Creamy Blender Chicken Pie: Fluffy Batter That Melts in Your Mouth With a Juicy Filling
Salgados Lanches
Glossário Culinário
Eggs
Eggs, usually chicken eggs, rank among the most versatile ingredients in the kitchen: they give structure, bind batters, emulsify sauces, aerate cakes and can even be the main dish, as in omelets and scrambled eggs.
Characteristics
Each part has a role: the white, rich in protein, whips into firm foams and lightens soufflés, meringues and cakes. The yolk, with its natural fats, enriches doughs, thickens custards and emulsifies mayonnaises and sauces. Eggs are graded by size, and free-range eggs, from hens raised outdoors, tend to have a deeper orange yolk and stronger flavor.
Uses in the kitchen
In baking, they go into cakes, pies, puddings, quiches, breads and pancakes. Whipped to stiff peaks, they aerate batters with no leavening. In savory cooking, they bind meatballs and breaded coatings, thicken sauces and gratins, and shine on their own boiled, fried, poached or scrambled. Yolk brushed over breads and pies before baking guarantees a golden color.
Substitutions
In simple cakes, each egg can be swapped for half a mashed banana, three tablespoons of applesauce or a mix of ground flaxseed with water, with some texture adjustments. Aquafaba, the cooking liquid from chickpeas, replaces whipped whites in vegan recipes. To bread without egg, use a paste of flour with water or plant milk.
Fun facts
The water test reveals freshness: a fresh egg sinks lying down, while an old one floats because of air built up inside the shell. Keep eggs refrigerated, preferably in their original carton, and avoid washing before storing so you do not remove their natural protection. For perfect stiff whites, use a clean, dry bowl with no trace of yolk or grease.
