The Elegant Egg

Eggs have always seemed to us to be magic in a shell. Eggs puff soufflés, raise angel food cake to the heavens, bind sauces, clarify stocks, emulsify ordinary oil into silky mayonnaise, enrich pastries and breads, and smooth ice creams and custards. And that’s just a short list. They show up in every meal of the day, but we still like ours best as a wake-up call in the morning for breakfast or brunch. Once thought of as the perfect food—low in calories yet packed with protein, vitamins, and minerals—the egg has toppled a bit from its pedestal now that we understand more about cholesterol, but when we do indulge, we savor it as a real treat.