Hey man - you talkin' back to me?

[venta]

I was making pavlova bases last night (in a massive rush, about 10:30pm, because my day didn't go at all to plan).

I was breaking eggs, and separating them. Doing it the sensible, grown-up way my mummy taught me rather than the slapdash way I often do: crack egg, separate into small bowl, examine for blood specks, those weird white blobby bits, bits of shell, etc, then tip into bowl you're actually going to beat egg whites in.

Which was just as well.

Egg 1: Managed to break yolk on cracking, got yolk in the white (=> no good for meringue).
Egg 2: Off. Yes, really. I've never actually met an off egg before, despite being a bit vague on use-by dates. It was immediately obvious something was wrong, as the white was twice as runny as it should have been. And it smelt bad. But, weirdly, it didn't smell "of rotten eggs".
Egg 3: Managed to break yolk. See above.
Egg 4: Success!
Egg 5: Success, but what an awful lot of blood needed to be fished out.
Egg 6: Success, but when I threw the shell into the bin I missed, and it splatted all over the kitchen floor.

Conclusion: do not try to separate eggs in a hurry. I've never managed to do the shell-juggly separation thing successfully, but I'm not usually quite so incompetent. I use a plastic egg separator, which I hear is frowned on in some circles. Disappointingly, I'd finished by the time ChrisC came in and reminded me that the coolest way to separate eggs is with a water bottle. I even have a bottle put by for just this purpose :(

(Those of you who worry about food waste will be delighted to hear that eggs 1 and 3 were stored safely in the fridge and turned into tamagoyaki for my lunch box today. The yolks of eggs 4-6 (and also 7-9, I was making two bases) are in the fridge awaiting a more convenient season. I think their destiny is probably custard, unless anyone wants to suggest exciting things I should do with 6 egg yolks.)

Now I just have to get the bases to Lancashire without mishap. And I have to hope that the rather lovely holiday cottages we're staying in have an electrically-powered means of whipping cream, or I'm going to look quite silly and have rather weary arms...

(If mishap occurs, I shall delete this post and claim I was going to make Eton mess all along.)

Comments

[venta.livejournal.com]

Having proffered custard to my other half, I think (if I withdraw the proffer) it will have to be something more exciting than omelette. Although I accept the validity of your comment on likelihood :)

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

lemon curd?

[venta.livejournal.com]

Oooh, oooh, oooh, now you're talking!

Now why didn't I think of that?

[sammason.livejournal.com]

It can be made in a microwave, apparently!

[venta.livejournal.com]

Gosh. I think I'd want anecdotal evidence from a reliable source that it was nice before I risked it!

(And given that I set fire to some carrots in the microwave recently, I think I might be safer doing it the usual way...)

[sammason.livejournal.com]

The chef in this case was my friend Mary, who is an excellent cook and an altogether excellent person. She found the curd recipe online so I've asked her for details. This all came about because of some unexpected lemons - in a veg-box delivery or something - and she ended up giving some of the curd to her notoriously conservative parents. It was a success.

[venta.livejournal.com]

In that case, if she does send you details and you're willing to share, I'd love to hear about it. I rarely trust recipes I find on the internet, but apparently a friend-of-a-friend-I-met-on-the-internet I regard as reliable ;)

[sammason.livejournal.com]

She doesn't seem to have understood my request, but did mention a WI recipe card. Perhaps as she says, it's a matter of personal taste, but I don't imagine there's really a lot of variation. Curd anywhey.

[sammason.livejournal.com]

Here's what she said.


Hi Sam




Despite a good trawl of the net I can't find the recipe I used - drat! Think it was in a blog or some sort of forum.




Loads of microwave recipes but not the way I did it...they could be better!




As I remember I gently melted unsalted butter in microwave jug, added sugar, lemon juice and zest then cooked for a minute or two.




Whisked eggs in a separate jug then added slowly to butter gloop whisking all the time.




Cooked again for a minute or two, the poured into sterilised jars.




Quantities bit slewed as I only had 2 lemons. Old lemons are best as you can get more juice out of them.




Hope that helps!




Good to hear about commissioned work and tales of Granny joy. I have the slinky collie this weekend and he's now telling me it's time for a walk!




Mary xx

[venta.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much for copying this here (and letting me know). I suspect the rather vague recipe would be enough for someone skilled in lemon-curd making, but I think I want firmer instructions! Still, I can look for a microwave recipe that uses this sort of method if I fancy giving it a try.