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Good Eggs 'N Bad Eggs

Yithian

Parish Watch
Staff member
Joined
Oct 29, 2002
Messages
36,365
Location
East of Suez
I am a lover of the humble egg. Look at it: perfection made egg.

fried_eggs.jpg


Like fluffy clouds topped with smiley suns!

They're a hugely versatile ingredient and I consume them daily with no discernible issues, a standard waistline and normal levels of cholesterol. But a few conversations have given me pause for thought. The first, simply, that they contain too much cholesterol to consume daily - is this true?

Second, and more mysteriously, as a sometime ex-pat I've met a lot of people from a lot of places, and a number of Americans, in particular, seem to have a fear of runny yolks; one bordering on horror. There's a dish of which I am fond which is served in a insanely hot stone bowl with a raw egg left to fry on the top of the food. I recall being asked, by two separate Americans, whether I was seriously going to eat it (whilst I was in the process of cheerily mixing in the runny mixture). I know there's the whole salmonella risk, but having grown up eating eggs straight from our chickens to the frying pan, I've never really taken this seriously, and I've not had any associated hospital visits over the decades... I also reasoned that people have been eating eggs for rather a long time, so they've never featured highly on my personal list of risk.

Has there been a big public-health warning Stateside or something? Oddly, something has always distracted me from asking intelligent follow-up questions, but a couple of years back one girl I know actually refused her dinner on the grounds that the egg was insufficiently cooked and, hence, dangerous.

To me a hard yolk is always a disappointment; a bitter reminder of the gooey-ness that could have been...
 
They do contain high amounts of cholesterol, some good, some bad. They are very good for you. They are high in protein, as well as all sorts of other good things. They are also very filling.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/egg-nutrition

People worry about runny eggs these days, because of fear of contamination by salmonella (remember Edwina Curry and the egg scandal of the Eighties?). Battery farmed eggs were blamed.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...bout-salmonella-in-eggs-after-all-424625.html

There was a recent outbreak, somewhere traced back to duck eggs. I love duck eggs, fried, with some decent bacon. They have an intensity of flavour that reminded of the free range eggs, my granny used to buy from the woman down the street, who had a yard full of chickens, when I was a very young kid. Unfortunately, duck eggs are prone to salmonella contamination, due to the insanitary places they get laid.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0914/breaking35.html
http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2010/09/24/123634/Duck-eggs-implicated-in-UK-salmonella-outbreak.htm
 
Pietro: am digesting your links.

I, too, am fond of duck eggs. As you say they've a strong taste and a good colour. As it happens, the farm-lady my mother buys duck eggs from once gave us a huge (think abnormally small Easter egg) Ostrich's egg which I fried (eventually) and had on toast. It reminded me of a giant eye staring up from the plate, but I wasn't deterred! Quite a breakfast.

escargot1 said:
Turn the page sideways, see what's really on Yith's mind. ;)

I don't want runny nipples! :shock:

edit: my other point is that a lot of people enjoy runny-yolks. Does anyone here know of anyone who has ever had salmonella poisoning (or whatever it does) as I've never met anyone to my knowledge who has suffered. Is it more than a notional risk?
 
A friend of mine was sick for two weeks with salmonella poisoning. I don´t think it was due to eggs though. The salmonella is supposed to just be on the outside of the shell, so treatments with chlorine or infrared light should help get rid of it.
 
Xanatic_ said:
A friend of mine was sick for two weeks with salmonella poisoning. I don´t think it was due to eggs though. The salmonella is supposed to just be on the outside of the shell, so treatments with chlorine or infrared light should help get rid of it.

Ultraviolet light, I think.
 
Although you can get salmonella from eggs, as Xanatic has pointed out it's not the INSIDE of the egg that is the problem: it is the shell. All eggs should be properly washed before they are sold, but given the poor record of large-scale factory farming, eggs are very risky if you do not wash them yourself (warm water and vinegar) to clear traces of fecal matter off the shells.

I clean eggs before eating them, especially as I love raw eggs in a Caesar salad, and I love runny yolks in fried eggs.
 
escargot1 said:
Turn the page sideways, see what's really on Yith's mind. ;)

As ever lovely observation :D

I worked at a place that had a staff do at Blackpool, I was working and couldn't go. One of the girls apparently took her top off after getting plastered and later was told that her breasts looked like a "couple of fried eggs luv". To which she replied as she could take a joke giggling "f*ck off".

Sorry you had to be there, but your observation made me smile.
 
Does anyone here know of anyone who has ever had salmonella poisoning

Yes. My mother had salmonella a few years ago and was very, very ill for several weeks. It was not, as far as we are aware, linked to eggs.

