Eggs

Appears in

Published 1989

About

Eggs from a variety of birds are edible, but nowadays in the kitchen, an egg basically means a hen’s egg of reliable quality and graded size. The freshness of eggs, which once caused much concern, has lost importance in light of modern methods of production and distribution. A rotten egg is now a rarity. Regrettably, the rich flavor of a very fresh egg less than 48 hours old is equally rare, hard to find away from farming country.

Boiling an egg is the first lesson for the novice cook, closely followed by poached and scrambled eggs. Shallow- and deep-fried eggs can be a breakfast staple or a quick snack. Baked eggs, en cocotte in ramekins or sur le plat in gratin dishes, no longer retain the “invalid diet” image they once had, while omelets open a wealth of regional possibilities, both sweet and savory. Whole eggs are also the basis of savory and sweet custards, batters and crêpes, and without them one of the most famous culinary creations—the soufflé—could not exist.