# Separating egg whites



## DanSM (Feb 2, 2005)

Just a quick question, does anyone know an easy way to separate egg whites? Ive been making a few things that need 10 or more eggs and it takes me forever to separate them all.


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## pdswife (Feb 2, 2005)

http://www.hormel.com/templates/knowledge/knowledge.asp?catitemid=9&id=403


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## htc (Feb 2, 2005)

I've seen some people use the little plastic thing you can crack your egg over and it catches the yolk.

Here's a couple different ones:
a normal looking one:
http://www.shopping.com/xGS-Egg_Separator~NS-1~linkin_id-3055959
and a silly one
http://www.stupid.com/stat/EGSP.html

I usually do it by hand but have never had to do that many.


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## norgeskog (Feb 2, 2005)

I either use the shell or  my hands, the whites just run through your fingers, and they are not as sharp as sometimes the shell can be.


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## Lugaru (Feb 2, 2005)

Also especially when I want to use an undamage yolk I'll crack a hole on either side of the egg.


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## norgeskog (Feb 2, 2005)

Lugaru said:
			
		

> Also especially when I want to use an undamage yolk I'll crack a hole on either side of the egg.



UGH lugaru, that reminds me of my childhood, watching my mother make  my father a 30 second boiled egg, he poked a hole and sucked out the contents.  hurl


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## kitchenelf (Feb 2, 2005)

30-seconds????  2 1/2 minutes for me, no less, no more


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## Michael in FtW (Feb 2, 2005)

Both of my grandmothers used the "4-bowl & a hand" method. They would break an egg into bowl #1, then pour it into their hand over bowl #2 and let the white run between their fingers, the yolk then went in bowl #3, and the white from bowl #2 was poured into the whites bowl #4. It sounds like a lot of work but it's quicker than it sounds. It's also a good safety net - really prevents screwing up a batch of egg whites if a yolk breaks.


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## kitchenelf (Feb 2, 2005)

Yes Michael - that's a great idea.  The few times I have had to separate more than 3 eggs I will put each new egg white into a bowl and keep the yolks in a separate one - I learned a lesson when there was a bad egg and I had to start over.


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## DanSM (Feb 2, 2005)

Thanks that helped a lot. Just wondering though, when I separate them I always get a long stringy bit of white that is attached toe the yolk, your not meant to put that in with the white are you?


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## Michael in FtW (Feb 2, 2005)

DanSM said:
			
		

> Thanks that helped a lot. Just wondering though, when I separate them I always get a long stringy bit of white that is attached toe the yolk, your not meant to put that in with the white are you?



It's called "chalazae" technically - and it is part of the white. It's more pronounced in really fresh eggs ... after 7-10 days you might not even notice it because it is not as translucent.

Yea, elf - one time I was doing something that required 12 eggs and I got a little too cockey - "I" could do it faster and certainly didn't need all those steps, and bowls, my grandmas used. My theory was working just fine ... until egg #12.


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## norgeskog (Feb 3, 2005)

kitchenelf said:
			
		

> 30-seconds????  2 1/2 minutes for me, no less, no more



My dad just wanted it warmed from the fridge.  On the farm in Norway where he grew up, they would grab the egg where it dropped for a snack.  Ugh.  He never lost his taste for the raw egg.


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