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Using an egg shell to get egg shell out of eggs


Fat Guy

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So I was cracking some eggs today and I got a bit of shell in there. So I did what I always do, and what somebody no doubt taught me to do, and what I'm sure most everybody does, which is I took half an egg shell and used it to scoop out the little bit of shell. No problem. Then it happened again (I was cracking a lot of eggs) and I thought about it and I experimented. I tried to get the little piece out with my fingers and I tried to get it out with a spoon. Absolutely no luck. The thing seemed consciously to be evading these alternate picking-up devices. So, what's going on here Why is the egg shell the best tool ever invented for getting egg shell out of egg?

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Mmmm. Egg whites.

All right, and what were you doing with the egg whites?

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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Have you gotten your hands on an iSi Profi Whip yet? There are several very nice foams based on egg whites.

Also, that shell trick is the best way to get spots of yolk out of the whites as well, which any meringue-maker will tell you can be detrimental to whipping whites.

Steve Klc

Pastry chef-Restaurant Consultant

Oyamel : Zaytinya : Cafe Atlantico : Jaleo

chef@pastryarts.com

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I like leaving a few pieces of egg shell in the egg mix -- improves the texture, you know, gives it a certain crunchy authenticity. It's like the way they put soya chicken in cans of chiken soup to make you believe it was really made from real chickens.

Now Steven, you can't make egg white. You can certainly extract it from the whole egg, but you can't make it (except from soya, of course, and we all know you wouldn't do that). OK, so you now have this huge bowl of egg-white extracted from a couple of gross of fresh organic eggs, so what are you gonna do with them ? An obvious candidate is gelato, or maybe some form of appetizing, perhaps a hair rinse.

Perhaps of greater significance is the big question "Whaddya gonna do with the yolks?".

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Have you gotten your hands on an iSi Profi Whip yet?

I don't have the Profi model but I've had the Easy model (button instead of lever) for years.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Now Steven, you can't make egg white. You can certainly extract it from the whole egg, but you can't make it

Can you make fruit salad? What separates make from extract?

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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I just had to fish an eggshell out this morning and used a fork quite successfully. It was in a 2-cup pyrex measuring cup so I'm not sure I would have had enough room to manouver an eggshell half. Plus, if you're only using one egg (which I was) and you had eggshells in the egg because you made a total mess of cracking (not in this case) you might not have an eggshell half to use. The one egg was for:

Pancakes. Homemade buttermilk pancakes with real maple syrup. Mmmmm.

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Bushey: How big was the piece? I can't imagine getting a tiny speck out with a fork. Are you talking about a piece that was bigger than the space between the tines of a fork? If so, that's a different category of piece from what I'm talking about.

Macrosan: My lifestyle choices may seem odd to some, but I was simply standing around with nothing to do and I decided to crack four dozen eggs and set aside the egg whites for future use. I threw out all the yolks. The dog found it all highly entertaining, and so did I.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Uh.... How do you crack an egg? Mostly, I see people do it on the rim of a bowl or something, but I thought you're supposed to do it on a flat surface.

-- Jeff

"I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members." -- Groucho Marx

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Fat Guy -- yes, the piece was larger than the space between the tines. For smaller pieces I use the tip of my index finger.

Aren't egg yolks supposed to be good for dogs' coats? How could you stand those big eyes watching you?

Make a dacquoise and let us know how it turns out.

I agree with Nina about the masque. Egg whites have superb pore tightening qualities. And then next time you can give yourself an alomnd and honey masque. :biggrin:

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For smaller pieces I use the tip of my index finger.

That just doesn't work when I try it.

How could you stand those big eyes watching you?

That's what dogs do: They watch you. You either get used to it or go insane.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Sometimes I'm a softie and give in to the gaze. Depends how much of a drool puddle there is on the floor.

We've found a great treat for the dog that she can have as often as she wants: ice cubes. She comes running when she hears the ice dispenser on the fridge, and then she grabs a cube and takes it to her "special place" where she eats bones and pig ears. She's really sweet but dumb as dirt.

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I threw out all the yolks.

You threw out the yolks? !

Robert Buxbaum

WorldTable

Recent WorldTable posts include: comments about reporting on Michelin stars in The NY Times, the NJ proposal to ban foie gras, Michael Ruhlman's comments in blogs about the NJ proposal and Bill Buford's New Yorker article on the Food Network.

My mailbox is full. You may contact me via worldtable.com.

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Uh.... How do you crack an egg? Mostly, I see people do it on the rim of a bowl or something, but I thought you're supposed to do it on a flat surface.

Saint Jacques Pepin says to always crack eggs on a flat surface because using the rim of the bowl will drive tiny pieces of shell into the egg. Which one then has to fish out with a larger piece of shell for their sins.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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I love raw yolk mixed into hot rice.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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