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The Food Lab: Do 'Better' Eggs Really Taste Better?
Hello Kenji!
Thank you for the detailed responses. You make a great case!
On the first point, I can't deny that I have no recollection of the comments around the 2nd plate of eggs. And I accidentally misread your piece as implying that the lack of comments confirmed that there was no difference between the two servings - thus my retort. But your further elucidation here clarifies that I both mis-remember and mis-read.
On the main test, good to have the clarity. This admittedly seems really counter-intuitive to me. I just don't get how a bigger, yellower yolk can't taste better. But I know you're a real stickler for objectivity and controlled experiments, and your explanation of the internal trends, etc., is a helpful confirmation. So while I'll keep my eyes out for future studies, and I definitely welcome experiencing a blind taste test myself, you've proven your point.
I concede, for now. . . :)
The Food Lab: Do 'Better' Eggs Really Taste Better?
As the owner of Misty & Logan (featured in your testing), I of course must protest!
(But first, a clarification. My chickens probably eat about 80% processed feed, not bugs, roots, and other natural materials. While organic, my feed is corn, soy, peas, etc. - same kind of stuff you'd find in commercial chickens.)
This is a great and interesting article, Kenji. And Misty & Logan asked me to thank you for shout-out. But I think the focus on the intricacy of the science around controlling the production of the eggs for the taste test is a sleight of hand. It distracts us from where the tests fail to hold up.
First, the dinner party experiment: I do not at all recollect being served a second plate of eggs. Of course, I trust you and thus assume it must have come out. However, I think the reason I didn't recall it is because I don't remember, and very much doubt, that people made comments about the eggs on the second plating. We were intensely involved in conversation and libation at that point (to the credit of your party) and had already been presented with eggs. Who showers their host with complements on a single dish - twice?! And furthermore, our pallets were already shot at that point from the fats in the eggs and the salsas on the tacos.
On to the formal experiment: I think the real problem is that the eggs are so fatty that one became a poor connoisseur after the first tasting. The best way to test would be to have a very large number of people do the tasting, while randomizing which one they taste first. And I agree that it may also be the case, as one commenter pointed out, that it's similar to wine in that it may really take an expert to suss out the slim differences.
I'm not protective of the idea of my eggs tasting better. I do it for personal reasons. But I'm just not ready, based on these tests, to abandon the common sense logic that if the yoke is bigger (in fact, often monstrously large), and the substances firmer, that the taste quality shouldn't be at least marginally better.
As a take-away thought, I've also noticed that the eggs have changed as the chickens got older. Misty laid small eggs in her first months, but now they're as large as Logan's and more oblong. And in those first months the yokes were consistently giant, whereas now they've come down closer to a typical size in commercial eggs, with just the occasional outlier. Perhaps a fancy chef might advertise free range eggs from hen in her very first month of laying?
Man Keeps Pizza Oven Fired Up 24/7, 'Just In Case Friends Stop In'
Thanks for adapting/syndicating this story from www.goodeater.org. Julian has an amazing thing going on, and it is only fair to mention that his line of chilie sauces and tapenades are called "Fynbos Fine" and available in the U.S. He recently got silver at the Fancy Foods show in the best appetizer category.
In producing these products, he has three large greenhouses growing 15 species of peppers, as well as tomatoes, aubergines, herbs, etc. This makes for a pretty unparalleled combination of variety and freshness in creating his pizzas, as well as about a hundred chili sauce options for topping them off. The mozzarella comes from a dairy farmer down the road. He also built a backyard smokehouse which is a great complement.
I think the key final touch, though, is that he built a covered walkway that extends from the house to the pizza oven. You can see in the pic that the oven's chimney cuts through the walkway's roof. So the pizza party is rain or shine.
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I still can't believe that it's possible to make real New York Pizza at home. Their dough is so white, supple, and elastic. I don't know how they do it. But I'm psyched to try this approach and find out.