2024-07-27 17:09:48
As the egg white becomes more alkaline, it becomes less viscous – because the interactions between some of its proteins are weakened. If you try to fry or boil an old egg, the white will disperse instead of sticking together neatly.
In an uncooked egg, the protein chains are tightly folded. When heated, these chains uncoil (denature) and thus bond with adjacent proteins to form a gel that holds water.
Different egg whites denature and coagulate at different temperatures, but generally the white becomes solid at around 65°C and the yolk at 70°C. In professional kitchens, eggs are often boiled not in maximally hot water, but in a water bath at a temperature of 65 °C to obtain reliably thick yolks.
When it comes to scrambled eggs, most people like the super soft and moist texture. If the eggs are overcooked, the whites bind together too strongly and displace the water, resulting in a hard and dry texture.
This means gently heating and stirring constantly. It is important to turn off the heat just before the eggs reach the desired consistency, as the remaining heat in the pan will allow them to cook a little longer.
Others like scrambled eggs light and fluffy: this requires a fairly high heat to create pockets of steam in the eggs as they thicken.
In any case, if you salt the eggs before cooking, they will be softer. Most egg whites have a negative electrical charge, so they repel each other slightly. The salt provides positive sodium ions that cluster around the negatively charged areas and help them move closer together.
Acids have a similar effect: they denature proteins at lower temperatures, but they also help them stick together before they are fully folded. If you want extra soft scrambled eggs, try adding a teaspoon of lemon juice or vinegar to two eggs before cooking. It may sound strange, but a little sourness can go well with the richness of eggs for some people – just like in hollandaise sauce, according to New Scientist.
2024-07-27 17:09:48