Food and herbal nutritional products » Vitamins » Once-maligned eggs making a comeback
Once-maligned eggs making a comeback
View PDF | Print View
by: Guest
Total views: 298 Word Count: 1414
When one of the chefs at Wild Eggs incurs the displeasure of executive chef J.J. Kingery, he can expect to be put on egg-breaking detail for a while. That doesn't sound that bad, until you realize that between the two restaurants, at DuPont Circle and Westport Village, the Wild Eggs kitchens go through between 15,000 and 18,000 eggs a week. That is, in anyone's book, a lot of shell cracking.
Breakfasts and brunches have been where the restaurant action is in recent years, a trend Wild Eggs has jumped on successfully.
While the restaurants' menu makes some concessions to those who like a lighter, whole-grain breakfast, those 15,000-plus eggs a week reveal why the majority of their customers come. And Kingery is an unabashed proponent of egg cookery.
As a result of his expertise with devising and cooking egg dishes, Kingery has been named one of six "eggscellent" chef ambassadors of the American Egg Board, a panel of consultants named every year by the industry council.
Kingery's recipe for egg salad was printed in the industry's magazine, and last May 20, Kingery returned to his alma mater, Sullivan University's Center of Hospitality Studies, to present a demonstration on egg cooking to culinary students.
"There is so much you can do with eggs," Kingery explained. "They are great for breakfasts, essential in baking, and are versatile as garnishes. In batters, eggs are a leavening agent, creating a lighter, airier product. They help with browning, and add gloss to baked dishes, as both an ingredient and as an egg wash. They are a binder in stratas and bread pudding, holding ingredients together.
"Eggs are nature's perfect food. They have all the essential vitamins, except for vitamin C, and they are protein rich. And they are inexpensive."
For some years, eggs had taken a bad rap in the food consciousness of American eaters. Cholesterol bombs, they were termed, and diners were warned to consume no more than two eggs a week, in any form. But like most of the health claims about foods, this blast of negativity was overblown.
In the first place, the link between serum cholesterol in the bloodstream and the ingestion of dietary cholesterol from foods has never been clear. Recent studies, in fact, have suggested that trans fats and other food-industry additives add to blood cholesterol levels more than does the natural cholesterol in an egg yolk.
In other words, eliminating potato chips and Little Debbie oatmeal cream cookies from your diet makes much more sense than avoiding eggs.
In defense of eggs
Also on the program with Kingery last May, Connie Cahill of the American Egg Board spoke to Sullivan students about safety and proper handling and the nutritional profile of eggs. As an industry spokeswoman, Cahill has to put a positive spin on her topic, but her comments accord with food author Michael Pollan's critique of what he calls "nutritionism," the tendency of laboratory studies of food to focus on one component and ignore the ways the myriad chemical components of food interact.
"Thirty years ago, the government got worried about evidence for blood cholesterol's link to heart disease," Cahill said in a phone interview. "Using the science of the time, the government settled on a safe level of dietary cholesterol at 300 milligrams a day. But this was before the full nutritional profile of eggs was understood."
No link found
Subsequent research, Cahill said, has never linked eating eggs to heart disease. "But we have found that eggs have a high level of choline, a substance that seems important in mental functioning in children, pregnant mothers and seniors. The current recommendations are 425 to 450 milligrams of choline a day. Two eggs will give you half that."
If you continue to be concerned about micro-nutrients and their importance to human metabolism and health, eggs continue to give more confidence than worry. For instance, lutein
But analysis of micro-nutrients may not be the most meaningful way to think about food. Major assertions made by Pollan, author of "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" (Penguin Press, $21.95), continue to resonate, making eggs an intelligent choice for easy suppers as well as pleasant breakfasts.
His mantra of "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants" has been much parodied, but the sense remains, as does his definition of "food": anything your grandmother would have happily eaten. High among those traditionally recognized things that are real food are eggs, which remain a good choice to include in a balanced diet.
Recipes to try
Kingery offers up the recipe for spicy egg salad that he published in the magazine of the American Egg Board a few months ago, as well as the stuffed French toast on the menu at Wild Eggs.
