Separating eggs is a messy, but necessary task. Many recipes call for just the yolks, or just the whites. Some use both, but they are required to be added separately.
If even a little speck of yolk gets mixed into the whites, they won’t whisk up properly, resulting in flat soufflés and baked goods.
Traditionally, the egg is separated by cracking it open, and passing the raw egg back and forth between the shells, until the white slips out, and then putting the yolk into a different bowl.
For those who don’t mind getting their hands a dirty, the egg can be poured into your palm and the white will drip out from between your fingers into the bowl, leaving you holding the yolk.
Always use a perfectly clean, dry bowl for the egg whites, and make sure your hands are also clean, and oil free. Egg whites are fussy, and they won’t cooperate if they come into contact with other substances. Conversely, a little of the whites will not effect the reaction of the yolks when cooking. It’s best to use a small bowl for separating the egg whites, and then transfer them one by one to a larger bowl once they are separated cleanly. That way, if there is any contamination, you will only waste 1 egg, not the whole batch.
Just when you think there are no new techniques to handle this common kitchen task, something truly innovative comes along.
Today, I came across a YouTube video, of a very unique way to separate eggs.
The egg was cracked carefully into a bowl, so that yolk remained intact. An empty plastic water bottle was placed gently on top of the yolk, and when it was squeezed, the yolk was vacuumed up into the bottle, unbroken. Truly amazing!
It just goes to show you, there are lots of ways to separate an egg!
Happy Baking!
photo: Glasshouse Images
Tags: baking, egg whites, egg yolks, eggs, Food, how to separate an egg, plastic water bottle, raw egg, recipes, YOUTUBE
Indigo jones 
September 22, 2012 at 10:08 am |
Hi! My name is Sue, and I’m from SlimKicker, a diet/fitness app and website. I saw your blog yesterday and it captured my interest!
I’m contacting you b/c we’re about to release a fitness tracker (similar to FitBit) early next year, and are looking for bloggers who would be interested in getting 1 for free to review when it is out (negative or positive).
Would you be interested in doing this? You can email me at: sue (at) slimkicker (com) with ‘Review’ in the email heading if you are.
A brief explanation of who we are, our website SlimKicker basically turns your diet/fitness goals into a fun level-up game. The tracker will work in conjunction the website, and allow people to track calories burned and number of steps they walk automatically. The more they exercise, the more points they rack up! That’s basically how it will work.
Anyway, hope to hear back either way…
– Sue
P.S. You can choose not to publish this comment as this is more of a private comment 🙂