches. I've seen frogs eggs before, and they've looked nothing like this. There were a great many empty snail shells littering the shore, but Google images have snail eggs looking a lot different than these alien globs. I did the right thing, and poked them with a stick, but they weren't talking.
What the heck are those things?

Baby's First No-Hives Cupcakes, from the Hive Mind

Viola — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:31:55 -0800

I'm baking cupcakes for a toddler's first birthday, and I'd like to find an allergen-free recipe (no eggs, buttermilk, chocolate, nuts, etc) that is still tasty enough for adults to eat. I was considering baking two separate batches of cupcakes--one safe for the toddlers (of organic-minded, allergy-phobic parents) who might eat a couple bites and smear the rest on their faces, and another batch for adults who would enjoy baked goods beyond the inevitable sugar high. But I feel pressed for time and don't want to spend that much energy on a dozen baby-safe-but-egglessly-gross cupcakes if 90% of the finished product winds up on the picnic tables.

So what are my options for a hybrid of baby-safe and interesting, tasty cupcakes? I'm willing to compromise on the eggs if anyone can produce decent evidence that eggs in baked goods won't pose a threat to kids over one year, as my Google searching has been inconclusive.

If this sounds overly paranoid, it's because many folks at the party--including the birthday girl's parents--err on the side of extreme caution when it comes to their kid's diet: I had to rigorously persuade the mother to let her 1 year-old have processed sugar at her birthday party. This means any ingredients that pose even the slightest threat to little kids (chocolate, peanut butter flavoring, whole milk, strawberries, raspberries, real almond extract, honey) are strictly verboten.

And yes, it would also be cool if the adults won't have to suppress the urge to spit out the baby-safe cupcakes as well!

Thanks in advance!

Do I need to call an eggsorcist?

Etaoin Shrdlu — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:49:32 -0800

What are these eggs I found in my underwear drawer? I just discovered two small eggs in my underwear drawer. Around 5 mm or 1/4 inch in diameter, roughly spherical, hard white shell. I thought they were mothballs until I accidently crushed one. I was about to take a photo of the other but dropped it onto the floor, revealing the contents to be mostly yellow yolk and no visible sign of the embryonic mystery creature.

What laid these eggs, how did they get into my underwear drawer, and will the creature return to devour my family in the middle of the night? I live in rural Hong Kong.

Evaporation or Condensed Milk

Funmonkey1 — Mon, 25 May 2009 05:50:53 -0800

[RelationshipFilter]: Omelettes. Which is better to add to the eggs? I believe it's milk, and contend her family resorted to water as a result of poverty. What is the difference or is it just preference?

Help me find some decent eggs.

scarello — Thu, 21 May 2009 08:56:35 -0800

When given the choice between grocery store free range eggs or local battery cage eggs, which is a better choice? Like alot of folks who have read "Omnivores Dilemma", I have begun to really think hard about my food choices. My wife and I have been purchasing meat from a local farm and eating less of it on a whole, which has worked out well. But I have been having a hard time figuring out how to go about buying my eggs. I have been finding it very difficult to find a local producer of free range or at the very least, free run eggs (I am just outside of Toronto, Durham area). I found one local place that sells eggs, but they are battery caged hens. My only other option, is to buy free run from the grocery store. My question is this: which is better from a moral standpoint? Buying the free run from the grocery store (industrial) or the battery cage eggs that are local? I really can't help but feel that I am getting hosed purchasing the free run eggs from the grocery store (we do need to follow a budget, so saving money is important). If anyone knows of a place I can buy free range/run eggs locally, feel free to let me know!

Can you identify this short story about a kitten found during breakfast?

maudlin — Wed, 13 May 2009 13:26:47 -0800

This question about eggs reminded me of a short story I read years and years ago. It features a kitten and breakfast. The story was in an old collection for high school students I found in a secondhand shop, probably published in the 1960s at the latest. A fussy, stodgy middle-aged American man is sitting down to breakfast, which should usually consist of a perfectly soft-cooked three minute egg, but it's interrupted by his wife's discovery of a forlorn kitten under a bush in the backyard. Man's comfortable life is turned upside down when his wife adopts the kitten and is completely distracted (burnt toast and hard-cooked eggs!) but he eventually warms up to the kitten. The kitten is not eaten.

I can't remember anything else about the story, but it would be nice to find it. Any ideas?

No, seriously, how do you peel an egg?

Brandon Blatcher — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:19:41 -0800

What can you do ensure that the shell of a hard boiled eggs comes off easily every time? Lately things have been really hit or miss when I peel hard-boiled eggs.

