Choosing eggs for mayonnaise...

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Jeni78

Senior Cook
Joined
Mar 31, 2008
Messages
322
Location
Minnesota
I am curious about choosing eggs for dishes where the egg will remain raw (mayonaise, french silk pie, etc).

How do I know which ones to use?

Thank you
 
Use the freshest you can find, and make sure they are not cracked or checked (small cracks you can barely see.)

One way to tell if eggs are checked is to squeeze them--a cracked or checked egg will break, a good egg will withstand a great deal of pressure. (Do this over the sink!!)
 
sparrowg.. is right. Also, you have the option of buying pasteurized eggs. They are raw, in-the-shell eggs that have been pasteurized to make them safe to eat raw.
 
Can I find paseurized eggs at Cub-Albertsons or are they more a Whole Foods type thing?

Thanks so much for your input. Going to attempt making mayonaise this weekend.
 
The problem with raw eggs is salmonella - the primary problems in eggs is in the New England area although it does, to a lesser degree, extend down the Atlantic coast.

Eggs do not have to be cracked or checkered to contain salmonella.

There are some eggs that are irradiated, some are pasteurized - you just have to check and see if your store carries them.

Chances are, where you live (MN) - you're probably 99.99% safe using fresh eggs off the shelf.
 
Well it is not advisable to make homemade mayonnaise in our modern times because, as you have been told already - Salmonella.
You can use egg substitute.
 
One way to tell if an egg is fresh is to submerge it in water. Egg shells allow a bit of moisture through, and as the egg gets older it will develop a bubble inside from the moisture loss, causing it to float. Also, cracks will allow air in even faster, although those will let the water in too.
We used this method on the farm when we collected eggs, because sometimes we would find eggs that the hens had "hidden", and there was no way to tell how old the egg was. The hens were reluctant to date-stamp the eggs, unfortunately.
But it should be noted that "fresh" does NOT necessarily mean "salmonella-free". But I have yet to get sick from farm-fresh eggs.
 
Egg substitute works for mayonaise?


I'd be surprised if they did. It's the egg yolk that works its magic in mayonnaise.

If you use a product such as Egg Beaters, it is yolk-free and would not perform the same.
 
Can I find paseurized eggs at Cub-Albertsons or are they more a Whole Foods type thing?

Thanks so much for your input. Going to attempt making mayonaise this weekend.

I did just see pasteurized eggs at Cub this morning.
 
I think I'll just stick with real eggs.

I don't like egg-beaters and I've never made mayo anyway so I'd rather not increase my chances of screwing it up. :rolleyes:
 
Salmonella danger in fresh eggs is minimal to begin with, however what danger there is almost exclusively in the white. Yoke are pretty much as safe as any food out there. This is why thousands of folks go to their favorite breakfast spot each day and order their eggs sunny side up. If this was a danger, it wouldn't be allowed.

Just try to use cold ingredients and of course get it in the refrigerator immediately after you make it.
 
You can't use egg substitiues for mayonaise because the yolk is what you need and it's what's missing in the egg substitiutes. Surely a store as big as Cub-Albertsons has pasteurized eggs. :)
 
I am curious about choosing eggs for dishes where the egg will remain raw (mayonaise, french silk pie, etc).

How do I know which ones to use?

Thank you

Hi Jeni,

In the UK it`s very simple. Buy Lion stamped eggs.

:rolleyes::LOL:

Archiduc
 
Not sure that "Lion Stamped" eggs would be much of an option for Jeni since she lives in Minnesota, USA. ;)

I did a little looking around and found this information ... most Salmonella danger is on the outside of the shell. So, as sparrowgrass said - look for instact shellls.

To kill the salmonella on the shells of raw eggs ... bring a pot of water to a boil ... then using a slotted spoon or spider or tongs or something you can dip the eggs into the pot with, dip the eggs into the pot or boiling water for 5 seconds - leave the thing you used to touch the raw egg with in the water, then place into an ice water bath. Then, before toughing the eggs with your bare hands - WASH them well with soap and hot water.

The instant kill temp of salmonella is 160ºF - 5-seconds in the boiling water will kill it.

And, yes - it is the yolk that is the emulsifier - none in the white so those eggbeaters will not work. If you freeze the yolks for 48-hours - it increases their emulsification capacity.

Maybe someone here has a copy of Harold McGee's "The Curious Cook" where he explains how to heat the yolks in a microwave to kill the salmonella without setting the yolks that wouldn't mind looking it up for you. Mine is in a box somewhere in the garage ... I still haven't unpacked everything from my move.
 
A couple of points:

1. Regulations now require that the fresh eggs you buy in the store are washed with special detergent and sanitized. Then, the hen’s original protective shell coating is generally replaced by a thin spray coating of mineral oil.

2. Egg yokes in fresh uncracked eggs are not a source of Salmonella. It takes an old, improperly handled egg, that is contaminated with salmonella organisms inside the shell to even have a possibility of yoke contamination. That is estimated to happen in only 1 in 20,000 eggs. So if you ate an egg every day for 54 years, you might come across a contaminated egg, which likely wouldn't make you sick anyway.
 
... 2. Egg yokes in fresh uncracked eggs are not a source of Salmonella. ...

Not according to the USDA:

Researchers say that, if present, the SE is usually in the yolk or "yellow."

However, they can’t rule out the bacteria being in egg whites.

Reference document is here


 
Not according to the USDA:

Researchers say that, if present, the SE is usually in the yolk or "yellow."

However, they can’t rule out the bacteria being in egg whites.

Reference document is here

Not according to the USDA:

Researchers say that, if present, the SE is usually in the yolk or "yellow."

However, they can’t rule out the bacteria being in egg whites.

Reference document is here

Not according to the USDA:

Researchers say that, if present, the SE is usually in the yolk or "yellow."

However, they can’t rule out the bacteria being in egg whites.

Reference document is here

And this says the opposite:

Egg Safety

While that may be the USDA's position, the inference is obviously not supported by health agencies or you would not be allowed to order eggs with undercooked yokes in restaurants.

While there may have been some incidence of yokes being contaminated by infected birds causing illness in isolated areas, this is not common or widespread, anymore than E coli on spinach or botulism in canned tuna.

I have never made mayo, but I always try to opt for the safest approach when doing so takes very little effort and produces the same or better results, so I would probably buy a carton of pasteurized eggs if I was making it and they were available.

Thanks for the link.
 
Back
Top Bottom