Separating Eggs

We find separating eggs easiest when they are fresh and cold. Crack the egg at the middle and gently pull apart the shell with your thumbs and fingertips. Tip one half of the shell to catch the yolk and let the egg white slip into a bowl. Pass the egg yolk from shell to shell until all the white has run into the bowl, then drop the egg yolk into a second bowl.

Don’t let any egg yolk mix with the whites. For egg whites to be beaten to their absolute peaks, they cannot be mixed with any fat—that means not a drop of egg yolk nor a trace of grease on the bowl or beater. We often find we can successfully scoop out a drop or two of yolk using a piece of the shell. If it’s more than a drop or if we don’t see it soon enough, we start over again.