Do you think that you know everything you need to know about eggs and dairy products such as milk, cream, yogurt, buttermilk, butter, and cheese?
If you are a culinary student still fairly new to commercial cooking, I can promise this: You do not.
Although you probably associate eggs with breakfast, they are often used in lunch and dinner entrees, as well as in sauces and baking. It is the same with milk and cheese, which can be used in everything from french toast to cakes to bechamel. These products are actually the basis of almost every meal and the unique qualities, features, and cooking idiosyncrasies will allow you to prepare a variety of delicious food items.
Since this can be a HUGE unit, we will split it between the two main subjects of our study: eggs and dairy.
Fun Fact:
People very frequently lump eggs in with other dairy products as in “milk and eggs.” Really! One of the most frequent questions very young cooks ask me is “Are eggs a dairy product?” Or “I can’t eat eggs because I’m lactose intolerant.”
I try to answer both with a straight face.
“Noooooo. Eggs come from birds. Dairy come from (mostly) cows. They are entirely different in every way.”
All eggs are dairy free the same way that all steak is shellfish free. They are entirely different things.
Content and Background
Recipes
French Omelet
A French omelet is a dish made from beaten eggs cooked in a pan on the stovetop. Unlike American-style omelets or Italian frittatas, French-style omelets are meant to be cooked very quickly so that the outside of the omelet is smooth and golden and the inside is custardy and even a little runny.
Ingredients
- 3 fresh eggs
- ½ teaspoon cold water
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter divided
- pinch kosher salt
- pinch white pepper
- 1 teaspoon Parsley minced fine
Instructions
- Whisk eggs, salt, and water together in a mixing bowl. Whisk until mixture is very liquid and whites are completely blended in, 1 or 2 minutes.
- Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons butter in a 9- or 10-inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. As soon as butter melts and before it starts to sizzle, pour in the whisked eggs. Stir in a circular pattern with a heat-proof spatula, lifting and “scrambling” eggs, shaking pan to keep leveling out the mixture, and scraping down the sides. Continue stirring until shaking the pan no longer levels the eggs.
- Reduce heat to low. Using the spatula, smooth the surface of the eggs to move runny eggs to less runny spots, working toward an even thickness. As soon as surface is wet but not runny, remove from heat. Allow to rest for one minute.
- Starting at the handle side of the pan, use the spatula to begin rolling the omelette into a cylinder shape, about 3 rolls until omelette is about 2 inches from opposite side of pan. Use spatula to fold the last flap of egg over the top of the cylinder leaving the seam side up. Add cubes of the remaining 1/2 tablespoon butter to pan. Gently push the butter as it melts under the omelette.
- Slide omelette to edge of pan. Flip onto a plate with the seam side down. Even out the shape, if necessary. You can tuck in the ends, if you like. Brush surface with a bit more butter. Sprinkle very lightly with white pepper and minced parsley.
Notes
A French omelet is a very simple affair, and there are two classic variations:
- Omelette aux fines herbes: Add a tablespoon of minced fresh herbs such as chives, chervil and/or tarragon to the egg mixture before cooking. Garnish with additional herbs.
- Omelette au fromage: Add 1 ounce of grated cheese such as gruyere or parmesan to the omelet just before beginning the rolling process. You can also spoon creamy goat cheese in a line along the center of the omelet.
Shirred Eggs
Instructions
- Break eggs into a small container and reserve.
- Butter a baking dish and place it on a hot stove top. Allow butter to melt and slightly brown.
- Add enough heavy cream to just cover the bottom of the ramekin
- Slide eggs into the shirred dish.
- Bake the eggs in an oven set to 325°F to set the white and produce a hot but liquid yolk (14-18 minutes)
- Garnish with finely grated cheese or fresh herbs
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- The word shirred refers to the flat-bottomed dish, or shirrer, in which the eggs were traditionally cooked, similar to the French oeufs en cocotte, or “eggs in a pot.”
- Ramekins or custard cups are today’s most common cocottes for individual shirred eggs, but muffin tins are preferred for shirring en masse for a crowd.
- It is preferred to serve shirred eggs with a warm yolk and “just set” egg white. To achieve this texture, use a baine marie when baking.
Oeufs à la neige
Oeufs à la neige, or snow eggs, are a classic French dessert of small poached meringues floating in a custard sauce.
