Precooking Eggs for Sauces

[RedHermes]

I am new to cooking, and new to e-Gullet and but I have been eating food my whole life. ;-)

I am very impressed with the quality of information I have found here and I would like to ask a question...

This document Brilliant Buffets from the Fight BAC! web site suggests

If your homemade recipes for these sauces [hollandaise and béarnaise] call for uncooked eggs, you can modify them by cooking the egg mixture on the stovetop to 160° F. Then follow the recipe’s directions.

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What is the collective opinion on this suggestion?

Is this sound advice and/or a common practice?

Has anyone tried this, how did it turn out?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

RedHermes

[Bux]

I think we've had this discussion maybe more than once in one form or another. It's similar to the one about eating rare meat, or worse yet, rare hamburgers. I suppose there are similar discussions to be had about shellfish.

For what it's worth, I search out organic eggs, and those from small farmers who I have some reason to believe keep their chickens in cleaner and healthier conditions that the major chicken and egg factories and having taken that small precaution, I get the most flavor and enjoyment I can from my eggs. I eat my egg yolks raw. We eat soft-boiled eggs, sunnyside up eggs and when we make mayonnaise, we use raw eggs. For health and legal reasons, I won't advise you to do the same. I also won't advise you to cross the street as you may get hit by a car. The odds against getting hit by a car will vary and you have some control just by looking out and crossing with the light. I jaywalk all the time, but I certainly won't advise you to do that.

An eggshell without cracks may harbor an egg contaminated with salmonella. The odds are quite low, but they're probably highter than they should be if the poultry industry took proper care and if the public was willing to pay a few more cents for a dozen eggs.

[Dave the Cook]

I agree with everything Bux said. In addition:

I think the precooked egg idea will probably work with things like Caesar salad dressing, where the emulsifying power of the egg is not called on to do heavy duty. I'm dubious of making butter sauces, though. Once the yolk has coagulated (which, if memory serves, starts happening at about 140 F), the lecithin responsible for emulsification binds the fats and other proteins in the yolk, and is no longer available to bind the butterfat. If you were careful to pull the egg as soon as you hit 160, you might have enough left to make it work, assuming carryover doesn't coagulate it or turn it into scrambled eggs. I'm not sure how you measure the temperature of two egg yolks, though, even if you add a couple of tablespoons of vinegar or lemon. It's not enough for even a Thermapen to get an accurate temperature. If eggs are a concern, flash-pasteurized eggs seem to work pretty well. The pasteurization time and temperature are carefully controlled to prevent coagulation. The home cook doesn't have access to the equipment necessary to do this.

I'd also point out that there is a big difference in taste between cooked egg and raw egg.

Finally, with reference to the buffet alluded to in the link: far more stomach ailments are transmitted on produce (which gets a lot of hands-on contact) than through raw egg yolks.

Oh, and welcome, RedHermes.

[jsolomon]

There was a thread within the past few weeks that I vented my spleen on eggs and other pathogens in.

Killer Kitchens

Anyway, one of the posters made a comment that I'll paraphrase: you'll eat a ton of dirt before you die.

The take home lesson of that is there are a lot of bacteria you run into daily. Be concerned and careful/mindful. But, don't allow yourself to be paralyzed. Take the risks that you're comfortable with.

Edited August 18, 2004 by jsolomon (log)

[Adam Balic]

This document Brilliant Buffets from the Fight BAC! web site suggests

If your homemade recipes for these sauces [hollandaise and béarnaise] call for uncooked eggs, you can modify them by cooking the egg mixture on the stovetop to 160° F. Then follow the recipe’s directions.

.

What is the collective opinion on this suggestion?

Is this sound advice and/or a common practice?

Has anyone tried this, how did it turn out?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

RedHermes

What everybody else said about health risks associated with eggs. Not sure where you are but Samonella cases associated with eggs are very very low in the UK, higher in the USA, but this is still only five deaths or so. Not many then.

As for using cooked eggs. Well you can, but the product will be different. Mayonaise made with cooked eggs, isn't Mayonaise is it 'Sauce Gribiche'. No only does it have a different name, but it tastes different.

Hollandaise in effect cooks the egg yolk, it maybe doesn't get hot enough to kill all putative bacteria. I think that by using cooked egg yolks you would get a sauce (I imagine the many commerical sauces use powdered egg yolks), but I doubt the it will be the same velverty sauce that is characterised by Hollandaise.

I would think that most salmonella contaminations occur after a product has been left sitting about for time enough for the bacteria to multiple up to an infective dose. Hollandaise doesn't sit about, so the risk in this case is going to be very low.

But at the end of the day is a matter or risk assessment. Is a great sauce worth the the very very minor risk of an upset tummy and the even more minute risk of death. For me yes. But I wouldn't eat Fugu kidney ever, using the same risk assessment.

[RedHermes]

Thanks to all for the helpful comments.

I may look into the flash-pasteurized eggs idea.

Thanks again.

RedHermes