All eggs should be properly washed before they are sold, but given the poor record of large-scale factory farming, eggs are very risky if you do not wash them yourself (warm water and vinegar) to clear traces of fecal matter off the shells.

Yes, unfortunately as with most food poisoning the issue is not the eggs, meat or fish itself. It's the sh*t.
 
You can indeed get salmonella from the flesh of chooks (and other animals). I knew a guy who was a cook for a few years and, like all cooks, he had his fair share of raw chicken handling. He felt sick now and again (the runs, general yukiness), went to the doctor who told him he just had a flu. He kept getting sick over and over again, and finally went to a different doctor who tested him for salmonella and, lo and behold, he had it. Because it was not caught in time for him to receive effective treatment, he now has permanent liver damage.

When I used to work in restaurant kitchens at university I would wash my hands a million time a day almost compulsively . . . and I without any trouble mysteriuosly stopped biting my nails.
 
Scramble back to eggs! Forget those high cholesterol warnings, they're healthier than ever, say experts
By Sophie Borland
Last updated at 8:49 AM on 14th February 2011

If you're eyeing up your breakfast options and fancy going to work on an egg, there’s no need to hold back.
For after years of telling us to shun them as an everyday food, the health police now say that eggs have become better for us.
The cholesterol content of eggs – which was previously believed to be a health risk – is now much lower compared with ten years ago, a study suggests.

Eggs also contain more vitamin D, which helps protect the bones, preventing diseases such as osteoporosis and rickets.

The reason eggs have become more nutritious over the past decade is that hens are no longer fed bone meal, which was banned in the Nineties following the BSE crisis, the researchers claim. Instead the birds are normally given a mixture of wheat, corn and high-protein formulated feed, which makes their eggs more wholesome.
A U.S. government study found that modern eggs contain 13 per cent less cholesterol and 64 per cent more vitamin D compared with a decade ago.

This is backed by British research which shows that a medium-sized egg contains about 100mg of cholesterol, a third of the 300mg recommended daily limit.
Andrew Joret, deputy chairman of the British Egg Industry Council, whose firm Noble Foods made the findings, said: ‘We believe the reduction is due to changes in the feeds used in British plants since the Nineties when the use of bone meal was banned.’

Two years ago Canadian researchers claimed that eggs actually helped lower blood pressure.
They suggested that when eggs are digested they produce proteins that mimic the action of powerful blood pressure-lowering drugs, known as Ace inhibitors.

A recent Surrey University study found eating one or two eggs for breakfast could help with weight loss as the high protein content makes us feel fuller longer.
The study, which involved volunteers eating two eggs a day for 12 weeks, also found that none had raised cholesterol.

In the Sixties many Britons ate up to five eggs a day but by the Nineties this had dropped to two or three a week – in part due to warnings about high cholesterol levels.
Charles Saatchi, husband of TV chef Nigella Lawson, recently claimed to have lost five stone by eating eggs for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... z1DvZMgz6c

I'm going shopping later - I'll add a half dozen eggs to the list! :D
 
Now look what they've done! My Sunday morning full English has now lost all it's wicked allure, organic sausages, tomatoes and mushrooms, toast n low cholestoral spread, now the fried eggs are healthy. Might have to start buying the Sunday Mirror or something, just to feel a little decadent.
 
You're fine as long as you keep that fat content high, Cultjunky! It doesn't matter how organic a food is, if it's full of fat it's decadent! There is no low-fat sausage or fried anything.

You can pay extra and get pasteurized eggs at our supermarket, all the bacteria on the shells cooked off; but it's so much extra that, even given my husband's immune status I've always found it more economical to buy free-range eggs, so there's less bacteria to begin with, and not worry about it. He's far more likely to have a problem with food that's been in the refrigerator a tiny bit too long. However, I have a friend whose sister raises her own eggs and still insists on cooking them hard and won't eat raw cookie dough because of the eggs. Which my friend and I agree is unreasonable of her! Licking the beaters is one of the reasons to bake your own cookies, after all.
 
Supermarket egg hatches after being incubated
This supermarket quail egg hatched after being incubated for a month
[Video]
By Emma Mills, video source Caters TV / A Chick Called Albert
12:12PM GMT 25 Feb 2016

A man who incubated a box of twelve supermarket quail eggs, in the hope they might hatch, was stunned to discover one did.
The chick, named Albert, was purchased from a supermarket in Haarlem, Netherlands, by 45-year-old Alwyn Wils.
After bringing the dozen eggs home, Mr Wils placed them all in an incubator and began to document their process on film.