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- Pinch salt
- 3/4 cup sugar divided
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract divided
- 2 1/2 cups milk plus up to 1 cup extra
Instructions
- Separate the eggs and set the yolks aside.
- Fit a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Put whites in a SCRUPULOUSLY clean bowl. Beat egg whites until foamy.
- Add salt and keep beating until firm peaks form – when you lift the whisk or beaters out of the egg whites, the peak that forms should droop a bit, but then stay put.
- Add 1/4 cup of the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. Fold in 1/2 teaspoon of the vanilla when meringue is stiff and glossy.
- Put 2 1/2 cups milk and 1/4 cup sugar in a wide pot or sauté pan. Heat the milk to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally to help the sugar melt.
- Use two large spoons to form football-shaped dumplings of the egg whites, scooping the mixture with one spoon and shaping it in that spoon with the other spoon.
- Then use the free spoon to help ease the meringue into the simmering milk. Do as many meringues as fit without crowding or touching too much in the pan.
- Cook, turning over once, until meringues are firm, about 2 minutes each side.
- When the meringues are cooked, lift them out of the milk with a slotted spoon and drain them on a clean kitchen towel. Repeat with remaining egg white mixture.
- When all meringues are cooked. Strain the poaching milk through a fine-mesh sieve. Add enough more milk to equal 2 cups, if necessary.
- In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar until light yellow and thick. Keep whisking as you pour the milk mixture, which will still be very warm, into the egg yolks. Constant whisking will keep the yolks from curdling.
- Transfer this mixture to a medium saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon and show the path where your finger runs to have a taste.
- Stir in the remaining teaspoon of vanilla. Strain custard sauce, if you like.
- Cover everything with plastic wrap and chill it up to a day before you serve, or prepare the dishes, cover them and chill them until you serve them. Put about a sixth of the sauce in a bowl and float three meringues on top or each serving.
Quiche Lorraine
Ingredients
- Pastry for a one-crust nine-inch pie
- 4 strips bacon
- 1 onion thinly sliced
- 1 cup Gruyère or Swiss cheese cubed
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 4 eggs lightly beaten
- 2 cups heavy cream or 1 cup each milk and cream
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- Tabasco sauce to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Line a nine-inch pie plate with the pastry. By all means build a rim with the pastry and flute it. This is essential for the amount of custard indicated in this recipe.
- Cover the bottom of the pastry with a round of parchment paper and add enough dried beans or peas to partly fill the shell. Bake 10 minutes.
- Reduce the oven heat to 375 degrees. Remove and discard the beans and parchment paper and set the pastry-lined pie plate aside.
- Cook the bacon until crisp and remove it from skillet. Pour off all but one tablespoon of the fat remaining in the skillet. Cook the onion in the remaining fat until the onion is transparent.
- Crumble the bacon and sprinkle the bacon, onion and cheeses over the inside of the partly baked pastry.
- Combine the eggs, cream, nutmeg, salt, pepper and Tabasco sauce to taste. Strain the mixture over the onion-cheese mixture. Slide the pie onto a baking sheet.
- Bake the pie until a knife inserted one inch from the pastry edge comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Remove to a wire rack. Let stand five or 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
Quiche Lorraine comes from the Lorraine region of France. Alsace and Lorraine hug the border between France and Germany, so that Alsace and Lorraine are both French and German and are also their own unique place. The most famous dish from Lorraine is quiche. And the specialty quiche from Lorraine features gruyere cheese, onion, fatty bacon (French lardons) and nutmeg as its primary flavours.
The history of quiche, a dish we think of as quintessentially French, is actually a liminal one, in that the dish is of German origin. The word ‘quiche’ comes from the German word kuchen, meaning cake. Thus quiche is a savoury cake, and Lorraine is a rather new name for a region that, under Germanic rule, was called the Kingdom of Lothringen. There are 13th century recipes for egg and cream baked in a dough crust in Italy, so it is difficult to say exactly where such a simple approach to baking first began. In the 14th century English recipe collection, The Forme of Cury, there is a recipe like this with the unappetising name ‘Crustardes of flesh’.
