Who else is scared of raw eggs?

[Sim]

I was curious if anyone else had a strong fear of even the slightest runniest egg, especially raw?

Up until perhaps six months ago, I ate them most mornings for breakfast in my smoothies. Until I was hit with Salmonella Food Poisioning. Its not confirmed that eggs were the cause... but it seemed like the most obvious cause.

Has anyone else had negative experiences with raw eggs?

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

I had almost two months of severe salmonella poisoning after our last stay in Ethiopia, thankfully managing to avoid organ damage.  I had a very rare Middle Eastern strain that was almost impossible to diagnose here in Australia and even harder to treat.  The only thing that I ate that was different to my DH during the last days of our stay were my poached breakfast eggs.  I try not to think about it too much now but I keep my chooks in excellent condition and use all eggs within a week.

[em]

hi i havent had salmonella poisening, but am quite paranoid about raw eggs since friends of ours got salmonella poisening at a restaurant that served home made aioli and had them sick for weeks.  before that i made the tm mayo, but now i have thrown it out and am going to try an egglesss mayo recipe instead. i just dont want to risk it especially with my kids so i will avoid raw egg instead!

[andiesenji]

Please, folks.  Don't go off the deep end about raw eggs.

It is extremely easy to pasteurize your eggs at home - pasteurized eggs are sold in various places here in the states but they are very expensive.   
Some "experts" will say that eggs cannot be pasteurized at home but they have a vested interest in selling the commercially processed ones.
Shirley Corriher, food scientist and author of CookWise(1997),  gave the directions of how to pasteurize eggs in that book and she also said the same thing, don't believe people when they tell you that you can't do this.
(She has a newer book out, BakeWise, published in Oct. '08 that  dispels some misdirection about baking.)

I process most of my eggs this way so that I don't have to worry about them.   I use them in mayonnaise, eggnog, other eggy mixtures that are not going to be cooked and I like "coddled" eggs with a very runny yolk and shirred eggs, ditto. 

I may keep a few raw ones in a separate, clearly marked container, because sometimes the pasteurized eggs do not whip with quite as much volume and if I am going to be baking them in a meringue or souffle, I add one or two raw egg whites.  But, whether I get my eggs from my egg man or buy them at the market, before they go into the fridge they are pasteurized so I can use them at will. 

Here are the detailed instructions: http://www.ehow.com/how_4679090_pasteurize-eggs-home.html

Here's a review of CookWise, if anyone is interested: http://www.stylegourmet.com/reviews/006.htm

[judydawn]

Thanks Andie, once again you have stepped up to the plate with your wealth of knowledge.  Thank you for sharing it with us.

[Thermomixer]

Thanks Andie - I don't have problems using them at home.  My concern is at "parties" where people bring plates and they haven't been as scrupulous with cleanliness.  Then it's not only salmonella but staph to worry about in the mayo.

[meganjane]

I use raw eggs in mayonnaise, but get them from my daughter's chooks, so am not worried about bugs. Thanks andie for the great link on pasteurising eggs.

[Sim]

I spoke to the farmer of the eggs that I buy and she eats them raw all the time and has never had a problem. I think I was just unlucky.  I also had pancakes from a local cafe around the time of the onset, so maybe there was some cross contamination in their kitchen. Who knows, all I know is that I never ever want it ever again.   

Andie I am very interested in your information about pasteurising eggs. I didn't know you could do that, or even buy them for that matter. Do you do this in the TM? On the ehow.com website, it says 145-160 degrees, should I assume that that is Fahrenheit?

[cookie1]

I have never given this much thought to be truthful.  When I was teaching I had a couple of kids get salmonella and they were very ill. The school tuckshop got the blame both times and was temporarily closed. Neither came from there. One was from the pet rabbits the child had and the other unhygienic practice at home.

[Karen3]

I'm scared to use raw eggs too.  I can't handle the smell or taste of them either (not fun cleaning the eggs off our house when it got eggbombed and Dean was in India!).  I never use eggwhite in the sorbet and I make the eggless aioli from the Vego Cookbook when I need mayo.
Happy Thermomixing everyone!
K3

[andiesenji]

I should have noted that the temps are in Fahrenheit.  My Bad!

I've been doing this for so long that I have a routine and I had to stop and think and then actually go through my routine to be sure I got it right.

