Eggs

I love eggs.  They are a remarkable food.  There are so many ways to cook them, so many things in them that are good for you, and so many things they can do inside other foods.

Eggs.  (Or as Gollum would say, eggses -- a nod for all like-minded Tolkien fans in the world.)

I am quite fortunate that a family I know raises chickens which produce a lot of eggs.  So I am able to purchase a quantity of farm fresh eggs every week for use in my kitchen from someone I know who raises their chickens in a manner of which I approve.  Each week I can hardly wait to look at the varied colors, the speckles on some of the shells, the slightly varying sizes.  It's a totally different experience from picking up a standard carton at the store.  It all seems so real and non-factory, which of course it is. 

Eggs provide flavor, structure, and texture to a variety of foods, all depending on how they are used and how they are incorporated.  And by themselves, they are to be relished.  It's amazing that something so simple as a fried egg can taste so good.  And don't get me started on deviled eggs, or omelets, or scrambled eggs... I could go on and on.

In baking, most of the time a recipe calls simply for a specific quantity of large eggs.  But sometimes a recipe will be so precise that the required weight in grams is given.  I love working with something that is so precise sometimes.  There is something rewarding about paying attention to that level of detail when preparing a delicious bakery item.

When picked up at the grocery store, all eggs of course are already in cartons by size.  Jumbo, extra-large, large and medium are typically the ones that are seen. But other defined sizes include small and pee-wee.  All these sizes are defined by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).  The USDA sets standards by weight for all eggs sold commercially in the USA.

According to the USDA size specifications, large eggs are 56 grams in the shell.  This is important to know for a couple reasons.  If you are working with farm fresh eggs which are not necessarily sorted and sold by the dozen with the same sort of weight sorting that is done in a commercial facility, then you need to know whether the quantity of eggs you are using in a recipe that calls for "2 large eggs" is really the required amount by weight for your recipe.  This means you might want to weigh your farm fresh eggs if you have any doubt about their size and if a potential difference will significantly impact what you are making.

Another reason it is important to know about USDA weight specs pertains to recipes you might be using from non-US sources.  Canada, for instance, has virtually the same size specs as the USDA. However in Europe, my understanding is that they are quite different.  A "large" egg there is defined as one that is 63 grams.  Other parts of the world also have differing size specs, some minor compared to US specs, some not so minor.  So if you are using a recipe from a non-US source, it's probably a good idea to ensure that you are using the right quantity of eggs as measured by weight.  For some recipes, it might not matter so much.  But sometimes it matters a whole lot.

OK.... I 'm going to fix myself some breakfast.  Three guesses as to what I'm having today.