Friday, June 7, 2013

Punny Eggsperiment

Friends, I have some news that may scramble your brains: not all eggs are created equally.

I realize that this is not a food blog and the topic may not a-peel to you. However, it is my blog and I love food so.. eggs are relevant, right?

Eggcellent!

(Unfortunately for you, I also like puns... and I'm a little bored.)        

For a while now, friends of mine here have noted how much "better" die deutschen Eier (translation: German eggs) are than those purchased at the commissary. Better how? They couldn't eggsplain.

So I decided to try an eggsperiment! (ohh... you are so in for a pun ride!)

Left: German egg; Right: Commissary egg

I picked up some brown Freiland (free range) eggs at the farmer's market and some white free range eggs, which technically come from Denmark, at the commissary. If the whole farmer's market vs. grocery bit doesn't go over easy with you, most German stores I've seen do not refrigerate their eggs anyway. I assume means they're pretty fresh, so I didn't think the difference would be too eggstreme. Plus, I was headed there anyway and didn't want to make two trips.

Immediate differences to note were that the German eggs all appeared a little rounder and felt a little... heavier? sturdier? thicker? Something along those lines. Otherwise, they were both eggs.

I put both packs into the fridge overnight. The next morning, I pulled one egg from each crate to boil.

Left: German egg; Right: Commissary egg
I cooked them together so they boiled for the exact same amount of time and cooled them in the same fashion. Upon peeling, it just looked like the commissary egg had a bit more of a gas bubble or something that caused it to take on a funny shape. The yolk was slightly more visible through the white, as well.

Next, I sliced them in half.

Left: German egg; Right: Commissary egg
Wow! There's a difference! Now I'm no eggspert, so I used Chef John's method for how to make perfect hard boiled eggs. Yet I still managed to get the beginning of that gray coating on the commissary yolk! Look how vibrant the German yolk is, though. Yum!

Left: German egg; Right: Commissary egg
Is it just me, or is the white of the German egg a little whiter, too? (Aryan eggs?)

Anyway, the difference was not just in the coloration. The flavor of the German egg was also much richer. The yolk was nice and creamy and the white was perfectly chewy. Did my eyes trick my taste buds into that notion? I'm not sure.. but the formerly perfectly fine commissary eggs just felt a little lacking.

So, in short... myth cracked: German eggs are better.

Sorry to all of you who cannot eggsperience their awesomeness.

But look on the sunny side up... 

at least the puns are done. ;)