Eggs, Dairy and Breakfast Cookery
Egg science
Egg white coagulates around 60 °C and yolk around 65–70 °C, which is why custards are cooked to 82–85 °C and pulled before they curdle. Fresh eggs have thick whites and high yolks; older eggs peel more easily when hard-cooked. Grades and sizes affect recipes-use large unless specified. Egg foams: start slow, add cream of tartar or acid to stabilize, avoid any fat, and stop at the right stage-soft, medium or stiff peaks. Overbeaten whites break and weep. Mayonnaise and hollandaise are emulsions of fat in yolk lecithin.
Dairy
Pasteurization kills pathogens; homogenization prevents cream separation. Milk scalds and scorches easily due to protein and lactose, so use low heat and stir. Acid plus heat curdles milk. Know cheese families (fresh, soft-ripened, semi-soft, hard, blue) and that hard cheeses grate and melt better when cold. Cream whips best cold with a chilled bowl; over-whipping yields butter and buttermilk.
Breakfast cookery
Eggs: fried, poached (vinegar and gentle simmer), scrambled (low heat for creaminess), hard-cooked (not hard-boiled). Breakfast meats, pancakes and waffles (do not overmix), oatmeal, hash browns and quick breads. Hold hot breakfast items above 60 °C and keep cold batter below 4 °C.
Worked example: crème anglaise-heat cream, temper into yolks and sugar, cook to 82 °C stirring constantly, strain and chill over an ice bath to stop cooking.
Traps: boiling custard; over-whipping cream; adding salt to egg whites early; using the same tongs for raw and cooked foods at the egg station.