25 October, 2011

eggs, a benedict arnold

when you cook an egg you give away all your secrets. cooking an egg properly tells anyone eating the meal how good a cook you are. we have all eaten eggs at sometime in our lives, and i believe a properly cooked egg is not the as easy as you would believe.

for a poached  egg you need perfect timing and a good pot of simmering water; too long and it's hard, not enough vinegar in the water and it 'threads, an unfresh egg will make the cooks life miserable when the yolk breaks and the white runs all over the pot. a fried egg must be cooked slowly or it will stick to the pan or toughen to a noticeable degree. an omelet must be cooked in a properly seasoned pan and manipulated to cook up fluffy and evenly. how well you cook eggs should be the value by which a chef is judged.

the perfect hollandaise sauce  is a whole other matter. a good chef knows when to reveal his secrets. i have read and understood the scientific studies of a complex protein, fat and acid emulsion commonly referred to as hollandaise or bernaise sauce.

2 comments:

  1. That is why when I cook I usually just make scrambled eggs. That is the easiest way to cook eggs.

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  2. just as easy to ruin a scrambled egg as anything else. it's about technique....imagine a cooking appliance manufacturer discounting old world techniques, my next post 'whipping egg whites by hand, a lost art'.
    seriously though, anything that gets people in the kitchen and not buying processed or pre-manufactured food is good.

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comment moderation has been enabled , sorry i like to see what goes into the soup