Life Is Meals_ A Food Lover's Book of Days - James Salter [29]
The word “egg” by itself almost always means a chicken’s egg, the most widely eaten by far. An ostrich egg may weigh three pounds and make an omelet big enough for a dozen people, but it is the hen’s egg that is used so often in cooking that a French gourmet once described it as being to cuisine what the article is to speech.
Nearly perfect in both nutrition and form, the egg is the food against which all others can be measured for efficiency. Loaded with protein, one egg contains about seventy-five calories, as well as all the amino acids; vitamins A, B, D, and E; and most of the minerals, including iron, essential for human life. The shell, because of its shape, has immense strength for its size, able to protect its contents yet breakable by the chick inside.
The color of the shell and of the yolk have no bearing on the taste, nor is a white or brown shell or a dark or pale yolk any indication of an egg being more “natural.” What can make a difference to its taste is what the hen eats. The best-tasting eggs result from a diet of grain with the addition of such odds and ends as insects and worms that the hen finds in her wanderings.
The other factor is freshness. The test is basically the same today as it was two hundred years ago, recorded by Amelia Simmon in the first American cookbook: “Put them into (salted) water. If they lye on their bilge, they are good and fresh, if they bob up on end they are stale, and if they rise (and float horizontally) they are addled, proved, and of no use.”
Eggs should be stored unwashed with the narrow end down in the least cold part of the refrigerator. Generally, they’ll last for a month. Refrigerated raw egg whites keep for up to twelve hours; a yolk for twenty-four hours.
The white of the egg, or albumen, contains no cholesterol or fat. The yolk, which makes up about a third of the weight, has both. Thirty years ago, medical experts decided that eating too many eggs could increase cholesterol and contribute to cardiovascular disease. However, a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association indicates that eating an egg—or even two—a day has no negative effect on the health of a person with normal cholesterol. The cholesterol level rises slightly, it is reported, but is compensated for by the beneficial nutrients in the egg. Most doctors, along with the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health, still recommend eating only three or four eggs a week but at present agree that there’s no reason to give them up entirely.
HOUSE DRESSING
Salad dressing is better made than bought. Occasionally a recipe suggests a special ingredient—lemon juice or balsamic vinegar—for a particular flavor, but for nine out of ten salads, this classic vinaigrette is the one.
HOUSE DRESSING
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar Salt and pepper to taste
1 crushed garlic clove (optional)
Dijon mustard, the amount that can be held on half an inch at the end of a dinner knife or more for a sharper taste
Place all ingredients in a small container with a tight lid and shake until well blended. Pour over greens and toss. The dressing should lightly coat but not drench the greens, which must be thoroughly dry for the dressing to adhere.
HUNGER AND APPETITE
The dictionary makes little distinction between hunger and appetite, but we tend to understand that hunger is the need to eat, almost entirely physical, while appetite is the desire to eat, stimulated by smell, sight, or the memory of certain foods or even the desire to satisfy emotional needs. Hunger indicates necessity; weakness is the result if it is unsatisfied. Appetite has more to do with interest and allure. When the two