Eggs, Eggs, and more Eggs!

Guess what today's lesson was about! That's right, eggs. Eggs in every way imaginable. Chef said there is an old tale that states a chef's hat has 100 pleats, 1 for every way you can cook/use an egg. Today we did a lot with them and tomorrow, during baking class, we will learn even more. There is so much more to learn about eggs that next week's class will cover them as well! I love eggs, but I felt like today was too simple. I am anxious to get into the meats and other hearty items. There are things I learned though. I never used to poach eggs before, but today was great to learn how to do them correctly. It may be a new cooking technique in our house!

During our lecture, chef used the egg yolks to make a homemade mayonnaise. It was quite good, however, chef reminded us that an original mayonnaise was used as a sauce, not the way we use it now. Lesson of the day: When eggs are first laid, they come out coated in a sticky, slimy substance called the cuticle or bloom. If this remains on the egg, it can remain out and unrefrigerated without harm. The cuticle blocks the pores of the eggs which means oxygen cannot get into the egg and break it down. Commercial producers wash this cuticle off and then coat the egg with mineral oil as Americans are too stuck up to have 'sticky' eggs.

Today we learned a lot about the properties of the egg and how it works in cooking. Today we did fewer recipes than in the past. I think this is because they factored in the time it would take to show us some of the techniques when using eggs. We broke down into teams and my team made the Beggar's Purses of 3 Cheeses and the Bread Pudding with Lemon Rum Zabaglione Sauce. I made the crepe batter for the 'purses' and blanched scallion greens to tie the 'purses' together. I also helped flip the bread pudding out of the pan and serve it up. While I though today's lesson was a little simple, I loved at least one part of every recipe we made. Today is one of the days where I will make a lot of this food in the future.

Today's Recipes: Roberta's Eggs II, L'Omelette Nature, Savory Waffles with Piperade and Scrambled Eggs, Beggar's Purses of Three Cheeses, Vegetable Torte Custard, Grilled Asparagus with Poached Eggs and Orange Dill Mayonnaise, Bread Pudding with Lemon Rum Sabayon (Zabaglione) Sauce