- Cage free, farm fresh,
(incidental music) certified humane? We've all been there, standing in the dairy
aisle of the supermarket, your stomach in knots, your knees weak, your head aching, your hands trembling, tears running down your face, as you try to pick out a carton of eggs. "This shouldn't be this hard." (sobbing) Chicken eggs are a culinary marvel. I've now done separate episodes
on egg whites and egg yolks, and there's still so much more to say. That's why today, I'm
covering the whole egg. Now if you want a deep dive
on those two components, check out the links below. Let's dive right into
shopping for and cooking eggs. Now, unless you get your eggs from your parents really
nice neighbors with chickens, you've likely been
assaulted at the supermarket by an unfathomable amount of terminology. Eggs, which seem like the most ubiquitous uniform commodity at the store, are by far the most
confusing things to buy. But you know what? We are gonna learn this stuff
right here and right now, so the next time you go to the store, you'll know exactly
which eggs you wanna buy. First up, we gotta clear some brain space. So let's look at what you
can completely ignore. First is eggshell color. This has zero to do with
the egg inside the shell. Some hens simply put a pigment in the final coating on the egg, which is called the cuticle. According to Paul Adams, Cook's Illustrated Senior
Science Research Editor, the eggshell color is the
same as the hens ear lobes. So now you know that information. Sorry, I know we're trying
to clear out brain space, but eggshell color, forget about it. Farm fresh, wow, I sure
love farm fresh foods. Now, if only this term
were regulated by the USDA and it meant anything. Next is grade. Grading indicates how fresh an egg is. You should always buy grade A, because it's likely your only option. Now, AA eggs are the freshest, but you really don't find
them at most supermarkets. And B's, they end up in
big processing facilities. Hormone-free is a great thing, and it applies to all eggs, because giving hormones
to chickens is illegal. Okay, so let's recap. We're going to ignore eggshell color, farm fresh, grades, and hormone-free, and to help us remember that at the store, I came up with my own
little pneumonia device, pneumatic device, pneumonic device, EFGH. So it's eggshell, farm,
grade, and hormone. That's great, we understand
some terms that don't matter, but what about the terms
that actually mean something? First up, is it vegetarian-fed? Yes, it means the chickens
ate vegetarian feed, but chickens are omnivores, so that's not necessarily
an ideal diet for them. Next is pasteurized. The vast majority of
eggs are not pasteurized, so these aren't super easy to find. If you wanna use raw eggs
but eliminate the small risk of getting sick from salmonella, these are a decent option. But beware, the process of pasteurization can affect egg white protein structure and cause problems in egg
white heavy baking recipes such as angel food cake. Next is organic. Now this term carries the full weight of the USDA organic requirements, which include feeding hens
organic, non-GMO feed, giving antibiotics only as needed, and providing the hens with
access to the outdoors. Next on our list is certified humane. In order to be certified humane, a non-governmental third-party auditor checks to make sure that the hens are being treated humanely. Some requirements include
providing access to purchase and nest boxes and limiting flock density. And finally, omega-3. The food these hens eat
contains omega-3 fatty acids. They're basically given fish oil or other ingredients rich in omega-3s. The final category of terminology that we're gonna talk about is where the hens were raised. First up is cage-free. Now this just means that the
hens are in a big building but not cages. Next is free range and these hens have continuous
access to the outdoors. It doesn't mean they spend time outside, but they have the option. If there's a certified
humane label on the carton, those hens must spend six
hours per day outside. Finally, we have pasture-raised. Now on its own, it's not
regulated by the USDA, so shouldn't it be in the
ignore section, not so fast. If paired with certified humane, it means that the hens spend
most of their lives outside. Now, that's a lot of terminology, and at the end of the day, what's most important is that
you are an informed consumer and you make choices that
are based on your values. Now, with all this information, what do I personally
look for at the market? I'm looking for organic, because that carries actual
important requirements and certified humane, which in and of itself is good, but it also adds tithe the other terms regarding how the birds live. What I'm not gonna get
into today is packaging, which seems to get crazier by the day. I mean, I've bought macaroni in France with less fancy packaging. Okay, so we've purchased our eggs, and now it's time to cook them. I'm gonna show you recipes and techniques for two of my favorite preparations, poached and scrambled. Let's go to the kitchen. Now, everyone knows that
you gotta crack a few eggs if you wanna make an omelette, but did you know that you
also have to crack a few eggs if you wanna make poached eggs? Oh, you did? Okay, well, stick with me. I've got lots more
wisdom to share, promise. It's not difficult to crack open an egg, but where you choose to crack it can have an impact on how
clean and easy the process is. Let's look at two common methods, and one, you likely haven't tried before. Cracking an egg on the
counter or other flat surface has some pros and cons. One positive is that contact
with the flat surface creates larger shell
fragments in the break. Those larger shell fragments are less likely to get into the egg, and if they do, they're much easier to find and remove. The downside of this method is that the counter isn't very
likely to break the membrane under the shell. That can lead to some
