Other Egg Information Recipes Included On This Page Easter Egg Notes, Egg Safety, Tips & How-to's How to Boil an Egg! How to Tell if an Egg Is Hard-Boiled! How to Color Eggs With Food Dyes! How to Create Swirled Easter Eggs! Easter Egg Safety! Purchase and Care of Eggs How to Poach Eggs! How to Make Deviled Eggs! Use Your Browser's "Back" Button to Return to This Recipe List
	* Exported from MasterCook * Easter Egg Notes, Egg Safety, Tips & How-to's Recipe By :Bob <bobrob@CAM.ORG> Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : Eggs Information Volume 3-4 Apr. 2000 Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- (See Below) How to Boil an Egg! Steps: 1. Place the egg in a saucepan. 2. Run cold water into the saucepan until the water is 1 inch above the egg. 3. Place the saucepan on a stove and cook over medium heat until the water begins to boil. 4. Reduce the heat to low. 5. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes for soft-boiled, or 10 to 15 minutes for hard-boiled eggs. 6. Remove the egg with a spoon or ladle and let it cool slowly, or run cold water over it to cool it more quickly. Tips: Use hard-boiled eggs to make deviled eggs or egg salad sandwiches. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Hints List How to Tell if an Egg Is Hard-Boiled! Steps: 1. Gently place the egg on its side on a counter top. 2. Spin the egg. 3. If the egg spins freely, it's hard-boiled. 4. If it wobbles and stops spinning, it's not hard-boiled. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Hints List How to Color Eggs With Food Dyes! Steps: 1. Set out a cup or bowl for each color. They must be deep enough to accommodate eggs. 2. Cut an empty paper towel roll into sections; you'll set your finished eggs on them to dry. 3. Scoop a gob of paste-type food coloring (found in the cake decorating section of craft stores) out of the container with a toothpick. 4. Stir it into a cup or bowl with 1 c. very hot water until it's dissolved. 5. Add 1/4 c. white vinegar. 6. Repeat steps 3 to 5 for the various colors. 7. Dip white hard-boiled eggs into the bowls using a metal spoon or tongs. 8. Place the dyed eggs on the egg holders to dry. Tips: Regular liquid food coloring can be used as well. Use 7 to 10 drops. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Hints List How to Create Swirled Easter Eggs! This new "spin" on egg coloring will give you a beautiful swirled effect. Steps: 1. Hard boil or blow out some eggs to decorate. 2. Fill a large glass or metal bowl with cool or room-temperature tap water. Make sure the bowl is deep enough so that an egg can be easily submerged in it. 3. Cut a piece of string at least 6 inches long. 4. Tape the string to the top of the egg you want to color. Use a very small piece of tape. 5. Drop several drops of various colors of oil-based egg coloring into the bowl. Do not stir or mix. 6. Hold the string in one hand and get the egg to spin with the other hand. 7. Lower the egg as it is spinning into the water very slowly until it is completely submerged. 8. Blow on the top of the water where you will lift the egg out. 9. Lift the egg out quickly through the clearing you have made in the colors. 10. Remove the tape and string and allow the egg to air dry. 11. Rip a piece of newspaper as long as the diameter of the bowl and about 4 inches wide. 12. Take the newspaper and curve it to fit along one inside edge of the bowl. Slowly draw the newspaper across the surface of the water. This will absorb the coloring. 13. Lift the newspaper up and out once you reach the opposite side of bowl. 14. Add new colors to the bowl and begin again. 15. Enjoy the beautiful swirled effect you will have achieved. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Hints List Easter Egg Safety! Egg handling at Easter or at any time during the year provides many opportunities for eggs to become contaminated with bacteria. Here are some tips on how to safely handle eggs at Easter--and all through the year. Keep fresh eggs refrigerated until it's time to cook them. Eggs are a potentially hazardous food, in the same category as meat, poultry, fish, and milk. In other words, they are capable of supporting the rapid growth of disease-causing bacteria like Salmonella. The American Egg Board (AEB) recommends this method for boiling the perfect Easter egg: Place eggs in single layer in saucepan. Add enough tap water to come at least 1 inch above eggs. A tablespoon of vinegar can be added to allow better dye coverage after cooking. Cover pan and quickly bring just to boiling. Turn off heat. If necessary, remove pan from burner to prevent further boiling. Let eggs stand, covered, in the hot water for 15 minutes. Immediately run cold water over eggs or place them in ice water until completely cooled. Refrigerate all hard cooked eggs. Whatever the style of preparation, eggs should always be cooked well. The Food and Drug Administration recommends cooking eggs until both the yolk and the white are firm, not runny. This way any Salmonella or other harmful bacteria that may be in the eggs will be destroyed. Do not handle eggs excessively, and wash your hands thoroughly when you do handle them, whether in cooking, cooling, dyeing or hiding. The shell of an egg is very porous and will permit bacteria