12/16/09

11 Kitchen Tip: How to Crack an Egg

The Pillsbury Crescent and Holiday Plates giveaway is still going...enter here.       Seems silly, but I have been cracking eggs like this all my life.  The wrong way...      Against the edge of a counter, bowl or other sharp object.  Dealing with itty bits of shells swimming in egg goo, chasing the tiniest piece of egg shell with a spoon, fork, or finger.                                                     
In response to pieces of egg shells in a cookie or dish, my mother would tell me, "Oh, a little bit of extra calcium can't hurt you..."
Sorry, mom.  I can't deal with egg shell floaties...or crunchies...


Folks, this is the way to crack open an egg.    Lightly tap the side edge of the egg a couple of times on a FLAT surface.  

Not too hard, or you will have egg all over the counter.







 See that? 

A straight line.......

Easily opened and NO itty bits of egg shells!  Whoo hoo!



Don't ask me how or why this works.  It's a physics problem.

I had a lot of practice of egg crackin' in preparation for my roll class....22 eggs in all ~  I haven't  learned to open the egg with one hand.  Yet.

If you DO happen to get a piece of egg shell in there, try dishing it out with a large piece of egg shell, another sweet tip from a friend of mine.

Just one quick word of caution.  Do not, under any circumstances, throw the egg shells into the sink disposal.  Trust me on this.  I learned the hard way.

Now, get crackin'!


11 comments:

  1. Wait, why can't I put the egg shells in the disposal?? I better start throwing them away because I send them down the drain every time!

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  2. Melanie, I've been putting egg shells down the disposal for years, but this time, after 22 eggs, carefully putting down one at a time, it totally plugged it up!! I pushed and pushed with a kitchen plunger and blew a pipe. Ughh.

    What came out was gross...little chips of eggs, but here's the kicker...large chunks of what looked like tissue paper was actually the membranes of the eggs!

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  3. You know I've tried breaking eggs on a flat surface, but I can't seem to get a good crack on the egg. I still do it the wrong way, but I do break them into a small bowl first. So much easier to get the shell pieces out. I should practice mmore on the counter, maybe I didn't give it long enough to get use to it!

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  4. Jim-49 said
    Frieda,I cracked eggs all my life the old way.Then about 1 1/2 years ago,I saw "Jacques Pepin",showing how to crack them,changed my whole way of cooking in ways!! I taught my granddaughters,and they taught their mother.I started cooking,55 years ago,fished out many shells and more broken yokes.If,you throw those egg shell,in flowers or gardens,you will benefit so much.

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  5. Carol, you are absolutely right to put your cracked eggs into a bowl first, not only to be able to get the shells out, but to make sure the egg is good before dumping it into your recipe~

    Jim, thanks for the gardening tip...I will have to put the shells in my compost bin. Did Jacques crack the eggs differently than shown here on this post? If so, I would love to learn another technique!

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  6. After watching Food Network dedicatedly most afternoons, I also picked up on this egg cracking technique. My mother taught me to crack as you used to, but now I've got something better! Thanks!

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  7. Frieda, I've been trying to decide what topic I'd love to have you guest blog about-- you're so good at bread baking. I'm starting to think that "tips" is something you do so well with. I never knew this tip! I'm going to try that, and I keep forgetting about egg shells and gardens. Great post!

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  8. Jim-49 said
    Your Question,Did Jacques crack the eggs differently than shown here on this post? No,just flat on the counter.The only thing,I could add is,those little pieces of hull are slicky little devils,and you can break a piece of hull,and dip it out,it sticks to hull,better than your fingure or a spoon,etc.I always use a little,sorta flat prep bowel for cracking eggs in,makes it easy for removing the hull.I will tell you this,I saw a commerical machine making rolls,it made 36 rolls at a time,with small cup like rolls in a few seconds.I used to make each one,by rolling in my hand and forming.I take a prep bowl,3 1/2 wide top,for hambuger bun like,2 3/4 -3 inches for dinner rolls.Just roll dough out flat,lightly flour,push the dish through the dough,and jiggle it around in circles fast,after pulling it out away from the dough.Take the dough knife,and slip under,and move to pan for riseing.I love it!! You can cut time down,and it may take a couple of times to get the easy going of it.
    The other best tip,is from Mrs.Sara Moultin,when boiling potatoes for salad or anything,place a wooden spoon across the pot,even just partly,and no more boiling over!! Merry Christmas Ladies,and thanks,for all your help and recipes!!!

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  9. Jim-49 ~ Thank you for your gift of kitchen tips! I do like your roll shaping technique...I've seen people use their hands, but I like your idea of using a prep bowl, especially for the larger, hamburger buns. Thanks for the reminder of the wooden spoon trick. I had forgotten about it~

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  10. HOW have I gone this long without knowing this?? Thanks so much for sharing it!

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