growler_south: (Default)
[personal profile] growler_south
I'm periodically amused by the American paranoia about eggs. Refrigerate, use within 2 weeks, cook thoroughly: how distinctly odd. Here in the less enlightened colonies we keep our eggs in the pantry, we know that after 3 weeks they're not very good at making pavlova, and after 6 weeks they're not very good at much else (but wont kill you if you eat them), and I think everyone knows that a clean egg with an undamaged shell is fine to eat raw.

The theory used to be that the inside of an egg is as sterile as the inside of a chicken's ovary, and an ovary that has salmonella isn't very good at making anything but a dead chicken. Are american chickens perhaps so thoroughly riddled with disease that this theory doesn't hold any more? Or is it an expression of the mysophobia that informs and panicks the TV watching public with every ad break?

Date: 2008-05-31 06:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] marmtx.livejournal.com
They've finally realized that chickens poop :) And then try to warm those eggs without using a toilet paper
v_v

Date: 2008-05-31 06:25 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] growler-south.livejournal.com
Surely that's only a problem if you lick the outside of the egg?

Date: 2008-05-31 06:29 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] marmtx.livejournal.com
Or whack it with/on something to get to the tasty insides :)

Eggactly

Date: 2008-05-31 06:04 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pink-halen.livejournal.com
Yes, and Yes.
America is a nation driven by fearmongers.
Here is some interesting information from The American Egg Board.

The inside of an egg was once considered almost sterile. But, over recent years, the bacterium Salmonella enteritidis (Se) has been found inside a small number of eggs. Scientists estimate that, on average across the U.S., only 1 of every 20,000 eggs might contain the bacteria. So, the likelihood that an egg might contain Se is extremely small – 0.005% (five one-thousandths of one percent). At this rate, if you’re an average consumer, you might encounter a contaminated egg once every 84 years.

However, Americans seldom allow their beliefs to be clouded by facts.

Re: Eggactly

Date: 2008-05-31 06:27 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] growler-south.livejournal.com
Given that I find salmonella little more than an uncomfortable inconvenience, I think I'll take my 0.005% chances.

Re: Eggactly

Date: 2008-05-31 06:28 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bigredpaul.livejournal.com
Yes, I have tried to convince my roommate to leave the eggs at room temperatures. I've never seen a recipe that calls for cold raw eggs before.

Date: 2008-05-31 06:28 am (UTC)
jawnbc: (crazy)
From: [personal profile] jawnbc
And people wonder why there are hundreds of cadavers on the sides of kiwi dual carriageways. Clearly you people know nothing about hygiene. You probably also tell your teens children about Satan sacks/condamns too.

Date: 2008-05-31 06:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] growler-south.livejournal.com
They're not dead, they're just sleeping!

Date: 2008-05-31 07:13 am (UTC)
jawnbc: (muk muk #1)
From: [personal profile] jawnbc
"muhmmeh? muhmmeh? uh cuhn't wuhke uhp muhmmeh!"

Date: 2008-05-31 08:54 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mikeybill.livejournal.com
In the olden days (so I've been told) they used to store them in isinglass.
But even old stale eggs are still good for baking, just not nice for much else.

Date: 2008-05-31 12:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] omenode.livejournal.com
lol isinglass

mikey you rock. Saruman has the best eggs - cold as.

Date: 2008-05-31 01:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bikerbearmark.livejournal.com
Dude, look out for that Ent!

Date: 2008-05-31 04:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cpratt.livejournal.com
Isinglass? Like, from a sturgeon's swimbladder?

Date: 2008-05-31 04:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] growler-south.livejournal.com
Yup. Seals the egg nice and airtight, even if it has microscopic cracks.

Date: 2008-05-31 09:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mikeybill.livejournal.com
I don't think it's only made from sturgeons,(but I dont know) but it is a fish byproduct. I think it is like gelatin, and they kept eggs in it to keep them from the air and preserve them

Date: 2008-05-31 09:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cpratt.livejournal.com
Yeah, it's not always made from sturgeon. I'd only ever heard of it being used as a fining agent before, not for egg storage - weird!

Date: 2008-05-31 12:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] randomcub.livejournal.com
As I understand it, eggshells have an antimicrobial aspect to them, so eggs that are unwashed retain that and can be stored at room temperature. Eggs that are washed via certain processes (for example, the USA washing process) lose the antimicrobial bit and should be refrigerated.

That's my read of this:

http://www.foodanddrinkeurope.com/news/ng.asp?id=63784-efsa-eggs-food-safety

Date: 2008-05-31 05:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] whiskerfish.livejournal.com
That's why I try to get my eggs from here:
http://www.soulfoodfarm.com/

best.
eggs.
evah!

Date: 2008-05-31 07:14 pm (UTC)

Date: 2008-05-31 12:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bear-left.livejournal.com
Having lived my 37 years in the Terrified States of America, I had never heard this - thank you!

(ps - [livejournal.com profile] taobear recommended that I check out your LJ, so howdy!)

Date: 2008-05-31 01:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] taobear.livejournal.com
Actually I think my exact words were, "Isn't he yummy" while making the international sign for "I'm cleaning off a place for you to sit".

Date: 2008-05-31 05:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bear-left.livejournal.com
I believe "yummy" was an understatement :)

Date: 2008-06-01 02:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] taobear.livejournal.com
of course

huzzah!

Date: 2008-05-31 05:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] whiskerfish.livejournal.com
Salmonella builds character!

Re: huzzah!

Date: 2008-05-31 11:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] growler-south.livejournal.com
Absolutely. And resistance. And sometimes reactive arthritis. But honestly, has anyone reading this ever died from salmonella poisoning? I think not...

Re: huzzah!

Date: 2008-05-31 11:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] whiskerfish.livejournal.com
squirts, yes.
death, no.

Date: 2008-05-31 10:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sunsmogseahorse.livejournal.com
It's true that salmonella doesn't get inside an unbroken eggshell, although they are quite porous. The salmonella can get into an egg when it's cracked open which is sometimes a slightly messy affair.

I use raw eggs in Caesar salad. I just wash them before cracking them. And I don't serve it to little children or frail elderly people. The rest of us would deal with the unlikely event of salmonella infection just fine.

Date: 2008-05-31 11:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] growler-south.livejournal.com
which is sometimes a slightly messy affair.

...if you do it wrong. ;-)

Date: 2008-05-31 11:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sunsmogseahorse.livejournal.com
I live for "doing it" wrong :)

Date: 2008-05-31 10:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] querrelle.livejournal.com
I know what you mean. Eggs in my household need to be cooked until they're rubber. And preparation of raw chicken requires full biohazard measures, NBC suit, disinfection of all utensils and surfaces...

I suppose we all have our foibles. When I was growing up in Britain we were taught to fear undercooked pork (tapeworms).

Re: huzzah!

Date: 2008-06-01 05:44 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] growler-south.livejournal.com
See, I just wouldnt eat eggs or chicken if it had to be thorougly cremated to be edible. Overcooked eggs are awful, stinky, sulfurous things.
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