What is the role of eggs in the kitchen, why is it important that they be fresh, and once and for all - how to make a poached egg? • On the Way to Being a Chef - Lesson 3 • And there is also a corrupt recipe

• "Only" scrambled egg. Inside a lot of sweet cream, and truffle puree

This week we dedicated an entire school day to eggs. One may ask, a whole day for eggs? Why actually? Eye, omelet, scribbled, and close interest. But in "Danon" as I already understood from the first day of school, everything is very professional and thorough, and the eggs - are a very important element in any kitchen. 

In France, the omelette is a dish in itself, and is eaten as an opening for dinner and not in the morning. Japan also has a special technique for making omelets, and they are eaten with various sauces as a first course in restaurants and even in bars. Luxury restaurants use eggs in small entrees in combination with upscale ingredients like seafood, truffles and caviar.

The main function of eggs is coagulation: the ability of an egg to turn a liquid into a solid is used in a wide variety of foods and cooking techniques. The eggs are also used for polishing pastries, whipping and giving airiness to various foods (cakes, mousses, souffles), as well as for creating a emulsion between fat and water (emulsion), such as mayonnaise and other sauces. 

For previous columns:

Lesson 1: The day I decided to start cooking

Lesson 2: The building blocks of any cook

The eggs are "a perfect package of animal protein that the human body needs", as Chef Hagai Lerner told us during the lesson where we demonstrated the preparation of caramel cream, spoiled and delicious scrambled eggs, a poached egg on the fire brown and Florentine-style eggs that we students also prepared (recipe below) . Eggs contain a lot of minerals and vitamins, so they are both healthy (in part, because of the cholesterol in the yolk) and also very rich in foods.

Over the years there have been countless studies on the nature of eggs and whether they are healthy for us or not. In the past it was customary to eat more of them, especially giving children eggs "to grow". My mom, for example, really remembers how much her parents would harass her for eating eggs, and to this day she doesn’t really like egg dishes because of it. Even today, most Israeli homes will have eggs for a home-cooked dinner, and will not be left over for breakfast or a sumptuous brunch. 

Egg freshness is important not only for keeping from contamination, but actually affects the foods themselves. The structure of the protein changes completely when the egg is not fresh, which leads to a real change in the success of the dishes. When opening an egg, make sure that the yolk does not explode - and if so, this indicates a lack of freshness. Another sign can be seen in the protein, which consists of part more watery and part in a jelly texture - if the protein is too watery, the egg is not fresh. You should always open each egg in a separate bowl to check if it is fresh and healthy, and only then add to the rest of the eggs or ingredients.

Coagulation of eggs is of course done using heat. The warmer the egg, the more coagulation there will be. The coagulation process is irreversible, so the cooking time of eggs is critical. The role of the cook is to control this process. There are countless "granny methods" and in every other time home for cooking egg car and hard.

Forget everything and write in front of you:

- Put in the egg or eggs when the water is already boiling! 

Using a stick, you can pierce the flattened bottom of the egg to get the air out of it - and prevent it from exploding, but you don't have to. 

A good hard-boiled egg (without the gray stripe between the yolk and the protein, which also smells of sulfur), will be obtained after 11 minutes. 

A properly soft-boiled egg will be obtained after 6 minutes. 

- It is important to take the eggs out into a bowl of cold water or rinse under running water, otherwise the cooking, and with it the coagulation, will continue.

More in the food section:

A mysterious egg has a more prestigious reputation, and it is not often made at home. Its preparation technique is a bit more complicated than putting an egg in its shell in the water, but if you look after it properly - it's quite simple. Success depends mainly on freshness because its protein must be as little as watery. Add a little vinegar to the cooking water, which helps with the coagulation, and the cooking is done in boiling water but not "stirring". The result, in my opinion, is not very different from a soft-boiled egg in terms of taste. Indeed, it allows you to pour sauce on the egg, unlike a soft-boiled egg from which it can slip. And so corrupt dishes like Benedict's egg, or Florentine-style eggs, were born.

Florentine-style eggs were not born in the Tel Aviv neighborhood but in Florence, Italy, from which the spinach portion came. This is a dish of poached (or soft) eggs that are placed on steamed spinach with cream, and on top of that - Mornay sauce, which is a chive sauce with cheese. A rich and delicious dish. Highly recommended for preparation at home, if there is some time and someone who really wants to indulge. 

Florentine-style eggs

Ingredients for one serving:

• 40 grams of sweet cream
• 2 eggs 
• 200 grams of clean spinach leaves
• 20 grams of butter
• salt and pepper
• Tablespoon of vinegar
• For the sauce:
• 250 grams of milk (a little more than a cup)
• 15 grams of butter (tablespoon)
• A pinch of nutmeg
• 30 grams of Parmesan cheese
• Basil leaves for serving
• salt and pepper

Preparation:

enjoy your meal!

The author participates in a multidisciplinary cooking course, as a guest of the Danon School of Culinary Excellence.

For more details on the school and to contact us click here

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