The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 136

Salt affects eggs by weakening the magnetic
attraction that yolk proteins have for one another
(yes,eggproteinsdofindeachotherattractive).Egg
yolksarecomprisedofmillionsoftinyballoonsfilled
with water, protein, and fat.These balloons are too
small to see with the naked eye, but they are large
enough to prevent light from passing through them.
Salt breaks these spheres up into even tinier pieces,
allowing light to pass through, so the salted eggs
turnedtranslucent.Whatdoesthismeanfortheway
they cook? To find out, I cooked three batches of
eggssidebyside,notingtheirfinishedtexture.

SALTING
TIMING

RESULTS

15
minutes

Theleastwateryand
themosttender,with


priorto
cooking

moist,softcurds

Just

before
cooking

Moderatelytender
andnotwatery

Toward
theendof
cooking

Toughestofthethree,
withatendencyto
weepliquidontothe
plate

Turnsoutthatsaltcanhavequiteadrasticeffect
on how eggs cook.When eggs cook and coagulate,
the proteins in the yolks pull tighter and tighter
togetherastheygethotter.Whentheygettootight,
they begin to squeeze liquid out from the curds,
resulting in eggs that weep in a most embarrassing
manner.Addingsalttotheeggswellbeforecooking
canpreventtheproteinsfrombondingtootightlyby
reducingtheirattractiontooneanother,resultingin
a more tender curd and less likelihood of
unattractive weeping. Adding salt immediately
before cooking helps, but to get the full effect, the
salt must have time to dissolve and become evenly