Former Courier-Journal food editor Elaine Corn wrote an entire cookbook about eggs, "365 Ways to Cook Eggs" (HarperCollins, 1996). There I found a recipe for an elegant strata using sourdough bread and blue cheese.
For another strata recipe from Corn, go to www.courier-journal.com/food.
Wild Eggs' deviled egg salad sandwich
Kingery gives this egg salad a jolt with a particular brand of hot pickles. If you can't find them, try an equal amount of pickled hot peppers.
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
3 tablespoons chopped Pops Pepper Patch Habargardill pickles
1 teaspoon pickle juice
A pinch (or as much as
8 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and coarsely diced
Kosher salt to taste
In a bowl, combine the mustard, mayo, chopped hot pickles, pickle juice and the spices, and whisk to make a dressing. Fold in the diced hard-cooked eggs, being careful not to break the eggs up too finely. Allow to stand for about 30 minutes to blend flavors. Taste, and adjust seasoning with salt. Serve on sourdough bread with lettuce, tomato and slices of pickle.
Wild Eggs' stuffed French toast
The egg in this recipe softens and mellows the texture of the bread, allows for an attractive browning, and adds its nutritional richness to a carb-heavy breakfast.
8-ounce package cream cheese
4 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
(or more to taste)
1 tablespoon brandy (or more to taste)
8 thick-cut slices sourdough bread
Fresh blueberries
Fresh strawberries, sliced
Combine cream cheese and powdered sugar and set aside.
In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, vanilla, salt, cinnamon and brandy, and set aside.
Spread about 2 tablespoons of the sweetened cream cheese on one side of each slice of bread. Top four slices of bread with as many blueberries as will easily fit, pressing them lightly into the cream cheese. Top the other four slices with sliced strawberries. Make a sandwich combining a slice with blueberries and a slice with strawberries.
Dip the sandwiches in the egg mixture, coating well. Cook French toast on a heated, greased griddle or skillet until nicely browned on both sides. Cut diagonally and serve with whipped cream, berry garnishes and syrup as desired.
Gorgonzola, celery and walnut strata
Elaine Corn describes stratas, one of my favorite types of egg dishes, as a "sort of savory bread pudding ... consisting of layers of eggs, buttered bread and fillings often created at whim the night before you serve it."
1 stick butter, divided
2 cups celery, diced
1
In a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. When it's sizzling, add the celery and cook, stirring, until slightly softened. Add the walnuts, and toss to combine. Remove from heat, and let cool. Melt the remaining butter.
Butter a 2-quart baking dish. Brush butter over the bread slices. Arrange three slices on bottom of baking dish, butter side up. Top with half the celery-walnut mixture. Sprinkle half the Gorgonzola over. Place rest of bread on top, buttered side down. Top with rest of celery mixture, and then the rest of the Gorgonzola.
In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour slowly over bread, covering evenly. Cover with foil, and refrigerate overnight.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake strata uncovered about 45 minutes, until puffed and browned.
Serves 6.
Reporter Ron Mikulak can be reached at (502) 582-4618.
Additional information:
Eye vitamins : Can they prevent or treat glaucoma? - MayoClinic.com
Nutrition, vitamins and eye vision
Eye Health : Eye Health Vitamins & Eye Nutrition
Eye Health Vitamins - Best Buy Price Comparison
Discount Vitamins and Nutrition - vitamins & herbs For: eye
Eye Health , Healthspan Vitamins & Supplements
Designer Glasses , Eye Vitamins , Ultrasonic Cleaners , Spectacle
Macular Degeneration Vitamin Supplements - VisiVite.com
Natural Medicine, Vitamin , and Supplement Science and Research
Vision Vitamins - Eye Vitamins
Related "Vitamins":
- Avoiding Miscarriage in Pregnancy
Dr. Presant's Office Hours Dr. Presant is an exp ... - Kiwifruit from New Zealand is now marketed under one ...
A TRUE SUPERFRUITDelicious, everyday fruit full ... - Stinging Eyes? 3 Fixes for Sunscreen Hassles
After reading a new Consumer Reports survey show ... - What's causing your headache?
Last updated 7:08 p.m. PT What's causing your hea ... - B-100 Caps TwinLab 100ct
TwinLab B-100 Caps provide a high potency synerg ...
Rating: Not yet rated (votes: 0)
