Yahoo Lifestyle The Genius Egg-Separating Egg Trick You Need to Know for the Holiday Baking Season
With baking season upon us, you've no doubt run into a recipe or two that asks you to separate eggs. This sounds simple enough—until you’re elbow-deep in egg chaos. First, there’s the delicate act of cracking the egg just right. Do it too softly, and the shell doesn’t break, but if you are too rough the yolk explodes everywhere, ruining those pristine egg whites. Then comes the balancing act of shifting the yolk back and forth between shell halves to separate the eggs. One wrong move, and the yolk breaks, sabotaging everything!
This may seem like too much work for some people, especially when all you want is to whip up a quick dessert, but separating eggs is essential in recipes where the whites and yolks play distinct roles. Egg whites have the ability to whip into stiff peaks, creating meringues, soufflés and light cakes. Yolks lend moisture, color and a creamy texture to custards, sauces and rich batters.
Some recipes, like macarons or angel food cake, rely on just one part of the egg for structure or flavor, so separating the eggs ensures the right balance of flavor and texture. It’s a science, but also a little bit magical, and that's why knowing how to separate eggs is crucial if you plan to do a lot of baking.
If you get frustrated about separating eggs, content creator @itsnicolejaques has you covered with a smart hack that will make your holiday baking sessions a lot easier.
Related: We Baked Cookies With 10 Different All-Purpose Flours and the Winner Won By a Landslide
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How to Separate Eggs Using a Cooling Rack
On Instagram, Nicole showed that you can separate eggs with two simple kitchen objects—a cooling rack and a bowl!
You start by placing the cooling rack over the bowl and crack an egg gently against a flat surface (cracking it on the edge of a bowl makes it more likely that you'll get shell pieces in the cracked egg). Open the egg over the cooling rack and let the egg gently fall onto the rack.
The cooling rack's wires allow the egg whites to pass through into the bowl below, while the yolk stays intact on top. This allows you to easily separate the eggs without a lot of drama—how smart and easy!
Once the egg whites are in the bowl, you can carefully lift the yolk off the rack using your hands or a spoon, being cautious not to break it or pour them off the rack into another bowl, as Nicole does. This method is especially useful for separating multiple eggs quickly and efficiently without needing specialized tools, which means you can whip up a lot of recipes without a lot of hassle.
People hopped into the comments to praise this trick, though there was one person who was concerned about cleanup. We will admit that washing cooling racks (especially the ones with the grid pattern) is one of our least favorite kitchen tasks, but the key here is to wash it (or at least rinse it off) as soon as you're done separating your eggs.
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