The day I ate a dozen eggs.

Last month, I got the chance to hang out with some folks from the Ohio Poultry Association for two days chock full of eggcentric cooking and Ohio Eggs information sharing.  I left with nearly 12 pages of scribbled notes about the ins and outs of the egg business in the U.S. (fascinating!) plus tips and tricks for cooking with eggs.   I’m sharing some of my favorites below.

Egg Size.  

Did you know the egg size printed on egg cartons (Large, Extra Large, Jumbo) is determined by the weight of the carton, not the individual egg?  A dozen large eggs, for example, weighs 1.5 pounds.  That’s why you sometimes see eggs of varying size in one carton!  I had no idea.

Egg Grade.  

Grade has to do with the age of the egg.  In the U.S., Grade B eggs aren’t sold in the grocery stores, rather they are used for processed foods and pet food.  Interesting fact:  the older the egg, the runnier white.

Egg Labels.  

Ohio is one of the top egg producing states in the U.S., but some of the eggs sold in our stores still come from other areas.  Did you know every carton of eggs sold in the U.S. has a USDA plant code printed on box?

In the example above, P1008 tells you processing center, which you can look up on the USDA website.  This carton came from Sunnyside Farms in North Manchester, Indiana.  June 11 is the best by date.  134 is a Julian Date, which indicates that the carton was packed on May 13.  In the U.S., eggs must be packed within 36 hours of being laid.

Egg Adjectives.

“Natural” means pretty much nothing.  It indicates that there are no artificial ingredients and that the eggs were minimally processed, which should be expected when we’re talking about eggs as opposed to a box of cereal or some other highly processed food.  “Natural” does not mean hormone-free or antibiotic-free.

“Cage-free” means birds must have access to the outside (though the birds may choose not to go outside).

“Pasture-raised” is similar to “cage free” except that the birds have access to several acres of pasture and generally spend more time outside.

“Organic” means the hens were fed certified organic feed.

“Vegetarian Fed” means the hens were fed a vegetarian diet.  Interestingly, Hens are omnivores, not vegetarians!

“Nutritionally enhanced” means the hen was fed vitamin-enhanced feed. (I definitely thought nutritionally enhanced meant they shot the egg up with some vitamins!)

 

Egg Nutrition.

While I’ve heard many times before that there is no nutritional or taste difference between brown and white eggs, I still find myself reaching for the brown eggs when I’m grocery shopping.  Old habits die hard.  The color of an egg’s shell actually depends on the breed of the hen and the color of its earlobes.  (Chickens have earlobes??)  The hens that lay brown eggs are larger and generally eat more feed, thus brown eggs often cost more than white eggs.  Interestingly, in the northeast, white eggs are actually more expensive because they are in less demand than brown eggs.  Good ole supply and demand.

We did talk a little bit about eggs and cholesterol, and I think everyone shares my confusion over whether dietary cholesterol actually impacts your blood cholesterol.  There is just so much conflicting evidence.  Generally, folks seem to agree two eggs a day is totally fine.

Eggs are one of the cheapest sources of protein, but they also offer many other vitamins and nutrients.  There is a ton of additional nutrition information on The Egg Nutrition Center website.  This graphic on egg micronutrients is super interesting:

Egg gone bad?

Not sure if you egg is old?  Try the floating test.  Gently place the egg in a bowl of water.  If it sinks, it’s fresh.  If it floats, it’s old, and possibly no longer good to eat.

Scrambled Eggs.

Jim’s recommendation for scrambled eggs was LOW and SLOW.  In his opinion, scrambled eggs should take a while to cook, much longer than an omelet.  Jim also suggested adding dairy in the form of butter (to coat the pan prior to adding the eggs) and cream cheese (stirred in when the eggs are just over halfway cooked through).  This combination resulted in the softest scrambled eggs I’ve ever had!  If you’ve never tried this method, it’s definitely worth a go!  (Snag Jim’s recipe here.)

Omelets.

For omelets, we used the exact opposite approach:  HOT and FAST.  Jim recommended two eggs whisked with two tablespoons of water (not milk!) per omelet.  Get the pan nice and hot, add some butter, then pour in the eggs.  You have to move the eggs around the pan quickly so they don’t scorch.  You sort of dig a hole with the spatula, and let the raw egg run into the opening.  This is the exact opposite of my usual omelet method, and it’s super hard to describe in words, but thankfully you can check out a short how-to video here!

More than just breakfast.

After the traditional egg dishes, we moved onto some dinner recipes, including a B.E.L.T. pizza (recipe here), that was toped with a tossed salad just before serving:

We also had FOUR types of deviled eggs, including a traditional recipe with chopped pickles, Bloody Mary, and Bacon, Tomato, and Ranch:

And…. chocolate deviled eggs.  Yes, chocolate.  I’ll be honest, these were not my favorite, but it was fun to think outside the box!

We also made some one-skillet suppers.  This one had white beans, tomato sauce, and olives.  Another variety had blacks beans and fire roasted salsa.  Once the sauce was hot, we dropped in the eggs, and popped the skillet into the oven until the eggs were cooked to our desired doneness.  Dinner for four for about $5!

Also cloud eggs, which are this bizarre creation of whipped egg whites topped with a yolk:

You’d think after all that eating, we’d be done for the day.  You thought wrong.  Instead, we set out on a progressive dinner in German Village.

A City Explored // Optimistic Mommy // Adventure Mom
Beard and the Baker // Hungry Happenings  //  Happy Healthy Mama
Eat Play Cbus // The Food Hussy // Neighbor Food

At each stop, we had egg-centric dishes, including an incredible crabcake Benedict at Lindey’s:

Asparagus au gratin at G. Michael’s:

And a rainbow of macarons from Pistacia Vera:

After all the eating, we headed back to the Hampton Inn and Suites downtown where the hotel staff is probably the nicest I’ve interacted with in recent memory.  Case in point, when I returned from my early morning run drenched in sweat and in search of free coffee, without hestitation one staff member dashed to the back room to grab me an ice cold bottle of water, free of charge.  How nice is that?

Day two consisted of MORE FOOD, specifically breakfast catered by Bob Evans followed by brunch at The Guild House in the Short North.  My favorite dish was the buttered lobster served with a poached local egg, hollandaise, caviar, mixed greens, toasted brioche.

 

This was such a fun and informative event, and I have never in my life consumed so many eggs in such a short window of time!  A huge thanks to the Ohio Poultry Association and OhioEggs.com for the invitation!

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