EGGS

The most popular & widely used eggs in India are hen's eggs although turkeys, guinea fowls, ducks, quails, and geese eggs are also used.

Eggs can be served as a main dish or as an accompaniment or as an important ingredient for some other dish. Due to its versatility the egg is considered a primary ingredients in culinary preparation. Beside consuming bird's eggs, humans also prize fish eggs especially caviar - eggs of the sturgeon fish species bduga ossitrova malossal seveiya.

Nutritive Value :

An eggs is compact and almost complete food. It is equal to 70-90 calories. Egg white are high in protein (albumin) and they also contain sulphur. Egg yolks contains fish and protein. Eggs also contain vitamins A,B,C,D and also contain water, iron, phosphorus & calcium.

Composition 10% shell

30% yolk

45 - 50% Egg white

10 - 15% water

General Cooking Principles

The most important principle in cooking of eggs is to avoid high temperatures are long cooking times. Eggs coagulate at the following temperatures.

Whole Eggs(beaten) approximately 156* F/69* C

Whites 140* - 149*F / 60* - 65* C

Yolks 144* - 158*F / 62* - 70* C

Custard 175* - 185*F / 79* - 85* C

Addition of salt & acids (vinegar) speedens coagulation and the addition of sugar makes the coagulation process slower.

Function of the EGG :

1. In cooking of various egg preparations e.g. Omelettes.
2. In making foams for bakery products and sweets e.g. meaingues, souffles etc.
3. As a emulsifying agent e.g. mayonnaise, hollandaise
4. for thickening gravies and sauces e.g. velacate suace
5. for garnishing of dishes e.g. pulaos etc.
6. for making batter & coatings e.g. for cutlets, fish orly etc.
7. for bindings as in cutlets etc.
8. For thickening as in custard and puddings
9. Enriches & adds flavour to dishes
10. It's fat (in the yolk) is very well emulsified, therefore it is the best kind of infant food as it is digestible fast
11. For clarifying (removing impurities) e.g. as in consomme
12. For making farinaceous products (pastas) like spaghetti, noodles, ravioli etc

Characteristics if Fresh Eggs :

The shell of an egg may be either brown or white in colour depending upon the breed of hen producing it But, irrespective of colour, the shell of fresh egg always has delicate velvety appearance, called "bloom", that is due to the protective mucous coating which the shell has when the egg is laid. The inner air cell of a fresh egg is small. The egg content when broken out from the shell show an upstanding, well rounded yolk covered with a clinging layer of thick egg white, which in turn is surrounded by a relatively smaller amount of thin egg white. The yolk may be either golden or light yellow in colour, depending upon the amount of corotenoid pigments contained in it, and the white is practically colourless or possibly slightly oparescent. There is no odour other than that characteristics of eggs and when cooked, the flavour will be excellent.

Deterioration of Eggs

As soon as the eggs is laid, changes begin to take place which, if not checked by suitable storage conditions, result is undesirable deterioration. An account of these changes and their effects follows :

As shown in the shell : well deterioration the mucous protective covering of the shell soon disappears, leaving the shell shiny and more porous, so that moisture and carbon dioxide can pass more easily through it form the egg contents. This causes a loss weight of the egg contents and a resulting enlargement of the air space between the two membranous lining of the shell.

As shown in the egg white : Accompanying the loss of carbon dioxide through the shell, the reaction of the egg contents, especially of the egg white, changes from nearly neutral in the fresh white to alkaline, becoming progressively more alkaline as the egg ages. It should be said, however, that factors other than the loss of carbon dioxide may be responsible for the increases in this alkalinity.

As egg deterioration progresses, the thick white gradually losses its firm, jelly like consistency and decreases in volume white the volume of thin egg white increases.

These changes continue until the entire white portion becomes watery and drain away from the yolk when the egg is broken out of shell. The cause of this change in thick egg white is not at the present time, entirely clear, although various reasons have been advanced to account for.

As shown in the egg yolk : Upon aging, the yolk of egg also becomes more liquid and enlarges as water passes into it from the white through the enveloping vitellin membrane. As a result the increasing volume of the yolk streches the surrounding membrane and weakening it so that, in the broken out egg the yolk is no longer upstanding and well rounded, but instead becomes wide and flat. Indeed, with continued aging, the membrane which encloses the yolk may become so weakened that it breaks when the egg is opened and as a consequence, the white and yolk can not be separated from each other.

As shown by substance with off - odours : Finally in aging eggs, certain chemical reactions occur among the various egg component which yield compounds that import characteristic and familiar off odors and flavours and if these reactions continue long enough such eggs become inedible.

Why does blue ring around the yolk of hard boiled Eggs

Among the compounds that are made from these reactions is the foul smelling gaseous substance hydrogen sulphide. When eggs are heated for sometime as when hard boiling them in the shell, this gas formed chiefly in egg white, passes through the vitellin membrane and reacts with iron compounds in outer yolk areas to form ferrous sulphide which can be seen as a black, film like deposit enveloping the yellow, hard boiled, yolk, altoughthis film can be encountered to a certain extent in a fresh egg its formation can be largely avoided provided aging of the egg, has not been carried too far - by taking cure not to prolong the cooking period unnecessarily and by being careful to use the hard boiled egg immediately upon removal from the hot water.

Storage of EGGS

Hens can pass salmonella bacteria into their eggs and cause food poisoning proper storage is essential for maintaining quality. The ideal temperature is 2* C to 5* C since the gee is semi-porous, care should be taken to store it away from strong smelling or flavoured foods like fish etc. if the above temperature are adhered to and the humidity and amount of carbon dioxide in the air is controlled eggs will keep up to nine months.

Pasteurized eggs are washed, sanitized and then broken into sterilized containers. After combining the yolks and whites, they are strained pasteurized (heated to 63* C for one minute) and then rapidly cooled and then sold.

Eggs should be use by the FIFO method (first in first out) Hands should be washed before and after handling eggs. Cracked eggs should never be used in raw dishes (their could be salmonella contamination) eggs dishes should be consumed as soon as possible after preparation or of not for immediate use refrigerated.