EGG TERMS:

Marie Simmon's newest book The Good Egg, Houghton Mifflin, 2000 which will do much to help you differentiate one egg from another.

Fertile Eggs: Produced by hens that have mated with a rooster and, if incubated, could develop into chicks. Some ethnic groups consider fertile eggs a delicacy, but there are no known advantages to consuming them. They may contain a small amount of male hormone, although scientists believe it's more likely that the hormone dissipates once the egg is laid.

Free-Range Eggs: Produced by hens raised outside or with daily access to the outdoors. Eggs from hens that roam and scratch for food and so have a varied diet generally have deep yellow yolks and a more distinct eggy flavor than eggs from large hatcheries, although their nutritional content is the same. Beware the term can be misleading. Some egg farms with large indoor facilities where hens can roam indoors refer to themselves as "free-range." Free-range eggs are generally somewhat more expensive than eggs from a large commercial hatchery, but to me, the taste is worth it.

Nutrient-Enhanced Eggs: A recent entry in the supermarket case nutrient-enhanced eggs come from hens raised on special diets. By giving their birds nutrient-rich feeds, some egg farmers have been successful at decreasing the saturated-fat content and increasing the unsaturated-fat content of the eggs. Other feed choices have resulted in eggs with added omega-3 fatty acids, the ones found in fish, which confer the same heart-protecting benefits. Still other eggs have increased levels of vitamins and/or minerals. These specialty eggs are found under several brand names and, depending on feed costs, at various prices at the stores. Check labels for nutrient facts.

Organic Eggs: These eggs come from hens that have been fed rations with ingredients that were grown organically, following strict agricultural limits on pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, and commercial fertilizers and antibiotics. Owing to higher production costs and lower volume per farm, organic eggs are more expensive than eggs from hens fed conventional feed, but they taste better and the health benefits are well worth the small extra cost.

Vegetarian Eggs: These are eggs produced by hens on chicken feed containing only vegetable foods and no meat or seafood by-products. Like free-range eggs, these tend to have an eggy flavor. 

TERMS IN RECIPES: 

In baking recipes, certain terms or phrases occur with regularity. Here are some of them along with an explanation:

Cook until knife inserted near center comes out clean: Baked custard mixtures are done when a metal knife inserted off center comes out clean. The very center still may not be quite done, but the heat retained in the mixture will continue to cook it after removal from the oven. Cooking longer may result in a curdled and/or weeping custard. Cooking a shorter period may result in a thickened but not set custard.

Cook until just coats a metal spoon: For stirred custard mixtures, the eggs are cooked to the proper doneness when a thin film adheres to a metal spoon dipped into the custard. This point of coating a metal spoon is 20 to 30 degrees below boiling. Stirred custards should not boil. The finished product should be soft and thickened but not set. Stirred custards will thicken slightly after refrigeration.

Slightly beaten: Use a fork or whisk to beat eggs just until the yolks and whites are blended.

Well beaten: Use a mixer, blender, beater or whisk to beat eggs until they are light, frothy and evenly colored.

Room temperature: Some recipes call for adding eggs. Most of use eggs right from the refrigerator. But, did you know they should be at room temperature before being combined in a recipe? To warm eggs to room temperature, remove them from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before using them or put them in a bowl of hot tap water FOR TWO MINUTES ONLY. For all other recipes, however, use eggs straight from the refrigerator.

Here's how it works: a typical step in a buttercake recipe is to cream with fat and sugar and then add in the eggs, one at a time. This creates an emulsion. Fat and liquid by nature are unmixable, and the goal when mixing a recipe is to form a water-in-fat emulsion. A well emulsified cake batter, for example, should not be curdled or weeping liquid, which happens if cold eggs are introduced to a room temperature butter/sugar mixture. If the emulsion breaks, the batter will loose air cells. This results in a baked cake that is grainy or flat in texture, dry and flavorless, look uneven and may even sink.    

Separated: Fat inhibits the foaming of egg whites. Since egg yolks contain fat, they are often separated from the whites and the whites beaten separately to allow them to reach their fullest possible volume. Eggs are easiest to separate when cold, but whites reach their fullest volume if allowed to stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes before beating.

Many inexpensive egg separators are available. To separate, tap the midpoint of the egg sharply against a hard surface. Holding the egg over the bowl in which you want the whites, pull the halves apart gently. Let the yolk nestle into the cup like center of the separator and the white will drop through the slots into the bowl beneath.

Drop 1 egg white at a time into a cup or small bowl and then transfer it to the mixing bowl before separating another egg. This avoids the possibility of yolk from the last egg getting into several whites. Drop the yolk into another mixing bowl if needed in the recipe or into a storage container if not.

The following cooking terms apply specifically to beaten egg whites:

Add cream of tartar: Egg whites beat to greater volume than most other foods including whipping cream, but the air beaten into them can be lost quite easily. A stabilizing agent such as cream of tartar is added to the whites to make the foam more stable. Lemon juice works much the same way.

Add sugar, 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time: When making meringues and some cakes, sugar is slowly added to beaten egg whites. This serves to increase the stability of the foam. Sugar, however, can retard the foaming of the whites and must be added slowly so as not to decrease the volume. Beat the whites until foamy, then slowly beat in the sugar.

Stiff but not dry: Beat whites with a mixer, beater or whisk just until they no longer slip when the bowl is tilted. (A blender or food processor will not aerate them properly.) If egg whites are under beaten, the finished product may be heavier and less puffy than desired. If egg whites are over beaten, they may form clumps which are difficult to blend into other foods in the mixture and the finished product may lack volume.