Here's what how I peel them: I crack the shell by rolling them on a hard surface with a bit of pressure so that the entire shell is cracked. Then peel off the shell. This method has literally worked for decades, except for the past month. Using the procedure described above, sometimes the shell comes off easily, sometimes not, it's been about 50/50. When the shell is hard to peel, I literally have to take off each cracked piece, which tends to pull off bits of the actual egg. There hasn't been a pattern that I can find as why this occurs.

The eggs have been from different stores.

They've been different sizes (Large or extra large).

The variation in the ability to peel them has varied even among eggs in the same damn carton, but trends towards either an entire cartoon being hard or not.

Nothing has changed about the way I cook them. Just boil for 10 minutes, take them out and put in a big bowl of room temperature water to cool off for several minutes, then eat one or two, put the rest in the 'frig.

1) Any ideas on why this is suddenly happening?

2) What can a person do ensure that the shell of a hard boiled eggs comes off easily every time or even 90% of the time?

Can pregnant women eat store bought tarter sauce and mayonnaise?

GregX3 — Sat, 02 May 2009 18:06:31 -0800

Pregnant women are advised to not eat foods with raw eggs. I looked the the ingredients for standard store bought tarter sauce and it listed egg yolks. Is this safe to eat? Do all commercial products use pasteurized eggs? Is that a safe assumption to make?

Trying to count her chickens before they hatch.

artychoke — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:27:28 -0800

Posting for a friend who is a teacher planning to hatch some chickens in class: "I'm getting ready to set my eggs in the incubator tomorrow. I candled them tonight and found the shells to be mottled. Is that bad? I am worried. My fourth graders are depending on me!" Pictures here.

more than one egg = headache.

dabitch — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:51:12 -0800

I get strange headaches from eating omelettes (and sometimes, plain eggs). I'm curious as to what causes that. I just made an omelette from four egg-whites and two yolks (I had some left over from making mayo and did not want to waste the white). I seldom make omelettes as I get this odd headache after eating it, and sometimes I'll get the same headache after eating lightly boiled eggs. It's not a bad headache, I just don't feel right, and I'm curious as to what could cause headaches that is in eggs. It seems to be the number of eggs that causes the headache, I never get a headache from one boiled, one fried, or even an omelette made of a single egg and some milk. What is it in eggs that I could be sensitive to?

Putting all your eggs in one window.

Webbster — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 12:45:39 -0800

The other day a childhood memory came back to me. Forgot all about it until we bought and were talking about our Easter Eggs. When I were a kid back in the North West (of England) we were given Easter Eggs as presents. What we used to is then put them in the front room/living room (which ever room was facing the street) window to display them to anyone walking past.

Now why did we do that ?
And is it still done nowadays ?

It seems like a silly thing to do because if it were sunny the chocolate would melt, but this was Manchester so the chances of that happening were slim.

(Additional note for any Americans - the Easter Eggs we have in the UK are usually big hollow eggs with gifts/prizes or more chocolate inside them)

Extra query - Was this "tradition" just local to where I was or did everybody do it ?

Please help me learn to eat right!

dancestoblue — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:25:09 -0800

Food Question(s) -- Avocados / Pinto Beans / Brown Rice / Bananas / Kumquats / Mangoes / Olive Oil / Balsamic Vinegar / Eggs w/r/t organic or not, etc and etc I went to my doctor, he found potatoes and carrots mashed into my hair, he found some beans in my dang nose, he found corn in my ears, etc and etc. He stopped, looked at me, pronounced: "You're not eating right."

Anyways, I've been doing this whole Ashtanga deal and it's changed my life in any number of ways, one of the most notable being my diet IE I cannot eat garbage any more, if/when I DO eat garbage I suffer on the mat the next day, big time. Plus I don't WANT to eat garbage anymore - ice cream, candy bars, fried foods, etc and etc - whatever it was that I was feeding with that stuff is now being fed on the mat, which is actually sortof a miracle, if you were to ask me. Which of course you did not, but still.

So I'm buying all these good foods and eating them, peasant food essentially, rice and beans etc and etc, organic spinach and kale and carrots etc and etc, good guy eggs from chickens that actually have a life, blah blah blah. In no particular order, here are the questions about these foods that I have for you all:

Pinto beans and brown rice: I pay extra -- considerably extra -- to buy organic, mostly from Whole Foods (Whole Paychecks). I'm assuming that this is money well spent, as neither beans nor rice (ESP rice) have much protection against the garbage that farmers spray on them. Question 1: Is this money well spent?

