Fish roe consists of the eggs of vertebrate fish held together by a thin membranous sac. It is available only from female fish during the spawing season and is highly perishable. Freshwater roe is often breaded and fried, but the surrounding sac must be pierced first or it may explode during frying causing severe burns. A major drawback to fresh fish roe is that it stays fresh for only a day or two at the most; it is usually preserved in brine solution, which imparts a salty flavor, firms the roe, and extends its usable time. The roe sold in the unrefrigerated section of the supermarket has been pasteurized to extend its shelf life. Fish such as shad and herring from North Atlantic waters are popular roe sources, as are Pacific salmon and whitefish from the Great Lakes. Other roe sources include cod, carp, pike-perch, and gray mullet. Read more »

When combined with other ingredients, eggs have a unique ability to flavor, color, emulsify or thicken, bind, foam, interfere, and clarify. Read more »

Safety Tips

The chances of an egg being internally contaminated are relatively low, less than one in 10,000 commercial eggs. It is more common for contamination to occur during handling and preparation after the egg has been removed from its shell. Read more »

Dried eggs, used extensively by food manufacturers, are particularly advantageous when storage and refrigeration space is limited. The major disadvantage of using dried eggs is that they lose many of the functional and sensory qualities of eggs, and are highly susceptible to bacterial contamination. Therefore, they should be used only when the end product will be thoroughly heated.

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Freezing Eggs

Freezing a whole egg is not possible because it will crack under the expanding liquids, so food manufacturers solve this dilemma by breaking the eggs open at the processing plants where the contents are frozen whole (whites and yolk mixed together) or separated as whites or yolks. Prior to being frozen, the liquid whole eggs are usually pasteurized. Read more »

Storage of Eggs

Eggs begin to deteriorate as soon as they are laid and lose quality very rapidly at room temperature. To ensure the freshness of whole or liquid eggs, they may be refrigerated, frozen, or dried. Read more »

Eggs cook extremely rapidly in a microwave oven, so special caution should be taken to avoid over-cooking. Manufacturer’s instructions should be followed for microwave egg cooking. Whole eggs with intact shells should never be microwaved, because steam expanding within the shell can cause them to burst. Read more »

Types of Custards

Custards are mixtures of milk and/or cream, sweeteners (sugar, honey), flavorings (vanilla, nutmeg, etc), and eggs or egg yolks. Custards are thickened by the coagulation of egg proteins during cooking. These egg proteins denature when heated and recombine to form a network that sets or coagulates, at the right temperature, to form the solid gel of a custard. Read more »

Coddling. Coddled eggs are prepared by breaking an egg into a small cup, called a coddler, made of porcelain or heat-proof glass with a screw-on top, and submerging the whole coddler in simmering water until the egg is cooked. The cups, or coddlers, should be buttered or greased before adding the raw eggs. Read more »

Simmering and Boiling of Eggs

Simmering. Simmering temperatures are used to prepare eggs that are hard or soft “boiled”, coddled, poached, incorporated into soft custards, or microwaved.

“Boiling”. Although the term “hard-boiled eggs” is commonly used, eggs should actually be simmered and never boiled, because they will become tough and rubbery if so treated. The high heat of boiling also transforms the iron in the egg yolk into ferrous sulfide, causing the greenish-black color and unpleasant flavor found in the yolk of overly hard-cooked eggs. Read more »