A colleague approaches Ernesto Di Maio, a material scientist from Naples, Italy, and Ernesto Di Maio, a plastic foam expert, and says, “You should do something cool.” I made a proposal. His colleagues had the project in mind, Dr. Di Maio recalled. He wanted a perfectly boiled egg.
As many home cooks know, the task was more difficult than it looks. Egg yolk and egg whites, or egg whites, have different chemical compositions, so different heating temperatures are required. Dr. Di Maio and his colleagues also welcomed the opportunity to welcome one Michelin Star chef Carlo Cracco, an egg evangelist who charges $52 for egg yolk dishes at a restaurant in Milan.
Scientists have devised ways to cook eggs that do not require special culinary skills or flashy gadgets. Pellegrino Musto, a polymer expert at the Italian National Research Council, said the researchers “didn't eat all of them,” but they caught around 300 eggs.
Researchers said the method, published Thursday, retains the egg's clear texture and its nutritional value.
The two parts of the egg require different cooking temperatures due to their different chemical constituents. “Egg whites are primarily made up of water and protein,” said Emilia di Lorenzo, a graduate student at Dimaio's lab at the University of Naples Federico II, recently published a paper on foam pizza. “Egg yolks, on the other hand, are much more nutrient-rich.”
Employing eggs is a popular approach that requires at least 10 minutes of soaking in boiling water. It is long enough for the egg yolk to be thoroughly cooked. However, it is long enough for the egg white protein to unfold and aggregate, and when heated it drives out the water molecules. This approach also allows you to create a green ring around the egg yolk. This indicates the presence of iron sulfide.
“Most of the time people say they don't like the gum-like nature of egg whites or the stubborn egg yolk particles,” says Nelson Serrano Bali, chef and director of innovation on the American Egg Commission. I did. , the major trade associations in the egg industry have recently dealt with prices and concerns about rising avian flu.
Soft boilers, on the other hand, require a shorter cooking period. This will prevent the egg whites from being swept hard, but it also keeps the egg yolks soft. Di Lorenzo explained that egg yolks are rich in lipids and become more liquid when heated. Some people prefer watery egg yolks, while others find it rebellious.
The third method known as Sous Vide is to cook the eggs in a 150-degree Fluorescent water bath for an hour. It is the ideal temperature for egg yolks, but long-term exposure is not optimal for egg whites as water is not hot enough to denature the protein.
Di Lorenzo had been blunting about Sue Video's approach. I'm not a huge fan. ”
A new method for scientists, derived with the help of Fluid Dynamics software, requires alternating boiling and lukewarm water. The eggs are repeated eight times in 212 degrees water for 2 minutes, then at 86 degrees for 2 minutes. Dr. Di Maio explained that the average temperature of two soaked 150 degrees is ideal for egg yolks, and a hotter bath is sufficient to cook egg whites.
“The key to our method is to have well-cooked egg whites without wasting egg yolks,” Dr. Di Maio said.
Compared to other methods, cyclical baths did a better job of maintaining egg nutrients, studies found. The authors noted that the polyphenol concentrations of compounds protecting against DNA damage are high.
“Maybe it's great, but who's the way?” asked Deb Perelman, who runs the popular Smite Kitchen blog. “There is always a balance between reasonable and rational effort in home cooking.”
Her favorite and innocent method includes a long ice bath after the eggs are cooked. New York Times recipe, J. Kenji López-Alt suggested steaming the eggs with 1 inch of water.
“It's a matter of preference,” Di Lorenzo said. If science is universal, food is deeply personal. Some people eat raw eggs.
New Italian techniques have major drawbacks. “It's more difficult to peel a cyclical egg because everything is softer,” Dr. Di Maio said.
However, Serrano Bali said the egg plates were in the incident. “We're doing research to understand that,” he said. “We've got the answer for you in the next few months.”
