Posted on 05/04/2008 5:27:46 AM PDT by JACKRUSSELL
Can't remember if an egg is fresh or hard boiled? Just spin the egg. If it wobbles, it's raw. If it spins easily, it's hard boiled.
A fresh egg will sink in water, a stale one will float.
Eggs contain all the essential protein, minerals and vitamins, except Vitamin C. But egg yolks are one of few foods that naturally contain Vitamin D.
The colour of the egg shell is not related to quality, nutrients, flavour or cooking characteristics. White-shelled eggs are produced by hens with white feathers and white ear lobes.
Brown-shelled eggs are produced by hens with red feathers and red ear lobes. Brown egg layers usually are slightly larger and require more food, thus brown eggs usually cost more than white eggs.
China produces the most eggs, at about 160 billion per year. In the US, about 260 million hens produce more than 65 billion eggs per year. A hen can lay about 250 eggs per year.
An egg shell has as many as 17,000 pores over its surface.
There are 150 species of chicken. Chicken are descendants of the red jungle fowl (gallus gallus spadiceus) that lives in Asia.
The chicken is one of the first domestic animals, appearing in China around 1400 BC.
...and the reason the chicken crossed the road was to prove to the squirrel that it could be done.
the reason the chicken crossed the road was that he was a typical white person
When our kids were younger we let them raise some "fancy" chickens for 4-H (we mainly had black australorps). We had one little bantam rooster (can't remember what variety) that tried to terrorize everyone. It took several times of me kicking him through the goal posts before he backed off and gave us some space. Don't know if he got wise (doubt it), or I just rang his bell hard enough that he lost interest.
An easy way to peel hard boiled eggs is to put the pan with the eggs in it into the sink, tip the hot water out, pour in water as cold as you can, wait a couple of minutes (or three), and the shell comes off in large pieces. The cold water breaks the membrane between the egg and the shell.
“The color of shell is a factor of diet. You can change the color by changing the diet.”
The color of chicken eggs is genetically determined. You may get slight changes by changing the diet. A white egg may be off-white but will never be brown; and brown, blue and green eggs will always be shades of those colors.
Try using a coffee maker instead. Results are eggcellent! There's no discoloration to the yolks caused by boiling and the whites are more delicate and gourmet. You can cook up to 12 eggs at a time in a 12 cup coffee maker. Target sells a cheap 12 cup-er for $9.50.
Start with eggs warmed in running hot tap water for 5 minutes. Pour half the water out then let the coffee maker refill it. This steps the heat up gradually preventing thermal shock which will crack the eggs. As the eggs absorb heat from the hot water the water will lose temperature. The hot plate is not powerful enough to increase the temperature so periodically pour half the water out and let the coffee maker refill with fresh hot water. Try to fill the reservoir with a measured amount to prevent overflows. The time from hot tap water to ready to eat is 35 minutes.
I'm searching for a way to make the eggs easy to peel. Egg shells seem too thin these days. Re-heating a cold egg in hot tap water sometimes helps but not always.
I swear FR is the most educational site on the net.
I honestly didn’t know that chickens had ear lobes.
“I have an Andalusian Rooster who is constantly on the attack”
I had a Golden Polish rooster like that...hadda carry a bamboo cane to go in to feed and, even then, he was the master of sneak attacks. I was kinda glad when the bobcats had him for dinner.
Thanks! Learned something new today.
Why a crock pot? Put eggs in pot of cold water (to cover), bring to boil, turn off heat, set timer for 12 minutes. Oh, I didn’t know chickens had earlobes, did you?
Also interesting, I use a potato.
See #26 on how to peel hard boiled eggs quickly and easily.
I’ll add what I forgot before, and that’s to peel the eggs immediately after doing what I said in #26.
I remember back in the 40’s we used to preserve eggs in a slimy solution of water glass (sodium silicate) in a crock in a cool cellar. I hated to stick my young arm in that thing to fetch a few eggs. That was in the days of food rationing. Anyone remember the stamp books and the little tokens needed to buy meat, etc?
When staying in a hotel there’s usually no stove but sometimes a microwave or coffee maker. Hard cooked eggs are a great way to avoid a high-carb diet when traveling. The coffee maker method works best but a microwave can be used to heat water for a similar indirect process. Just don’t put uncracked eggs into a microwave to boil directly as they explode.
There may be several ways but this one is sure-fire.
Place eggs in a pan and cover with one inch of water.
Put a lid on the pan and put the pan on a stove element or burner. (I like to allow the water to come to near room temperature before heating)
Bring to a rapid boil.(I like to do this slowly)
Remove from the heat.
Leave alone and covered for 12 min (10-15).
Immediately run cold water over the eggs for several minutes to stop the cooking.
Dry and refrigerate the eggs.
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