Stiff peaks form: See Stiff but not dry.

Soft peaks or piles softly: Whites that have been beaten until high in volume but not beaten to the stiff peak stage. When beater is lifted, peaks will form and curl over slightly.

Gently folded: When combining beaten egg whites with other heavier mixtures, handle carefully so that the air beaten into the whites is not lost. It's best to pour the beaten egg whites on the heavier mixture. Then gradually combine the ingredients with a downward stroke into the bowl, across, up and over the mixture motion, using a spoon or rubber spatula. Come up through the center of the mixture about every three strokes and rotate the bowl as you are folding. Fold just until there are no streaks remaining in the mixture. Don't stir because this will force air out of the egg whites. If you have a stand mixer, put the mixing bowl on the turntable for easier turning as you fold.

The following cooking terms apply specifically to beaten egg yolks:

Thick and lemon-colored: Beat yolks at high speed with an electric mixer until they become a pastel yellow and form ribbons when the beater is lifted or they are dropped from a spoon, about 3 to 5 minutes. Although yolks can't incorporate as much air as whites, this beating does create a foam and is important to airy concoctions such as sponge cakes.

Add a small amount of hot mixture to eggs/egg yolks: When eggs or egg yolks are added to a hot mixture all at once, they may begin to coagulate too rapidly and form lumps. So, stir a small amount of the hot mixture into the yolks to warm them and then stir the warmed egg yolk mixture into the remaining hot mixture. This is called tempering.

COOKING EQUIPMENT ESPECIALLY FOR EGGS: Egg cooking can be as simple as you want it to be. If you enjoy fancying up things a bit, there are several pieces of equipment and specialty gadgets you may find interesting.

Coddler: A small cup made of porcelain, heat-proof glass or pottery with a screw-on top. An egg is broken into the cup, the top screwed on and the cup submerged in simmering water until the egg is cooked. The egg is eaten directly from the coddler.

Cooker: An electric appliance which steam-cooks eggs in the shell. Most egg cookers also have inserts or cups for steam-poaching. Some also have a flat insert for cooking omelets, fried eggs or scrambled eggs.

Copper and Mixing Bowls: When whipping egg whites, use either a deep copper or stainless steel bowls. Copper contains an egg white protein which stabilizes the foam and helps the whites to retain moisture. You can use glass, but never aluminum because the egg whites will discolor, so stainless steel is good. Whites do not whip well in plastic, as it absorbs fat from other ingredients -- whites will not whip properly in the presence of any fat.

Crepe Pan: A shallow, slope-sided skillet, 6 to 8 inches in diameter. These range from inexpensive, lightweight pans to sophisticated electric models, some of which cook the crepes on what appears to be the outside of the pan. Crepes can be made in almost any small shallow pan with sloping sides. A small omelet pan will do a nice double-duty job.

Cup: A small container designed to hold a soft-cooked egg upright in its shell for table service.

Custard Cups: Small, deep, individual bowl-shaped dishes designed for oven use. They are useful for cooking or serving other foods as well as custards.

Omelet Pan: A shallow, slope-sided skillet, usually 7 to 10 inches in diameter. A double omelet pan consists of 2 shallow rectangular or semicircular pans attached by hinges. Each pan has a handle. Some purists insist that an omelet pan should be well seasoned, never washed with detergent and used only for omelets. More practical cooks insist that a slope-sided pan with a nonstick coating is fine for omelets and for sautéing, frying, and other purposes.

Piercer: A sharp-pointed tool for gently pricking a very small hole in the large end of an eggshell before hard-cooking. A clean, preferably sterilized, thumbtack, pin or needle can also be used for piercing. Piercing may allow some air to escape and some water to seep into the egg during cooking which may make peeling easier. Piercing also often produces hairline cracks in the shell.

Poacher: A rack that holds 1-egg-sized cups over simmering water, or a small colander-like form that holds an egg as it poaches in simmering water. If you don't use one, add a little white vinegar to the water you're using to poach eggs. It keeps the whites from "wandering." When they're done, lift them out with a slotted spoon directly into an ice bath to rinse off the vinegar and stop the cooking. Before serving, trim the irregular portions off the cooked egg with scissors or a knife.

Quiche Dish: A round, shallow, straight-sided ceramic or porcelain dish, usually with scalloped edges, for use in the oven. Sometimes it is also called a flan or tart dish and is available in several sizes. A pie plate or pan of the same size will substitute nicely.

Ring: A round band, with or without a handle, to hold a fried or poached egg during cooking.
Scissors: A circular gadget for opening soft-cooked eggs. When its scissors-type handle is operated, a series of teeth or a blade clips off the top of the egg.

Separator: A small cup centered in a round frame made of plastic, metal or ceramic. The cup catches the yolk while slots around the frame let the white slip through to a container beneath.

Slicer: A device which cuts a hardcooked egg into neat slices with one swift stroke. It has an indented tray in which the egg rests and a cutting mechanism of parallel wires. To chop an egg, carefully reverse the sliced egg in the tray and cut through again.

Souffle Dish: A deep, straight-sided dish designed for oven use. It may also serve as a casserole dish. Souffle dishes are available in different sizes. A straight-sided casserole, uncoated saucepan or baking dish of the same size can be substituted.

Wedger: Similar to a slicer, it cuts the egg into 6 equal parts rather than into slices. The wedger holds the egg upright as wires are pulled over to cut the wedges. When the wires are drawn down only partway, the egg can be opened to hold a stuffing or to resemble a flower.

Some egg information from: aeb.org