Bananas and Avocados and Mangoes -- I do not buy these organic, as they have big-time husks, I've read that the gunk that's sprayed upon fruits/vegetables that have husks gets caught up in the husk and doesn't make it into my guts. (I do wash the heck out of the mangoes before cutting them open and eating the meat.) Question 2: Is this correct, do the toxins get caught in the husks of these fruits?

Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar -- Because these products come from olives and grapes, neither of which has much of a husk, I spend the extra bread -- which is considerable -- to buy these items organic. I eat a lot of olive oil and a lot of balsamic vinegar in salads and just anywhere else, love that sweet tang of balsamic vinegar in lots of foods. Question 3: Is this money well spent?

My condo complex have four kumquat trees full of ripe kumquats right now, they are sweet as can be, really good, one of them right next to where I often practice yoga, down on the river, great fun, eat and practice. But fact is that I do not know much about these little dudes, not having been raised where they grow. Question 4: Is it okay to eat the skin of kumquats? I pretty much chew all the fruit out of them, spit the seed and skins into the river -- am I losing vitamins and whatnot? Will I die or some such if I do eat the skins? Question 4a: Also -- mangoes; I am not supposed to eat the skin off these dudes either, correct? (I don't eat them, but I'm wondering...)

The kumquat trees are full to overflowing just now, I bet that using my ladder I could/can get five ten gallon buckets of fresh fruit off these trees, easy. Question 5: Can I put these up without them losing their nutritional value IE take the seeds out of them and freeze them? (Of course if the skins cannot be eaten there is no way that this is feasible.)

And the mangoes usually only come in twice a year, they're very inexpensive just now, and quite easy to get the husk off, so essentially the same question as prior except about mangoes this time. Question 6: Can mango fruit be frozen?

Huge sale on avocados this week, avocados bigger than baseballs for $0.90. Question 7: Can these be frozen well, or even refrigerated to keep them a while?

I am often deep hungry from this whole yoga thing, one of the things that works to stave that hunger is eggs, of which I eat just one heck of a lot of. 8 to 12 a day, some days 16. (I usually boil them and make an egg salad, olive oil balsamic vinegar onions slivered carrots etc and etc. Yeah yeah, I know, sounds like I'm a hog gut but I'm just flat hungry is all; YOU try a serious Ashtanga practice and then tell me if YOU'RE hungry. Hint: You will be.) If I eat 8 eggs I eat only 2 yolks, if 12 only 3 yolks; throwing the yolks away so as to not blow my heart out of my chest with cholesterol. Question 8: Am I OD'ing on too much egg protein here? (I'm mostly not eating meat, like at all, or fish, eating some walnuts and/or pecans for protein.) Also: Is three or five egg yolks a day too much bad-guy fat?

Last. I put some pinto beans into a pot of water on Saturday to soak prior to cooking, the pot has set on the stove top, I basically forgot it had anything in it, nice shiny covered pot sitting on the stove is all. I remembered about an hour ago, and now some of the dang beans are even sprouting, the water looks a tad murky, I don't want to die from eating grungy, scungy beans. Question 8: Can I cook and eat these gems or do I toss them? I'm assuming that I'd have to rinse them of course...

Long list there of questions there; I wish I knew how to make bullet points or numbered lists or what-have-you, but I don't -- sorry...

And now I've finished this list o' questions and my coffee and a dang mango (and that sucker was sweet -- man!) and headed now to the river to suffer creatively (ie practice Ashtanga) and eat a few kumquats.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Peace.

why do french eggs taste stronger than american eggs?

helios — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 06:51:28 -0800

It seems to me that French eggs taste much stronger than American eggs. And therefore, any dish with eggs that I prepare in France tastes bad because the strong egg taste overwhelms all the other flavors (this especially ruins sweet dishes). Does anyone have advice on how to get rid of the taste (or better yet, to find eggs in Paris that don't have the strong taste)? I'm guessing that it has to do with the fact that French eggs are not refrigerated at the supermarket. I've tried all 3 kinds of eggs (Organic Free-range, "non-caged", and caged) and there isn't much difference in terms of taste.

Of course, it's possible that the eggs actually taste the same, and I am cooking things differently without realizing what I have changed...

Is there a better way to crack an egg?

Zoyashka — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 06:24:43 -0800

Is there a better way to crack an egg? Every morning I fry myself up an egg. I crack it open on the edge of the pan and inevitably, a little bit of the yolk dribbles down the side on to the cooktop. Is there some egg-cracking skill my mom never taught me?