Amazingly, one egg was fertilised and hatched a month later.
He said: “Albert is a one in a million. :)
“To get a fertilised egg one obviously needs both a male and female. Since the males don’t produce any eggs and the females lay her unfertilised eggs without the need for a male, eggs are rarely fertilised when they get to the supermarkets.

“On the internet it says everywhere that supermarket eggs are not fertilised, but I thought let’s see if that’s really the case.
“I incubated all 12 eggs in the box, which I got from a supermarket in Haarlem, and only one - Albert - hatched.
“Friends and family think Albert is very cool and they think it’s great way of thinking - that not everything is impossible if you give it a try sometimes.” :cool:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/new...market-egg-hatches-after-being-incubated.html
 
If you incubate an Egg McMuffin, eleven out of twelve will produce a wingèd creature with terrible acne. :eek:

This may be a myth.
 
I once succumbed to the temptation of a three-minute egg (under the influence of British television, where someone is always having one for breakfast). I was shocked at how bitter it tasted. Then I spent the rest of the day worried I'd come down with salmonella poisioning. :p
 
I once succumbed to the temptation of a three-minute egg (under the influence of British television, where someone is always having one for breakfast). I was shocked at how bitter it tasted. Then I spent the rest of the day worried I'd come down with salmonella poisioning. :p

I don't know where this three-minute egg thing comes from but it clearly doesn't work does it? I blame lazy script writers who have never tried it themselves and just rely on what they have heard or seen in previous productions. It all seems very 'P.G Wodehouse' to me for some reason.

I always get the pan to a rolling boil first, then lower in the eggs and give them 5:30 to 6 minutes depending on size. This gives a firm white and a runny yolk. The last time I mentioned this in company I was thoroughly mocked and told that what I was actually eating were hard-boiled eggs. The fools. I had developed a ritual for this bordering on the obsessive so I knew what I was talking about.

I always did the toast first and let it go cold (and now realise why toast-racks are so important). Then the butter wouldn't melt when applied but when it came into contact with the egg.
If the eggs were from the fridge I would hold them over the hot toaster in a slotted spoon to bring them to room temperature to minimise the risk of cracking in the pan. Then poke a hole in the fat end with a pin to let expanding air escape.
I always timed the procedure with an old pocket watch for some reason and I actually had a name for one of my egg cups. "Red Valiant".:oops:
I mostly eat porridge these days.
 
That sounds like coddled eggs to me.
I could never be that reckless, there are too many variables to consider. Size of pan, amount of water, gas or electric. I came up with my strategy at quite an obsessive phase in my life when phoning the speaking clock fifteen times in fifteen minutes was not an unusual thing for me to do. Just to be really, really sure of the time. I wasn't lonely or anything. :D
 
I only ever pan-fry eggs, no longer trusting boiled eggs with runny yolks.
Hard-boiled eggs are OK too, but I can never be bothered to do them.
I might one day take the trouble to find out how to do them in a microwave.
I admire your perfectionism, Mr Plankton.
 
Hard to believe that something as simple as boiling an egg has so many different methods but everyone has their own version.

Mine is for large eggs - 5 mins in boiling water. That's it. Tried & tested. Runny yolk & firm white. Smaller sizes are not worth bothering with imo.

A 3 min egg I'd never give time of day. Really fresh eggs may be a different kettle of fish but as I never get them, can't comment on these.
 
I mostly hard-boil eggs for use in salads, sandwiches, etc. I normally do six at a time, as once cooked and cooled they keep for ages in the fridge.

I don't actually time the process by a clock. I put the eggs in a pan and cover them with cold or tepid water. Then I turn the electric up to max. When the water comes to the boil I switch off the power, but the eggs continue cooking for some time as my hob and thick bottomed pan keep the heat in pretty well. When the boiling has stopped I fish the eggs out, run them under a cold tap for a minute or two, and set them aside to dry and cool. Simples!
 
Being an unreformed and atavistic discriminatory monster, I allow Mrs Yith to deal with the bulk of the non-toast based cooking, but if there's an egg to be fried, I manfully step up as though it were barbecue season. Spectators may scoff as the eggs scarcely stay in one place for more than five seconds and I'm constantly flicking traces of oil onto the whites, but the result is utterly uniform: no transparent film, very slight crunch at the edge and a yolk that is bottom third thick and top two-thirds gooey liquid.

*Assumes exaggerated French accent*

"You saleevate, but you can't reesist!"
 
Scrambled or fried on toast or in a roll, preferably granary, for me. Cheese and onion omelette can be nice too. Not keen on runny yolks. I keep meaning to try a soufflé, but that might be foolhardy.
 
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