Egg yolks in gelato safe?

[sj chocoholic]

I'm making a chocolate gelato (ice cream)
the recipe calls for 12 egg yolks, and you do cook them, but only slightly. I'm not too worried about me (I've made this before and it's DEVINE!) but should I hide it from my 3-year-old?

 

[Andy M.]

When you cook it, do you bring it to a certain temperature for a set period of time (e.g. 170F-175F for 5 minutes)? If so, any dangers related to raw eggs is eliminated (because they ar no longer raw!).

 

[sj chocoholic]

eggs are still raw

The recipe has you combine the egg yolks, sugar, and milk in a saucepan. Then you heat on medium "just until it coats a metal spoon".
It was only luke-warm when it passed the coating a spoon test. (Maybe I did it wrong....maybe I'm not understanding the full concept of how well the mixture was to coat the spoon.)
Still hoping for an answer to this one. Don't want to poison my family!

 

[Caine]

The chances of getting a salmonella infected egg is somewhere around 1 in 40,000, but if you're still worried about it, you can buy pasteurized eggs, which only cost about twice as much as regular eggs.

 

[mozart]

The recipe has you combine the egg yolks, sugar, and milk in a saucepan. Then you heat on medium "just until it coats a metal spoon".
It was only luke-warm when it passed the coating a spoon test. (Maybe I did it wrong....maybe I'm not understanding the full concept of how well the mixture was to coat the spoon.)
Still hoping for an answer to this one. Don't want to poison my family!

I believe Caine is correct, although the number is closer to 1 in 20,000 according to this:

Egg Safety

Perhaps more importantly, the yoke is the least likely to be contaminated, and the white doesn't support bacterial growth well.

Think about it this way. Every day millions of folks go to their favorite breakfast spot and order eggs sunny side up, over easy or even over medium. This would never be allowed in restaurants if there was any evidence of significant risk. This is essentially no different than what you have done in your preparation.

So if you minimized the amount of time that the eggs were in the danger zone ( above 40 degrees), then the risk is minimal in my view, as no growth can occur while frozen.

 

[BubbaGourmet]

The procedure described in the recipe will probably take just long enough to kill the bacteria.

 

[archiduc]

Get real,
Make a custard, bring off the boil, add the chocolate, stir well, very well CHILL, and then freeze and churn.

Need I say more - a good chococlate ice cream has a touch of coffee to bring out the flavour and vice-verse! The least is the predicate of the maximum.

Hope this helps,
Archiduc