As I may have mentioned before, to save money, I buy powdered eggs online for a
fraction of the cost of fresh eggs.
My first attempt at cooking scrambled powdered eggs was successful, because I followed the directions, mixing the
amount of eggs I intended to use the night before; but over time, I have had to
mix the egg powder and cook it immediately, which does not work. Eggs fixed
that way have a strange greenish color, a strange chewy texture, and a strange flavor that is not good. Still,
at 25¢, I was determined to make these eggs work, and I have. I now have
a “subscription” to ship a large can of powdered eggs once a month, and I
average purchasing a second can of powdered eggs about every six weeks because
we go through them that quickly.
Eventually I learned the secret to making great tasting
powdered eggs. It seems the only problem with mixing them immediately before
use is that they foam up, and you can’t thoroughly hydrate the powder when part
of the liquid is foam. The secret? Use slightly less water than the 3:1 ratio
would suggest, and add a tablespoon of olive oil in place of part of the water.
Then the mixture doesn’t foam when you mix it, and all of the powder mixes
correctly. I also use three egg white powder units for every half-unit of whole
egg powder, a little yellow food coloring (I’m trying to find a yellow food
coloring that is 100% beta carotene). Finally, when the pan of eggs are almost
done, I add one whole fresh egg to the pan, careful not to break the yolk until
the egg white is fully cooked. The result is an authentic appearance with little pieces of egg white with a few areas that have the darker yolk, in an otherwise uniformly yellow pan
of eggs. The illusion of "normal" scrambled eggs seems to make all the difference.
This morning I accidently learned something new about scrambled powdered eggs.
If you accidently forget them on the stove, and they appear to be hopelessly
scorched, they don’t taste scorched at all. In fact, this morning I carefully
scraped the unscorched eggs off the top, and then scraped the scorched eggs off
the bottom of the pan. Then I finished cooking the unscorched eggs. When
finished, the unscorched eggs tasted perfect. I served a plate to Betty. She
loved them, and thanked me for making such perfect scrambled eggs. Then I tried
a bit of the scorched eggs, and they tasted fine. I was shocked. I tasted a
little more. Still fine. Finally, I made my own breakfast out of entirely
scorched powdered eggs, and they tasted great! I could not have gotten by with
eating scorched fresh eggs. Those taste bad.
These tasted good. I wonder why?
