Yolk

“ The yolks of eggs are employed in different medicinal ways, but most frequently in emulsions. One yolk, if gradually beaten up with three ounces of pure water, and reduced to the utmost degree of thinness, has been found of great utility in removing contractions of the limbs. The whites are chiefly applied externally, in the preparation of eye-waters, on account of their cooling, agglutinating, and astringent qualities. ”

“ That is the sacred spot where lies the spark of life which, animated by incubation, will quicken the substance of the egg and mold it into a living being; it is the point of departure, the origin, the germ of the bird. The yolk itself is the nutritive reservoir whence are drawn the materials for this work of creation. Quickened by the heat of the brooding hen and by the action of the air, it becomes covered with a network of fine veins. These swell with the substance of the yolk, which turns to blood ”

“ One of the ways of getting hard-boiled yolks, without wasting the whites, is to separate the white and the yolk before the egg is cooked; drop the yolk down into a kettle of boiling water; then stand on the back part of the stove for fifteen or twenty minutes until it is hard. The yolk will cook in this way just as well as with the white in the shell. Now, you have the uncooked whites, which may be used for a simple white cake, apple float, soufflés, plain or with fruit. ”

“ By degrees this fluid is transformed into the small particles or granules which form the yolk; the yolk shapes itself into a multitude of cells--little microscopic bodies consisting of an external membrane, or cell-wall, and of an inner nucleus, which may be either solid or fluid; and in due process of time a number of cells combine and form a living being. The albumen, or "white," is, like the shell, an accessory. It performs important functions in the development of the young from the germ, but we will not stop to explain them here; the true egg is the yolk. ”

“ A good-sized egg will weigh 1,000 grains, of which about 107 are shell, 604 are white, and 289 are yolk. Of the shell, 97 per cent. is carbonate of lime, 1 per cent. phosphate of lime and magnesia, and 2 per cent. albumen. The white consists of 12 per cent. of albumen, 2.7 of mucus, 0.3 of salts, and 85 of water. The yolk has about 17.4 per cent. of albumen, 28.6 of yellow oil, 54 of water, with a trace of sulphur and phosphorus.
The foregoing are the constituents of eggs, which have been formed when the bird has free access to the various articles which constitute her natural food. ”

“ If an egg is really fresh, when held up against the light, the yolk looks round and compact and the white clear and transparent; you may then trust it. But if the yolk is thick, broken, and mixed among the white, and the white is cloudy and muddled, it is certainly bad, and should be thrown away. ”

“ The yolk, being lighter than the white, floats to that portion of the egg which is uppermost, but is held in position by two membranous cords, one from each end of the egg. The average weight of an egg is about two ounces, of which ten per cent consists of shell, sixty of white, and thirty of yolk. ”

“ Or, when economy is a point, and the white can be otherwise utilized, a little milk may be added to the yolk of egg when a larger quantity than is afforded by 1 yolk is required. Fruit tarts, puffs, etc., are usually brushed lightly over with cold water, and sprinkled liberally with castor sugar before baking. Or, when a thin coating of icing is desired, they are, when nearly baked, brushed over with well-beaten white of egg, and well-dredged with castor sugar. ”

“ Flavor with lemon juice.
WATER EGGNOG. No. 2. Beat the yolk of an egg with one-half or a whole cup of water. Flavor with lemon juice.
LEMONADE WITH EGG. Take some lemonade prepared from oranges and lemons and add to it the yolk or the whole of an egg. The acid taste must dominate the sweet taste.
MILK EGGNOG. Beat up the whole or the yolk of an egg with a little water and one or two tablespoonfuls of sugar. To this add eight to ten ounces of rich raw or sterilized milk, or one-half cream and one-half water. Flavor with nutmeg or bitter almond. ”

“ If you break an egg the contents flow out and are seen to consist of the colorless glairy “white” and the yellow “yolk.” If the white is collected by itself in water and then heated it becomes turbid, forming a white solid, very similar to the vegetable albumin, which is called animal albumin.
If the yolk is beaten up with water, no starch nor cellulose is obtained from it, but there will be plenty of fatty and some saccharine matter, besides substances more or less similar to albumin and gluten. ”

“ The yolk, as everyone must have noticed in hard-boiled eggs, does not stay in the middle of the egg, but always floats to the upper side. The chick, too, always forms on the upper side of the yolk; and when the egg gets turned over, the yolk rolls round like a barrel in the water and brings the chick to the upper side. So the chick, until it grows big enough to be a tight fit, always lies crosswise of the egg, on the upper side of the yolk just under the shell. ”

“ The organ to which these are attached is the ovary. The smallest yolks are so small that they cannot be seen without a powerful microscope. These yolks are not germs, but as they grow the germ forms on one side of each yolk, where it appears as a small white spot.
When a yolk is full-grown it drops into the funnel-shaped mouth of the oviduct. Here it is inclosed in a membranous covering, called the chalazæ, and receives a coating of thick albumen. The function of the chalazæ is to keep the yolk suspended in the center of the egg. ”

