Metallic Tasting Eggs

[LuckyGirl]

I had a hollandaise sauce yesterday that had a foul, metallic taste that was so strong it made the sauce inedible. My mom made the sauce and she made it the same way she always does (stainless pot and whisk) except for the eggs. The eggs that were used were commercial/grocery store eggs. I'm thinking this horrible taste must have been from the eggs. It's been years since I've consumed grocery store eggs and I'm wondering what about them could have such a strong metallic taste? Any ideas?

[nibor]

We only eat grocery store eggs, not having access to other kinds. I have never experienced eggs with a metallic taste.

[annabelle]

I've always made hollandaise with store bought eggs and never experienced this problem. Did you serve the sauce from a different vessel than usual? Or use a ladle or spoon that is new? What was the sauce served with? Sometimes vegetables, especially asparagus, can pick up a metallic taste if they are cooked in a metal pan that isn't stainless.

Also, did you use a different butter or lemon juice that wasn't freshly squeezed? There are many variables to your question.

[Plantes Vertes]

Egg shells are very porous, so the eggs will absorb any strong odour from the area in which they are stored; you can use this to flavour eggs by putting them in a container with something strong-smelling like truffles. Perhaps the eggs were stored somewhere that smelled of metal before your mother bought them?

Edited April 1, 2013 by Plantes Vertes (log)

[LuckyGirl]

Everything was as it always is except the eggs: stainless sauce pan, whisk, serving ladle, pottery serving vessel, local butter (same butter we always use and there was no taste difference in the butter) and fresh lemon juice. The only difference was the eggs. The hollandaise was served with asparagus and grilled lamb chops, same as every Easter.

I'm not sure that if you eat grocery eggs regularly that you would pick up on a particular taste unless you ate other eggs for a while then went back or maybe did a side by side. Like anything else, our taste buds get used to what we have on a regular basis.

Other than the eggs, the only thing I can think of is that something else we ate effected the way the hollandaise tasted. We had a fresh herb/chimichurri-ish sauce of garlic, rosemary, mint and basil. This is a sauce we almost always have with lamb chops but not one that I myself usually eat though I did yesterday. That is the only thing I can think of that was different for me than usual. Also, only two others noted the metallic taste but it seemed much less intense to them as it was to me. This is the kind of food/tasting mystery that I find fascinating but also that drives me a little batty.

[annabelle]

LuckyGirl, you could be a "super-taster". I am one myself, and many things often taste metallic to me that don't to others.

I'm probably not your best sounding board on the egg question since I practically never eat them. I do notice a difference in the taste of the organic eggs I can get at the market versus the battery eggs I usually buy for baking.

As suggested above, perhaps the eggs were stored improperly or are from a different vender than usual. Sometimes mint (in your herb sauce) has an unusual taste that is somewhat metallic to me.

Frankly, I'm stumped. I'd make the sauce again with free range eggs just for comparisons sake.

[Rico]

What was the whisk made of (I'm reading 'stainless pot, whisk ...' as 'stainless pot, also a whisk'; if the whisk is also stainless then the question is moot, of course)?

Perhaps an aluminum whisk would have reacted to the lemon juice? That's my best guess.

Edited April 1, 2013 by Rico (log)