I use a thermometer with a "remote" probe and set the temp that I want so it will signal with that temp is reached.  I prefer to set it for 145° F. = 63° C.  and when the water reaches that temp and the signal sounds, I lower a colander filled with the room temperature eggs (I process a dozen at a time) into the water and set the timer for 5 minutes because my eggs vary in size and most are extra-large or jumbo.
I use the probe to test the water temp in various parts of the pot to be sure the temp remains even and at the desired point and adjust the heat if necessary.   I don't worry if it is a few degrees hotter but have a pitcher of room temp water ready if it climbs past 150° F or 65.5 C. 

I have the sink full of ice water in which to plunge the colander as soon as the timer sounds.
I leave the eggs in the cold water for several minutes then lift the colander out and set the eggs aside to drain and dry (mostly).  I then transfer them into the egg containers I use for the farmstead ones or back into the carefully marked cartons for the store-bought ones.

Any longer than five minutes or heat higher than I use and you began to get some changes in the whites that can affect their ability to whip into full volume. 

Incidentally, my hard-boiled eggs, after this process, come out perfect and free from the inner membrane, unlike just hard-boiling very fresh eggs.   If you have ever tried hard-boiling fresh eggs (as around Easter, when the turnover is very high) you know that it can be rather frustrating with the shell clinging desperately to the egg and ending up with little pock marks all over it from fingernails. 
I prefer to hard-boil very fresh eggs because they have a nicer shape, without the air pocked distorting them at the big end. 

I checked with the only store that still carries pasteurized eggs and their current price is $4.35 a dozen.  This is more than twice the price of the premium extra-large eggs at my local grocery. 

This routine has become so second nature to me that I don't really think that much about it.  When visitors see me go through it, they are occasionally mystified but the explanation is sufficient for some of them to begin using it.  One of my neighbors said she hadn't had homemade eggnog for twenty years because she was afraid to use raw eggs and hated the store-bought, much too sweet, stuff.

I think that was two years ago and since then she has followed my routine.  She had a broken jaw last spring (one of her horses reared up and struck her with a hoof) and had her jaw wired for six weeks.  She practically lived on eggnog as she is one of those high-energy persons who consumes lots of calories and is still skinny.   

As Martha Stewart says, "It's a GOOD thing!"

[vivacity]

I've never had any problems with raw eggs and salmonella scares are not really a topic over here in Germany (putrid doner meat, artificial cheese are more common problems). OK, I wouldn't serve a potato salad with real egg mayonnaise at a barbecue in the height of summer but I'm not really that cautious. Touch wood.

While I was in Budapest last summer I watched a cookery programme in which  Hungary's favourite cook (whose name I have unfortunately forgotten, but she was really good, even though I understand about 10 Hungarian words) made an egg mayonnaise with a little boy who dipped his finger into the raw eggs and tasted them. "It's OK," she said, "these eggs are pasteurised." I didn't know until then that there was such a thing.

Are eggs cooled in supermarkets where you live? Here in Germany they aren't.

[andiesenji]

Yes.  At least in California.  Eggs have to be transported in coolers and in regular markets must be in refrigerated cases, usually the open ones but some stores have closed cases.
The only exceptions are the open-air farmer's markets  but they also are regularly inspected and can have only one carton of each size or type they are selling, out on the table for display only and sell the ones that are kept in a cooler. 

California has very strict rules and regulations, more than any other state.  Fruits and vegetables (fresh) purchased in other states cannot be brought into the state and anyone driving into the state is stopped and questioned and if they admit to having any the items are seized unless they can be identified as grown in California.   

[judydawn]

Our eggs are just on the shelves in supermarkets too vivacity, not in the fridge section. Mind you, sometimes I think it is like stepping into a fridge when you go into some supermarkets here. They have the a/c on so cold.

[andiesenji]

The critical temperature for any eggs that may be infected with salmonella is between 40 degrees F. (4.44 C.) and 140 degrees F. (60 C)  and time is another factor.  The longer the eggs are in this danger zone, the more the bacteria multiply.  The egg interior is an ideal growth medium for bacteria.  This is the reason eggs are used to grow vaccines. 

I have friends who are food fanatics and will eat only fertilized eggs because they have the idea that the presence of an embryo, no matter how minute, is an indication that the egg is free of any pathogens.  Anyone who has raised chickens knows this is totally untrue but my friends are city folk who have never been closer to a farm than driving by on the interstate. 

I think I mentioned earlier that I love eggs.  I eat a lot in all their various guises.  I love omelets in the French style, that is, very, very soft.  Restaurants in this state will not prepare them that way because they are afraid of being sued.   I seldom order omelets in a restaurant.  I hate the rubbery things that could double as a floor mat.