Sunday, February 20, 2011

Ode to an Omelette

A paean must be written to the very French concept of barely set eggs. They may be in various forms — poached, baked, omelette but the key point is that they are barely set. Just at the edge of being cooked but basically somewhat raw.

In the interest of hygiene, the CC must mention that you can't do that with commercial eggs in this country.

You need freshly produced eggs from an good organic producer that you know personally otherwise you are out of luck!

However, if it's possible to source these in the heart of Manhattan, the CC fails to see what the excuse is?

Even if you have excellent organic local eggs, you must first wash each and every one of them before you crack them. The logic is that these wonderful organic eggs may not have bacteria on the inside but like all "stuff" they have bacteria on the outside!

Yes, this may sound pain-staking but it's absolutely necessary if you are gonna barely cook them. Also, these organic eggs tend to be a tad fragile unlike your supermarket force-fed chicken eggs so a little gentleness is needed.

Just try it.

The CC never liked soft-boiled eggs until he made high-quality ones for himself. Now, he recoils at the idea of eggs being overcooked.

Oh, and make sure to have some crusty bread at hand to soak up all the eggy goodness!


Sunday morning. Ooey-gooey goodness. Happiness.

5 comments:

Marcus said...

In my experience, home grown eggs have tougher shells (as well as smaller yolks).

ShockingSchadenfreude said...

They do have smaller yolks. The tougher shells depend on the feed?

macavity said...

Shell thickness and structure depend on the age of the hen. They have a finite amount of shell material -- as the hen ages, the egg shell gets thinner.

ShockingSchadenfreude said...

Simply not true. It's about the diet. They need certain stuff.

Ironically, the commercial producers "get it" and are far more on top of it than the organic ones!

Marcus said...

Could be the hens in commercial operations are selected for something that also is associated with weaker shells (certain breed or something)...

I don't know why, I just know its considered common knowledge among everyone I know that home grown eggs have tougher shells.

Also, just speculating, but home grown are probably more likely to range and get bugs and stuff. Chickens are naturally omnivores.