Haley Pollock

Diana Li
NUSC 3234
10/26/16

Eggs
Introduction: Chicken eggs are extremely important to a healthy diet and have been consumed
for thousands of years. An egg is a complete protein as it contains high amounts of protein and
all the essential amino acids the body cannot synthesis by itself and must obtain from the diet.
This makes sense because naturally, an egg is laid to produce a baby chick, thus it must contain
every essential nutrient to support and grow a living thing. Eggs are mostly composed of the egg
white which is pure protein and water, but it also contains a smaller amount of a high fat and
small amount of protein substance called the yolk, and of course the shell which makes up a
small percentage of the total mass of an egg and is mainly composed of calcium. Eggs can be
eaten on their own but they are also an important component in baked goods, sauces, broths,
condiments, foams, and many other foods. Egg whites can be whipped into a foam which can be
used as a stabilizing agent in angel food cakes, souffls, and meringues. Egg yolks can also be
whipped into a foam but it is slightly different than an egg white foam. Egg yolks contain a high
amount of fat, thus become a more viscous and dense foam. The lecithin in egg yolks give yolks
the ability to be an emulsifier in many foods such as mayonnaise, mousses, hollandaise sauce,
and many other rich, smooth foods. In this experiment various methods of preparing eggs was
put to practice in real recipes.
Methods: New eggs (about 4-7 days old) were cooked six ways in this experiment. First, an egg
was poached by bringing a saucepan full of water and a teaspoon of salt to a slow boil. A metal
spoon was used to swirl the water into a rapid vortex, and the raw egg was carefully placed in the
middle of the water vortex. The heat was lowered which allowed the water to come to simmer.
The egg was cooked for about 4 minutes and then carefully taken out with a slotted spoon and

put onto a plate. Next a frying pan was put on low-medium heat with 1 tablespoon of butter in
the pan. One egg was put into a small mixing bowl with a pinch of salt, and 1 tablespoon of
cream. The egg was added to the buttered saucepan and stirred until the egg was completely
cooked and then put onto a plate. A frying pan was heated again on low-medium heat with 1
tablespoon of butter in the pan. An egg was cracked into the pan and was cooked for several
minutes or until the white was fully cooked through. The egg yolk was not broken, and this
sunny side up egg was placed onto a plate. The same method was used above but the egg was
flipped and cooked on both sides for a few more minutes to make a hard cooked egg. Finally, a
small saucepan was filled with water and allowed to come to a boil. Once boiling two eggs were
carefully placed into the saucepan with a spoon and cooked for 12 minutes each. One egg was
cooled in cold water and the other was cooled by ambient air.
Results:
Please see attached lab journal.
Discussion: The first exercise involved looking at a new and old egg with a flashlight, this
method is called the candling method. When the flashlight was put up to the thicker end of the
egg, an air pocket was seen. In the older egg the air pocket was larger because as an egg ages, the
CO2 that is inside the egg comes out and oxygen goes in. This causes the proteins inside the egg
to become slightly denatured and when the egg is cracked the egg will appear less cloudy in the
older egg. This was shown in the results of our experiment, as the older egg was more watery
and less intact. The yolk was also seen through the candling method and seemed to be more
centered in the new egg opposed to the old egg. This was also seen when the new and old egg
was cracked, the old egg had a less centered yolk and was overall less tightly intact than the new
egg. The candling method is used to grade eggs and can be used to detect any blood spots inside
the egg, which would not be favored. (1)