Egg myths

maggieb — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:48:03 -0800

Eggs. I love eggs. Every time I use eggs I wonder about food safety but not obcessively so... I think and then I do anyway. There are two things I always do with eggs and I am wondering if they are "magical thinking" routines. 1. I wash the egg in shell before cracking it.

2. I smell the cracked egg before introducing it into a recipe or even the fry pan. It should have no discernible smell.

I grew up with a father who had a day job but farmed as a hobby. We had chickens. I love chickens as critters and I love chickens as food sources. I tend to think of chicken eggs as one of the world's most perfect foods. We kept eggs on the kitchen counter, not in the refrigerator, as I was growing up.

Previously [1] [2].

Should I stop washing and sniffing?

eggselent adventure or journey into barfness?

jadepearl — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 13:55:27 -0800

I have nearly year old duck eggs. Are they safe to pickle? While cleaning out my refrigerator I noticed that I had 6 duck eggs still left from winter. They are free range eggs and do NOT have a sulfur smell. The date on the cartons says 4/2008 so 1) are they still edible if well cooked; 2) can I salt these in the style of a century egg and not risk salmonella?

They have been refrigerated this whole time.

Entomology Filter: What are these these seed-like pods? Bug eggs?

plasticbugs — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 16:46:17 -0800

Entomology Filter: Ant-hill structures in my bedroom. Do I have ants or some other kind of bug? Strange that I haven't seen ONE bug in the three months I've lived here. (pics inside) I recently moved into a new apartment in Venice, California (four blocks from the beach). When I moved in, there were two piles of what looked like sawdust or bird-seed on my bedroom floor. The piles were about the size of ant hills and were against the wall. I thought maybe sawdust had come from my ceiling and landed in these piles (woodpecker, or some kind of bug).

Even if they were ant hills, there were no bugs around or ants. I was not really alarmed by this and just vacuumed them up.

Two months later, I now see two more piles against the wall in basically the same area on my carpeted floor. Now I'm alarmed.

Pile 1
Macro shot of Pile 1
Pile 2

The piles are dry, the pellets/eggs/whatever are not a uniform color. I've taken pictures. Any entomologists out there recognize these things? One is a macro shot, these pellets are absolutely miniscule - smaller than bird-seed.

What are these pink eggs?

peachfuzz — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:51:51 -0800

Hey, what lives inside these weird little pink eggs? My sister snapped a picture of these funny little eggs on tree bark down near Gainesville, Florida. She says each egg was about the size of a bb pellet, and they were even a little pinker and pearlier than they are in the photo. My entomology-related google skills have proved worthless, but we really want to know - I was taken aback by how...sort of unexpectedly lovely they are, and am very curious about what made them.

Help me figure out how to microwave an egg

Coventry — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:10:57 -0800

If I cook an egg in the microwave it explodes, often with spectacular and messy force. If I microwave one fully immersed in water, will the same thing happen, or will the water absorb all the microwaves, so that the egg will effectively be boiled? One of the prior answers dredged up by Ask Metafilter's automation suggested cracking the egg before microwaving it, but I've had eggs explode even when I've cracked and beaten them.

I'm staying in a hotel room with a microwave, and I'm trying to figure out how to make my usual breakfast. In the past I've had eggs explode with such force that a fair portion was blown through the grill and into the microwave chassis, and I'd prefer to avoid that here. Plus, I don't have any convenient containers for controlling the potential blast.

the œufs, should I eat them?

mustcatchmooseandsquirrel — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:38:13 -0800

What are the differences in production and storage of (chicken) eggs in France versus the United States? In the United States, all of the eggs that I see for sale at the grocery store are refrigerated. At my local farmers' market, they were at least kept in a cooler. In France, I find eggs on the shelves at room temperature. What are the reasons for these differences?

Also, in the United States, I generally buy eggs from local farmers because of ethical issues with how battery farm chickens are treated (well, that and the eggs taste better). In France, is there the same divide between local producers and battery farms that chop off beaks and confine chickens? Or is it different?

I've tried googling but couldn't find specific answers (I'm sure I'm doing it wrong!).

Non-stick strategies for hard-anodized cookware?

mhaw — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 05:45:08 -0800

Just bought a set of Calphalon hard-anodized cookware and I'm having a terrible time getting food not to stick to the pan when cooking. The problem is particularly bad when cooking eggs- strategies for getting food to not stick to these pans?