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Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

nytimes.com

61–70 of 275 posts

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#61
post #59

Raised chickens for some time. Noticed my eggs would "sweat" when I'd take them out of the refrigerator vs store bought which do nothing at all; after a time at room temperature they'd reabsorb. I'd imagine that's pretty dangerous if you're running a cesspool operation - pulling in liquid contaminated by whatever is on the shell.

Are you sure you're not describing condensation and evaporation, rather than sweating and absorption?

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#62
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Refrigerated eggs poach fine; if they didn't, nobody in the US would have decent poached eggs. :)

They are harder to make, though. The albumins break down over time, leading to a more liquid egg white. This, in turn causes the egg to spread out more when you are poaching them. Making a perfectly round poached egg by dropping it into a pot of salted, simmering water is very difficult if the egg is less than a few days old. That's why Starfrit sells egg poachers. BTW, I don't know about the US, but in Canada, the s…

Heston Blumenthal has some tips for poached eggs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gbgSCV9hbM#t=7m6s

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#63
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Refrigerated eggs poach fine; if they didn't, nobody in the US would have decent poached eggs. :)

They are harder to make, though. The albumins break down over time, leading to a more liquid egg white. This, in turn causes the egg to spread out more when you are poaching them. Making a perfectly round poached egg by dropping it into a pot of salted, simmering water is very difficult if the egg is less than a few days old. That's why Starfrit sells egg poachers. BTW, I don't know about the US, but in Canada, the s…

Just do what Kenji Alt does: crack the eggs into a strainer and swish them around to get rid of the runny whites. Works like a charm.

I mean, by all means, use super fresh eggs. But as a matter of technique: solvable problem!

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#64
Please excuse me if my question is dumb, I've never been to the US so I might just be uninformed...

I've noticed in movies and shows that eggs in the US usually have a white shell, whereas in other countries (at least the ones I have lived in, i.e. Europe, SE Asia and Australia) they are usually of a colour that I would describe as beige/light-brown. is that because of the washing process described in the article, or is it just because of the hen's breed?

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#65
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are harder to make, though. The albumins break down over time, leading to a more liquid egg white. This, in turn causes the egg to spread out more when you are poaching them. Making a perfectly round poached egg by dropping it into a pot of salted, simmering water is very difficult if the egg is less than a few days old. That's why Starfrit sells egg poachers. BTW, I don't know about the US, but in Canada, the s…

Thanks for making me realise why I stopped liking poached eggs. I was just using old eggs. And I have heard similar things about the supply chain in the US. However, I have had a fresh egg that was no more than 24 hours old (I think younger) and I didn't really notice a difference. Then again, I think it was scrambled, so I don't know if you can tell anyways.

Personally, I can't tell the difference in flavour between a fresh egg and an old egg. Texture is the only thing I've noticed. Though, for instance, that can be quite important in some egg dishes like tamagoyaki. For flavour, a much bigger difference can be seen from the diet of the hen. Grain fed battery hens have pretty bland eggs. I obsess about my tamagoyaki, so I'm willing to go to some extremes to get good, fresh eggs.

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#66
post #64

Please excuse me if my question is dumb, I've never been to the US so I might just be uninformed... I've noticed in movies and shows that eggs in the US usually have a white shell, whereas in other countries (at least the ones I have lived in, i.e. Europe, SE Asia and Australia) they are usually of a colour that I would describe as beige/light-brown. is that because of the washing process described in the article, or…

I've heard that they remove the surface of the shell as well.

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#67
post #64

Please excuse me if my question is dumb, I've never been to the US so I might just be uninformed... I've noticed in movies and shows that eggs in the US usually have a white shell, whereas in other countries (at least the ones I have lived in, i.e. Europe, SE Asia and Australia) they are usually of a colour that I would describe as beige/light-brown. is that because of the washing process described in the article, or…

I believe the breed. You can still get brown eggs in the US as well and they are refrigerated just like the white ones.

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#68
post #64

Please excuse me if my question is dumb, I've never been to the US so I might just be uninformed... I've noticed in movies and shows that eggs in the US usually have a white shell, whereas in other countries (at least the ones I have lived in, i.e. Europe, SE Asia and Australia) they are usually of a colour that I would describe as beige/light-brown. is that because of the washing process described in the article, or…

You can buy both in the UK, but light brown are most common. It's nothing to do with washing, it's just a cultural preference... like streaky (American) vs back bacon.

And the only reason eggs arent refrigerated in supermarkets is because... well, they're only in the store for a few days tops. I personally keep mine in the fridge.

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#69
post #64

Please excuse me if my question is dumb, I've never been to the US so I might just be uninformed... I've noticed in movies and shows that eggs in the US usually have a white shell, whereas in other countries (at least the ones I have lived in, i.e. Europe, SE Asia and Australia) they are usually of a colour that I would describe as beige/light-brown. is that because of the washing process described in the article, or…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_as_food#Color_of_eggshell

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#70
post #64

Please excuse me if my question is dumb, I've never been to the US so I might just be uninformed... I've noticed in movies and shows that eggs in the US usually have a white shell, whereas in other countries (at least the ones I have lived in, i.e. Europe, SE Asia and Australia) they are usually of a colour that I would describe as beige/light-brown. is that because of the washing process described in the article, or…

We have brown eggs here in California at least, but most are white.
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