The oldest recipes for quiche Lorraine were simply an open-faced pie (that is, crust on the bottom and sides only), filled with a mixture of egg and cream and chopped bacon. The dough was simply bread dough, but in the 20th century this evolved into the more sophisticated pastry crust we are familiar with today.
Chocolate Soufflé
Makes 6 individual soufflés, depending on the size of your ramekins
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter (114 grams ) 1 stick, softened, plus more for coating dish
- 4 tbsp granulated sugar (50 grams ) plus more for coating dish
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (225 grams) 60 to 65 percent cacao, finely chopped
- 6 large eggs separated, at room temperature
- Pinch fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and arrange rack on middle bottom. Generously butter 6 ramekins.
- Coat bottom and sides thoroughly with sugar, tapping out excess. For the best rise, make sure there is sugar covering all the butter on the sides of the dish.
- In a medium bowl, melt chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pot of simmering water. Let cool only slightly (it should still be warm), then temper in egg yolks and salt.
- Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until the mixture is fluffy and holds very soft peaks. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until whites hold stiff peaks and look glossy.
- Gently whisk a quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it. Fold in remaining whites in two additions, then transfer batter to prepared dishes. Rub thumb around the inside edge of the dish to create about a ¼-inch space between the dish and the soufflé mixture
- Transfer dish to baking sheet, place in the oven, and immediately reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees. Bake until soufflé is puffed and center moves only slightly when dish is shaken gently, about 25 to 35 minutes. (Do not open oven door during first 20 minutes.) Bake it a little less for a runnier soufflé and a little more for a firmer soufflé.
- Serve immediately with whipped cream.
Meringue Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 large egg whites room temperature
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon Clear vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 225F and line a half sheet pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Combine egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt in a large, completely clean, completely grease-free bowl.
- Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, stir on low speed until mixture becomes foamy.
- Increase speed to high.
- Gradually add sugar, about 1 Tablespoon at a time, stirring after each addition until sugar is dissolved (about 15-20 seconds between each addition).
- Beat until mixture is thick, shiny, and has increased in volume. Mixture should have stiff peaks and sugar should be completely dissolved (you can test this by rubbing a small bit of the mixture between your fingers, if it feels gritty, the sugar isn’t dissolved).
- Stir in vanilla extract and any other extract you may like to use. If using food coloring, add the food coloring at this stage, too.
- Fit a large disposable piping bag with a large tip, transfer meringue to prepared piping bag, and pipe onto prepared cookie sheet. The meringue cookies can be pretty close to each other as they won’t spread, and you will want to bake all of the cookies at the same time, so make sure you make enough space.
- Bake on 225F for 1 hour. Turn off the oven once the baking time has passed, and do not open the oven. Leave the oven door closed and allow cookies to cool completely in the oven (1-2 hours) before removing.
- Meringue cookies should be crisp and can be stored in an airtight container. Keep away from heat and moisture as it can soften your meringues.
Fresh Mozzarella from Curd
Ingredients
- 1 gallon 16 cups water
- ½ cup salt
- 2 pounds about 4 cups mozzarella curd , cut into small pieces*
Instructions
- Prepare the water: Place the water and salt in a large saucepan. Heat the water until bubbles begin to appear on the surface, or an instant read thermometer registers 180º F. Turn off the heat.
- Heat the cheese curd: While the water is heating, place the cubes of cheese in a large bowl. When the water is ready, carefully pour the hot water over the cheese. Let the cheese cubes sit in the water for about 1 minute without stirring them. After 1 minute, gently stir them with a wooden spoon and look at the curd. If the cheese is heated through the curd will look smooth (like melted mozzarella) and is ready to be stretched. If the cheese curd is not completely heated through it will look grainy and still have some of the cubes. If so, it needs to sit in the hot water for another few minutes until soft.
- Stretch the curd: Working quickly, before the cheese cools down too much, stretch the curd with the wooden spoon until the cheese is smooth and elastic. Lift and stretch the curd to develop a stringy texture. Be careful not to overwork the curd: this will make you cheese heavy and too chewy. As the cheese cools it will begin to stiffen and become harder to stretch. The cheese is ready to be shaped before it cools completely.
- Shape the cheese: Divide the cheese into golf ball-sized pieces. Stretch and wrap each piece into a ball shape. Chill in salted, very cold water.
- Serve the cheese immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week
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