中文
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • CREDITS
    • RESOURCES
    • Privacy Policy
  • ITALY
  • RECIPES
  • INGREDIENTS
  • EQUIPMENT
  • TECHNIQUE
  • WINE
  • Free Updates
  • BLOG
  • chinese

Living a Life in Colour

a guide to Italian food, wine and culture

How to separate eggs

 

Eggs are separated to make the most of the different qualities of the yolk and the white. Egg whites can whip up to 5 times their volume so are useful for adding air to a dish. The yolk is useful for creating an emulsion or as a thickening agent. In baking, eggs are used as emulsifiers and leavening agents which also add stability and structure to a dish.

Needed:

eggs* (Fresh eggs separate more easily as the yolk is less likely to break.)

3 bowls

Wash your hands to ensure you have no oil on your hands which hinders whipping egg whites. Begin with the 3 bowls and your eggs (or just 2 bowls if only using 1 egg).  Crack the egg quickly at the thickest point of the egg by cracking it against the rim of the bowl or the counter.

meimanrensheng.com how to cook- separating eggs step 1

Over one of the bowls using your thumbs to pry the egg shell into two pieces.

meimanrensheng.com how to cook- separating eggs step 2

Moving quickly, ensure that the egg yolk remains in one half of the shell (being careful not to break the yolk).

meimanrensheng.com how to cook- separating eggs step 3

Allow the egg white to fall into the bowl.

meimanrensheng.com how to cook- separating eggs step 4

 

Keep gently moving the egg yolk between the two shell halves being careful not to break it but allowing the excess white to run into the bowl.

meimanrensheng.com how to cook- separating eggs step 5 meimanrensheng.com how to cook- separating eggs step 6

When the white has been separated from the yolk, add the yolk to the other bowl.  Add each white one at a time to the third bowl which will contain all the whites.  The use of the first bowl ensures that if you have a bad egg or the yolk breaks that it doesn’t ruin the other egg whites you have already separated.

meimanrensheng.com how to cook- separating eggs step 7

 

If any yolk gets into the whites the whites will not whip properly. You can try to fish out bits of egg shell or a drop of egg yolk using half a shell as the egg shell is attracted to egg shell.

 

Note: No need for the egg whites at this time? You can freeze them in a sealed container. Remember to write down the number of whites in the container.

*Tip: Cold eggs are easier to separate but if the recipe calls for room temperature eggs then separate them beforehand and cover the bowls with cling film while they come up to room temperature.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe by e-mail. Thanks for visiting!

Thanks for visiting Living a Life in Colour again, good to have you back here. If you haven't yet, you might want to subscribe by e-mail . Enjoy! Thanks for visiting!

Comments

  1. Helen says

    September 15, 2018 at 2:42 am

    This is just wonderful! I hate separating eggs (don’t we all?) and have stayed away from white cakes and such because of this. Eggs were on sale this week (I wonder why?) and we have no kids to dye with, so I think I’ll try this. I’ve also heard that an older eggs is easier to separate than one you just brought home. Older being a day or so.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Learn how to make Italian recipes for family and friends.

Recipes

Connect

Woo Wei-Duan provides practical instruction on Italian cooking and recipes as well as musings on life and family on this website. Read More…

Contact Us

Learn how to make Italian recipes for family and friends.

Featured posts

Venice flooding in 1966 by By Unknown
Panzarotto (a deep-fried pizza pocket filled with molten mozzarella and tomato sauce)
Creative Commons Licence
Mei Man Ren Sheng by Woo Wei-Duan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.