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Baking Science Question - Eggs

I don't know if anyone here would know this kind of thing, but thought I'd ask anyway....

I have 2 baked custard recipes (actually Pots de Creme au Chocolat).

One calls for whisking the egg yolks and sugar to a "lazy ribbon" then combining with the cream/chocolate/vanilla mixture and bake.

The other says to stir the egg yolks to mix lightly, then combine with the cream/chocolate/sugar/vanilla mixture, then put it all in a double boiler and stir them over low heat for about 3 minutes.

My question is this: after baking and cooling, how would the custards be different? Would the textures be different, and if so, how? Would one be thinner than the other? Smoother? Creamier? Richer?

Would those made with the partially-cooked mixture bake faster than those made with the whisked yolks?

What difference, if any, does the air incorporated into the whisked yolks make?

Or is the purpose of both just to thicken the egg yolks, and they would turn out the same? Does whisking egg yolks with sugar have the same effect on the proteins in the yolks as gentle heating would?

Are there any food scientists here who know this kind of thing?

Reply to
Mary Sara
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I don't know what the differences in the finished products would be, but I do know that with egg yolks, "beating to a yellow ribbon", or "beating until pale yellow" is not about incorporating air into the yolks; it's about altering the structure of the proteins that make up the yolks. It can take several minutes even with a power mixer.

Isaac

Reply to
Isaac Wingfield

I am not a scientist but as you whisk the whole recipe in variation #2 it should have a better rise than #1. I think the whisking is about incorporating air - the low heat is for altering the structure of the proteins so that they are a bit thicker to hold more of the air. The incorporated air will expand with the heat and give a nice rise. Faster bake? I don´t think so.

The best thing is to try both and see what happens. I bet someone will volunteer to eat the results.

I figured out to bake a cake without baking soda by thoroughly whisking the egg yolks with sugar until light yellow. Then I add the softened butter (whisk) and after that the flour - very gently. After that I mix the batter with the separately whisked egg whites. Makes a very light cake... yum

Joschi

Reply to
Joschi Kley

Egg yolks contain protein and phospholipids( lecithin). Its incorporation to any food item is to stabilize the food structure due to such interaction of proteins and the emulsifiers with the fat present in the recipe. The beating process which incorporates air will lighten up the mixture and will confer some textural difference to the end product. In addition it will tend to alter its protein conformation as well as enhance the degree of binding of the other components which results in a more stable structure that the air bubbles are retained within the composition. Gentle heating of the yolks with the other food components will just promote the protein to unfold and loosen it up but as increased temperature favors rapid molecular movement then that will help initiate the emulsification process. But heating without any agitations will just denature the yolk proteins and will not led to intermingling with the other food components. If you have made whole egg sponge cake and had beaten the yolks with sugar both at room temperature and at warmer conditions you will notice that it is faster to attain the ribbon stage of mixing with the latter. Therefore there is more efficient incorporation then if compared to doing the same thing at ambient conditions. Roy

Reply to
Roy

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