The second exercise was an elaboration and observation of a new and old egg after being
cooked. There were many differences, which was surprising. The poached new egg looked much
more intact, smooth, and appealing opposed to the old egg which had a foamy looking egg white
and was not an attractive looking poached egg someone would want to eat. This difference could
partially be contributed to the technique of how the old egg was cooked versus the new egg, as
different groups cooked them. The newer eggs looked fluffier and lighter after being scrambled
opposed to the old eggs which was brighter in yellow color and had a flatter appearance. This
could be explained by the idea that when an egg ages, the yolk absorbs water from the white and
increases in size. (2) This not only makes the egg whites more liquid but also weakens the
vitelline membrane thus, the yolk looks flatter. (2) This was also seen in the fried sunny side up
and fried eggs where the older eggs yolk appeared bigger than the newer egg. The hardboiled egg
cooled by ambient air appeared to have a green ring around the yolk opposed to the egg that was
chilled by cold water. This is from the hydrogen sulfide in the egg white reacting with iron found
in the egg yolk. (3) This undesirable green ring is stinky and called a ferrous sulfide ring, which
happen when a hardboiled egg is boiled/cooked too long. (3)
In the next exercise custards were made using various methods and parts of eggs. The
custards that contained whole eggs were much firmer than the eggs that only contained yolks.
This is because yolks are almost completely fat and whites are almost completely protein. The fat
from the yolk gives the richness and smoothness from the lecithin and the white in the egg
contributes to the stability when the cooking denatures the protein in the egg. This is the perfect
combination for cooking custards which need to taste rich, creamy, smooth, but still slightly be
set. The stirred custards were cooked slowly and gently over a double boiler and the baked
custards were also cooked slowly but in a water bath in an oven. Using the water bath method is

very important because it gently cooks the eggs so they do not cook too fast in a dry heat oven
and turn into a scrambled egg texture which is undesirable in a custard.
The fourth exercise showed that the addition of sugar to a meringue is important to the
final volume, composition, and stability of a meringue. Our results show that the optimal
incorporation time for sugar is when the egg whites are foamy or at the soft peak stage. At this
stage there was less leakage, the most glossy appearance, the best volume, and overall best
appearance of the final meringue. This is because the proteins in the egg whites must be first
partially denatured before adding the sugar. (4) Once these proteins are a bit unraveled, the sugar
and air is allowed to incorporate into the coagulating proteins and thus builds up the meringue
into a stable product. (4)
Finally, the last exercise showed that serving an omelet and a souffl must be done
immediately after cooking otherwise the product starts to collapse on itself and become denser
and less airy. Also the beaten egg whites must be gently folded into the souffl because you dont
want to ruin the air bubbles that was incorporated after beating. This would defeat the purpose
and the final product would not have a good final volume and an airy texture that is desirable.
Some previous knowledge was also used in this experiment with the white thickener sauce. This
sauce had flour in it, which we learned contains gluten and contributes to structure. In saying
this, the white sauce added extra structure to the souffl not only through the protein in the eggs
denaturing and setting up but also from the gluten in the white sauce.
In conclusion not all eggs are created equal and not all parts of an egg contribute to the
same characteristics in the food products their incorporated into. Egg yolks impart more richness
and smoothness to food products from the fat and emulsifying agent, lecithin found in them. On
the other hand, egg whites which are completely protein, contribute more to stability through the
denaturing of the proteins found in the whites. These differences are due to the chemical makeup
and differences in the egg white to the egg yolk

References:
1. "Candling - Incredible Egg." Incredible Egg Candling Comments. Incredible Egg. Web.
24 Oct. 2016. <http://www.incredibleegg.org/eggcyclopedia/c/candling/>.
2. "Internal and External Egg Quality - Optimum Egg Quality: A Practical Approach." The
Poultry Site. Web. 25 Oct. 2016. <http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/1/eggquality-handbook/5/internal-and-external-egg-quality/>.
3. Joachim, David, and Andrew Schloss. "The Science of Eggs - FineCooking.com."
FineCooking.com. Fine Cooking, 25 Feb. 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.
<http://www.finecooking.com/item/64855/the-science-of-eggs>.
4. "Demystifying Meringue." Food Science Activities. McGraw Hill Higher Education.
Web. 25 Oct. 2016.
<http://highered.mheducation.com/sites/0078616441/student_view0/food_science_activit
ies/demystifying_meringue.html>.