Dairy And Eggs

Dairy and Eggs

•  Appreciate the benefits of butter. Much of the pleasure of food comes from fats like butter. Fats provide enticing mouth feel and is a vehicle of taste since many of the substances that affect our taste receptors are fat-soluble. Unlike other fats, butter provides additional proteins and dairy solids that enhance and balance flavors, smooth acids, and counter bitterness. There is no replacement for dairy fat, nothing feels quite as creamy or has the same flavor. There is a famous scene in the movie Julie and Julia where Julia Child (eating Dover sole) meltingly says the word “butter.” In truth she adored butter and she loathed dietary alternatives, but she did warn of caution in use; i.e. something you wouldn’t eat in quantity every day. (She also had an aversion to tuna packed in water and thought to use it that way was a waste of time—to always use tuna packed in oil.)

• Cook with Unsalted Butter. To control the seasoning of a dish, use unsalted butter when you cook. Leave salted butter for the table. Note: Land O’Lakes is now making a butter with Olive Oil and Sea Salt.

• Judge a cheese by its rind. The outside of a cheese tells you all you need to know about its quality, age and texture. Cheese Mongers advise, “Up with natural rinds, buffed, brushed, washed or cloth-covered. Down with plastic, paraffin (wax) and paint.”

• Consume soft cheese immediately. The softer the cheese, the more quickly it perishes. Hard cheeses have longer lives and stored in the refrigerator, last at least a few weeks.

• Serve cheese at room temperature. But store it in the refrigerator. Cold storage preserves freshness, whereas room temperature releases flavor and softens the texture. 

• Grate cheese yourself. Pre-shredded cheese offer convenience but lack flavor. Stabilizers and additives are needed to keep such cheese from clumping together. This commercial concern is not yours if you grate cheese as you use it.

• Add cheese at the end. If you add cheese early in the cooking process, prolonged or excessive heat might “break” the cheese (separate it’s fat from its dairy solids) and degrade the dish. Instead, melt the cheese over low heat—or brown it under a high flame using a broiler or salamander—once the dish is substantially finished. Use freshly grated or shredded cheese for even, speedy melting. 

• Test eggs for freshness. If you’re uncertain, crack an egg onto a flat plate. Its contents should hold their rounded or domed shapes, but if the white spreads and the yolk flattens, the egg is suspect.

• Use fresh eggs for poaching. When an egg is fresh, the white (albumen) clings to the yolk, which aids in achieving the coveted oval shape of a poached egg.

• Use older (but not expired) eggs for boiling. With age, the air pocket between the shell and the membrane gets bigger, making the egg easier to peel. You are less likely to take some of the “white” with you when you unshell it.

• Use large eggs when the recipe does not specify size. The minimum weight for a large egg is 1 ounce whereas the minimum weight for an extra large egg is 2.25 ounces. If you casually use extra large eggs, and the recipe calls for half a dozen large eggs, you are increasing your egg quantity by almost another whole egg. 

• Separate eggs with your hands. Pass the egg back and forth over your immaculately clean hands, and let the white drain between your fingers into one bowl. The yolk is less likely to break this way than if passed between two cracked shells. Then place the remaining dry yolk in another bowl. Wash your hands of the raw residue before moving on.

• Explore the novelty of different eggs.  Different species can produce different colored shells varied into speckled, blue, green, browns...  If you've never had a farm fresh egg, you will be surprised.  The yolk is invariably a brilliant orange, not yellow.  Try using eggs from species other than chickens: ducks, quail, geese.  If you are ever given an ostrich egg, be prepared to boil it for a long time.