to penetrate. Most commercial egg producers lightly coat their eggs with a thin spray coating of mineral oil to close the pores against contamination. Cooking the egg in the shell, however, removes that barrier so that your hard cooked eggs are again prone to contamination unless you protect them by proper handling. Care should be used in choosing hiding places for Easter eggs. Make sure to avoid areas where the eggs might come into contact with pets, wild animals, birds, reptiles, insects or lawn chemicals. Some egg suppliers offer pre-cooked Easter eggs, decorated or plain, that are resin coated for extra protection against contamination. The resin coating also doubles the eggs' shelf life so that they will keep for two weeks instead of just one. If you won't be coloring your eggs right after cooking them, store them in their cartons in the refrigerator. Refrigerate them again after they've been hidden and found. Don't eat cracked eggs or eggs that have been out of refrigeration for more than two hours. If you plan to use hard-cooked eggs as a centerpiece or other decoration, cook extra eggs for eating and discard the eggs that have been left out for many hours or days as a decoration. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Hints List Purchase and Care of Eggs: Purchase eggs only from refrigerated cases and refrigerate them in their cartons on an inside shelf as soon as possible after purchase. Today's home refrigerators are designed to maintain a temperature of 400F or below, a satisfactory temperature for eggs and other perishable foods. Keep shell eggs, broken-out eggs or egg mixtures refrigerated before and after cooking. Do not leave eggs in any form at room temperature for more than 2 hours including preparation and serving. Promptly after serving, refrigerate leftovers in shallow containers so they will cool quickly. For picnics or outdoor parties, pack cold egg dishes with ice or frozen reusable ice substitute in an insulated cooler or bag. Cleanliness of hands, utensils and work surfaces is essential in preventing cross-contamination. Use only clean, unbroken eggs. Discard dirty or broken eggs. Avoid mixing the shell with the egg's contents. Before they are packed, eggs are washed and sanitized. The process should remove most pathogenic bacteria from the surface of the shell, but some might remain in the pores or the shell might be reinfected from other sources. Eggs should not be re-washed before use. An inexpensive egg separator can be used to separate yolks and whites so that contents do not come in contact with the shells. If a bit of shell falls into the broken out contents, remove it with a clean utensil. Wash hands thoroughly with soap and hot water before beginning food preparation. Wash hands again, along with all utensils, equipment and counter tops that have been in contact with any raw food before preparing other foods. Use separate cutting boards for raw and cooked foods. Wash and sanitize them thoroughly after each use. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Hints List How to Poach Eggs! Steps: 1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. The water should be at least five or six inches deep (the deeper the better). 2. Season lightly with salt and pepper. 3. When the water boils, add about a tbsp. vinegar for every pint or so of water. Taste to make sure the level is right. The vinegar should be barely noticeable. 4. Lower the water to a slow simmer. 5. Carefully crack one egg into a teacup or large ladle. 6. Lower the teacup or ladle into the water and pour the egg out as gently as possible. 7. The egg white will coagulate in the water and turn white. Most eggs will take between two and three minutes for the white to cook but leave the yolk still runny. Remove the egg at this point with a slotted spoon or strainer. 8. Repeat with remaining eggs. You can poach several eggs at once in the same pot. Tips: The vinegar is actually an important element in egg poaching. It causes the egg white to immediately turn white and begin cooking, and it speeds up the cooking process so the egg doesn't over cook. Some people swirl the water to create a whirlpool, then drop the egg in. This can help the egg hold its shape. Poached eggs will have some loose strands of egg white attached to them; you can cut these away for a more attractive appearance. You can poach eggs ahead of time, under cooking them slightly. Then chill them in ice water and reheat later to finish cooking. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Hints List How to Make Deviled Eggs! Steps: 1. Halve hard-cooked eggs lengthwise and remove the yolks. 2. Place yolks in a bowl and mash with a fork. 3. Add mayonnaise, mustard and vinegar. Mix well. 4. Season with salt and pepper. 5. Stuff egg white halves with yolk mixture, dividing yolk mixture evenly among the eggs. 6. Garnish with paprika or parsley. Tips: Lighten this dish up by using either fat-free mayonnaise or reduced- fat mayonnaise. Deviled eggs can be quite individual. Include more mustard or a couple of shots of Tabasco for more kick. You can also add chopped sweet pickles or cornichons. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NOTES : MC formatted by Art Guyer

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