really messy opening. Next up, we have the classic
edge-of-a-bowl technique. For this method, the pros
and cons are swapped. The sharper edge of the bowl breaks the shell into smaller fragments, while also pushing those inside the egg. The good news is that the
membrane gets cleanly severed. My favorite method delivers
results right between the two. Here you crack your egg on another egg. The egg with a slightly weaker
shell will crack every time. It's a little like snapping a
wish bone each time you do it, but beyond those thrills, it's the quality of the
crack that I like most. The gentle curvature of the egg shell creates a perfect divot for your thumbs, and it severs the membrane without creating tiny eggshell shards. And you can also play a pretty
fun game, in my opinion, where you see which egg in
the carton reigns supreme in round after round of egg on egg battle. Okay, we've done the
first step of poaching, which is cracking our eggs. Now it's time to cook. One big key for poached eggs is to use the freshest ones You can find. If you do run into AA eggs, grab them for your poached eggs. The other key is to understand that there are two important
parts of egg whites. Now, if you look closely, you can see that there is a thick portion sitting snug next to the yolk and a thin portion surrounding that. The difference in textures is thanks to a protein called ovomucin. That protein creates more
structure in the thick part. In a fresh egg, the thick part makes up
about 60% of the white. Now, that number drops over time as more of the thick white turns thin. If your poached eggs fill
the pot with feathery bits, you can blame that thin white. When instead of blaming it,
why not just get rid of it? Simply place your eggs in a relatively fine
mesh calendar like this and watch the thin whites drop right off. I like to say them for my
next scramble or omelette. Now we just bring water to
a boil in our dutch oven, add vinegar and salt, which both help the
whites set more quickly, and then off heat, we'll add our eggs, cover, and cook for three minutes. When I remove the eggs from the water, I then press the bottom of
the slotted spoon onto a towel to wick away any water that we don't want to end up on our plate. My favorite way to eat poached eggs is the Turkish dish, cilbir. Now, this recipe by Cook's Illustrated
Senior Editor, Annie Petito, seasons the yogurt with garlic and salt. A final drizzle of this
Aleppo pepper-infused butter and a sprinkle of dried mint brings the dish to life. Let's break into that egg. Oh, just look at that beautiful yolk, and the whites, perfectly tender. Next up, scrambled eggs. Now everyone on this planet
is a scrambled egg expert, and their method is great. I'm not even being facetious. I can't think of a food where personal preference
plays a greater role than scrambled eggs, and my preference, most of the time, is glossy, rich, big,
fluffy, tender curds. And here's how to achieve that. A good deal of making great scrambled eggs happens before you even
turn on the burner. By that I mean what you add to the eggs has a big impact on the end result. Since my goal here is richness, I go for half and half over milk. Half and half is about 10% fat, and that fat helps prevent egg proteins from bonding too tightly. So we'll still get nice curds, but they'll be more tender. I also test in using heavy
cream in this recipe, but found it took over the egg flavor. But there is another great source of fat that actually tastes like eggs, and that would be egg yolks. I steal a common fresh pasta technique and add a couple of extra egg
yolks to my scrambled eggs. Just as with pasta, the addition makes this
scramble luxurious and golden. My final addition to the eggs is salt. Obviously, it's there for flavor, but getting salt in there before cooking also helps tenderize the scramble, for the same reason, brine or salted poultry
and meat is more tender. It alters the proteins so that they don't bind as
tightly together during cooking. I like to beat the mixture with a fork until it is pure yellow, but you can stop earlier if you like some streaks of egg white. Okay, time to cook. Now we're starting with a 10-inch skillet, which might seem sort of small for this amount of eggs, but that's actually the point. Keeping the eggs in a thicker
layer helps to trap steam, which gives us greater
chance of creating big curds. It also limits the amount of pan surface actually touching the eggs, which makes our job a lot easier. You see, we aren't actually
going to scramble these eggs, I know, I know, bait-and-switch,
are going to scrape them. I pour the eggs into the
skillet over medium high heat and then immediately start methodically scraping the
bottom of the skillet. What my spatula lists from the skillet are big swaths of set eggs
that clump into meaty curds, and then the egg liquid fills in the gap. And it's just repeat, repeat, repeat. Once my spatula leaves
a trail in the skillet, I know it's time to turn the heat to low. This step lowers the risk
of overcooking the eggs during the final few seconds of cooking. The final key is to get
the eggs out of the skillet and onto a plate before they have reached
your preferred doneness. The heat retained in the eggs will actually finish the cooking
for you right on the plate. Hmm, look at these big, plush curds. Okay, big recap time. Now we know how to buy eggs, crack eggs, and cook eggs. I guess there's really nothing more to all to say about eggs. I covered absolutely everything. Right, okay, so maybe I
will be back with more eggs. And you know what, that next time, I'm also gonna teach you
the final egg lesson, how to lay eggs. Until then, happy cracking, because this is absolutely
one of one brilliant, incredible ways to eat eggs. Thank you so much for watching. I would love to know
what method you prefer for cracking your eggs. Have you ever done the egg-on-egg method? Will you try it now? Let me know in the comments, and I'll see you next time.
