not on the egg white. Food industry egg peelers who peel eggs by the thousands, day in and day

out, use this technique, piling the perfect oval, shiny, nude eggs in small mountains. No machine

has yet been invented for this job that can match the human touch.

TASTINGS How to tell if the eggs are cooked or raw

Have you ever had to decide whether an unshelled egg is cooked or raw?

Sometimes it happens when you forget to label cooked eggs before putting them

in the refrigerator. Next time, instead of cracking it open to find out, set it in the

middle of the table and give it a good spin, then stop it abruptly and take your

hand away. If the inside is still liquid, the egg will continue to move a little from

the still-spinning liquid inside. A cooked egg stops dead.

If you are planning to chop the cooked eggs, neither centered yolks, nor easy peeling

matters. With a forceful pressure of a French knife cut each unshelled egg in half. Scoop out the

egg from each half shell, check for stray pieces of shell, then chop the eggs.

Soft-boiled eggs

Soft-boiled eggs are simple because you don’t need to worry about easy peeling. Bring

them to room temperature before cooking to avoid them shocking in boiling water and the shell

cracking. If you are in a hurry, place refrigerated eggs in a bowl of very warm water. In 10

minutes they will be near room temperature. When the water is boiling, slip the eggs in the pot

one at a time with a spoon and start the timer. Cover the pot and keep the water on a gentle

simmer. For large eggs, 4 minutes of cooking gives you firm whites with runny yolks in the

middle. Adjust this time half minute either way for softer or firmer eggs. Similarly, adjust the

time if you use smaller or larger eggs than the standard large size.

Separating eggs

The electric mixer and a good technique make it possible to produce perfect egg white

foam each time. However, with a good technique and some muscle you can produce just as good

egg white foam beating by hand and nearly as fast.(See the Dessert chapter for specifics.)

But before you can whip up egg foam, you need to separate the whites from the yolks. If

you are inexpert with egg separating, sacrifice a dozen to perfect your technique—it is worth it.

Numerous recipes call for separated eggs and you will be glad to be able to do it without fear.

When you crack the egg shell, try to make the break at the halfway mark. Either crack it

against the sharp edge of a bowl or cup, or hit it with the dull edge of a small knife while holding

the egg in your hand over a bowl. Not too hard, so the egg yolk will not break. As the egg comes

apart, keep the yolk in one half of the shell while letting the white run into the bowl. Gently slip

the yolk from one half-shell to the other letting more of the white dribble into the bowl. Repeat

this until very little white is left with the yolk. Now pour the yolk into a second bowl.

Some cooks break eggs into their hands and let the whites ooze through their fingers—

effective and sensuous.

Don’t accumulate more than 2 or 3 egg whites in a bowl just in case a yolk breaks and

some slips in with the whites. Many cooks use three bowls. This third bowl is just for

separating—once you see that the egg white is free of stray yolk pieces, add it to the main egg

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