Cooking with Dairy and Eggs

Cooking Principles of Dairy

Cooking PrinciplesBecause milk is protein food, special

care must be taken during cooking to prevent the following: Scum Formation-a solid layer

that often forms on the surface of milk during heating. To prevent scum formation, stir the milk during heating and cover the pan.

Boiling over-usually caused by scum formation. Use low heat to prevent.

Continued

Scorching-burning that results in a color change. To prevent, use low heat.

Curdling-high temperature, acids, tannins, enzymes and salts cause the milk proteins to coagulate and cause clumps. Use a low temperature and fresh milk to prevent.

Preparing Common Milk Based Foods

White Sauce-starch thickened milk product.

Classic White Sauce is prepared with a roux- a cooked paste of flour and fat. Melt 1 part fat over low heat. Stir in 1 part

flour to form a roux. Stir in milk. Stir constantly as you cook the

mixture over medium heat until it thickens into a smooth sauce.

You can use a slurry (a liquid mixture of milk and flour) to thicken a white sauce.

Preparing Other Sauces and Gravy

To make a cheese sauce, stir grated cheese into a basic white sauce after it has thickened.

To make gravy-juices from meat are used in place of some or all the milk to give gravy flavor.

Cheese

Cheese is a concentrated form of milk.

To make cheese, milk is coagulated-the curd (solid part) is separated from the whey(liquid part)

Cooking with Cheese

Like all high protein foods, heat can adversely affect cheese.

If you cook cheese at too high of a temperature, the cheese will become rubbery and tough.

Eggs as ingredients

Objective 7.05

Emulsifiers Mixture that forms when you combine liquids

that ordinarily do not mix Example:

Thickeners Heat causes the protein in eggs to

coagulate (thicken) Eggs can be used alone as the thickening

agent or used with starch Example:

Binding Agents Hold together ingredients in foods that

normally would not stick together. Example: Meatloaf

Interfering Agents Ice cream and sherbet stay creamy because

of the eggs in them Eggs prevent the formation of ice crystals. Example:

Egg Foams Created by adding air to food by beating and

whipping

Factors Affecting Egg Foams Temperature

separate easily when coldcan be beaten to max. volume when at room

temperature let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before

beating Beating Time

Can be underbeaten or overbeaten Fat and Fat containing ingredients

Egg yolk will inhibit formation of foamUse glass or metal bowl and clean beaters

AcidMakes egg whites more stable…. Example is cream of

tarter Sugar

Increases stability Increases beating time…add when foam has reached

most of its volume

Stage 1 Foamy

Bubbles and foam on the surface…mixture will flow out of bowl when tilted

Stage 2 Soft peaks

Have reached full volumeLook white and shinyWhen you lift beaters out of foam, foam will stand in

peaks that curl over at the tip

Stage 3 Stiff peaks

Full volumeWhite and shinyWhen you lift the beaters, peaks will stand up straight

STAGES OF FOAM FORMATION

From PowerPoint Presentation tool for Understanding Food, 1 edition by 2000. Reprinted with permission of Wadsworth, an imprint of the WadsworthGroup, a division of Thompson Learning

SOUFFLES The main

ingredients of a soufflé are a thick base generally made from a white sauce or pastry cream, an egg white foam, and flavoring ingredients White sauce: A

mixture of flour, milk, and usually fat.

Stiffly beaten egg whites are folded into the thick egg yolk mixture.

Figure 13-10

PREPARATION OF EGGS

Dry HeatFriedScrambledomelets

Moist heat “Boiled” eggsCoddled eggs

prepared in a cup

Poached eggs A variety of

custardsEggs that are

prepared using the microwave

=+

DOUBLE BOILER: WATER PLACED INSIDE THE BOTTOM PAN PREVENTS DIRECT HEAT AND AVOIDS SCORCHING