Cracking Eggs

[bainbrig]

What’s the secret to cracking eggs without breaking the yolk?

Do professional cooks have a special technique?

BillB

[Canary42]

Yes, they omit the the ones which fail from the video.

[Flonska]

If the rim of the frying pan is too thick (most modern ones are) to crack the shell immediately into two, then hold the egg in one hand and tap the centre - around the fattest part - with the blade of a sharp knife (not serrated).

Rather than straight into the pan, some people crack the egg into a cup and then slowly pour the mix into the frying pan.

[kvalidir]

One really solid hard tap works for me, I very rarely break eggs and the people I see who do (ex) are way too gentle with their tapping lol :)

[AZardoz]

Using a cup is an excellent idea. One egg at a time.
Learned that the hard way while camping.
One bad egg in the pan, but which one? Had to toss the lot.

[Flonska]

When you say bad . . . did you mean as in "gone off"?

As a one time wolf cub/boy scout we learned to put the egg into a cup of water first. If it sinks to the bottom and lies flat on its side - it is fresh. If it floats - it isn't! Result = only the bad ones are eliminated before cooking - we still got eggs for breakfast!

[AZardoz]

I use the water test at home but never had one that had "gone off".
The camp eggs had been bought the day before.

[woofgang]

use fresh eggs. as the egg gets older, the yolk gets more watery and fragile. I buy free range eggs and find the yolks stay solid for longer

[Old_Geezer]

Rarely have a problem.
Manage it one handed most of the time.

[kvalidir]

^^ OG xxx^^

[Baldric]

It is so nice to see questions being asked on an intellectual level that the 'average' ABer could not aspire to ;o)

[bainbrig]

To those who have tried to give an answer, many thanks.

Perhaps there should be a corner of Answerbank (like smoking areas outside buildings?) where the terminally belligerent could congregate and spit at each other.

BB

[1ozzy]

Or throw rotten eggs at each other BillB.

Hmmm, it's starting to sound like "News" or maybe "Religion" ;-/

[Maydup]

I crack eggs into a cup too, and use a thin rimmed cup for the job. The knack is to crack the egg cleanly rather than crush the shell bluntly.

[1ozzy]

Talking about eggs.
I had a delightful omelette made from "Ooooh, Aaaaagh eggs this morning.

[dannyk13]

Crack the eggs on a solid surface, not on a sharp edge which is likely to leave bits of shell inside the egg.

[rowanwitch]

We call them girl and bloke eggs.... the ones with broken yolks the bloke gets.... I keep the whole yolks. I have to use them either way so its now fried or scrambled depends how they come out

[ummmm]

I crack them on the work top. I've never had a problem with the yolk breaking.

[bainbrig]

I shall try that worktop technique tomorrow!

[DTCwordfan]

yes, you steal them, so you know they are fresh.

[francesca01]

Hold one egg in each hand and bang together,only one breaks at a time.