“ The first change in the yolk, after the formation of the Purkinjean vesicle, is the appearance of minute dots near the wall at the side opposite the vesicle. These increase in number and size, but remain always on that half of the yolk, leaving the other half of the globe clear. One can hardly conceive the beauty of the egg as seen through the microscope at this period of its growth, when the whole yolk is divided, with the dark granules on one side, while the other side, where the transparent halo of the vesicle is seen, is brilliant with light. ”

“ If the yolk be removed and dried, and the yellow oil separated, it will be found to form two-thirds of the substance. The whole weight in its natural state is about three hundred grains, of which three-fifths is water; of the white more than three quarters is water.
The yolk and albumen of a fecundated egg remains as sweet and free from corruption during the whole time of incubation as it is in new-laid eggs, and there is but little loss of water; whereas an unfecundated egg passes rapidly into putrefactive decay and perishes. ”

“ The protein content is high, and the fat content as well, the yolk containing a higher percentage of these two foodstuffs than the white. The mineral matter is of high value, iron and phosphorus being found in ideal forms in the yolk. In using the egg as food we are availing ourselves of one of nature’s richest storehouses. A single egg of average size yields about 75 calories, of which 60 come from the yolk and 15 from the white. A very large egg, weighing two and two thirds ounces, will yield 100 calories. ”

“ The yolk has an insipid, bland, oily taste; and, when agitated with water, forms a milky emulsion. If it is long boiled it becomes a granular, friable solid, yielding upon expression, a yellow, insipid, fixed oil. It consists, chemically, of water, oil, albumen, and gelatine. ”

“ When putting the suet, raisins and dried fruit through the food chopper, add a dried crust of bread to prevent clogging.
EGGS
The similarity in the proportion of the shell, yolk and white of eggs in the chicken eggs is that the shell averages about one-tenth, the yolk about three-fourths and the white about four-tenths. The shell alone is counted as waste. The white contains about six-eighths water, the solids of the white are virtually all nitrogenous matter or protein. The yolk contains about one-half water and one-third fat, and the balance is of nitrogenous matter or protein. ”

“ Some cooks will almost burn the bottom of the egg before the upper part is set. As soon as the white is set round the edge, you will often find the yolk not set at all, surrounded by a rim of semi-transparent “albumen.” ”

“ Most persons are familiar with the appearance of eggs, but in order that satisfactory results may be obtained in their selection, care, and cooking, it will be necessary to look into the details of their composition. As is well known, an egg consists of a porous shell lined with a fine, but tough, membrane that encloses the white and the yolk and serves to protect them. The yolk is divided from the white by a delicate membrane, which permits it to be separated from the white when an egg is carefully broken. ”

“ When no more eggs are to be found, the mashing process begins. The egg, it may be here mentioned, has a flexible or leathery shell; it is quite round, and somewhat larger than a hen's egg. The whole heap is thrown into an empty canoe and mashed with wooden prongs; but sometimes naked Indians and children jump into the mass and tread it down, besmearing themselves with yolk and making about as filthy a scene as can well be imagined. ”

“ The typical fish-egg is globular, more or less transparent, having a tough protective membrane, within which the yolk-laden egg proper lies. The yolk is present in sufficient amount to maintain the embryo until it can swim about and feed for itself. ”

“ The dark leaves of lettuce, celery, and cabbage contain iron, but these vegetables are apt to be bleached before being put upon the market.
The yolks of two eggs are better than one whole egg, as the iron is in the yolk. A good way to take the yolk of eggs is in egg lemonade or in eggnog, with a little nutmeg for spice. ”

“ The white of eggs, almost pure albumin, is nutritious, and, when cooked in water at 170 degrees Fahrenheit, requires less time for perfect digestion than a raw egg. The white of a hard-boiled egg is tough and quite insoluble. The yolk, however, if the boiling has been done carefully for twenty minutes, is mealy and easily digested. Fried eggs, no matter what fat is used, are hard, tough and insoluble. ”

“ Use a bowl in beating eggs with an egg-beater, and a plate when a fork or egg-whip is employed.
If the white and yolk are used separately, break the shells gently about the middle, opening slowly so as to let the white fall into the dish, while retaining the yolk in one half of the shell. If part of the white remains, turn the yolk from the one half to the other till the white has fallen. Beat the yolks until they change from their natural orange color to a much lighter yellow. The whites should be beaten until firm and dry enough not to fall from the bowl if turned upside down. ”

“ Arrange the white in a hot egg saucer, and place the cooked yolk in the center, or serve on toast. This makes a very pretty, as well as appetising dish, if care is taken to keep the yolk intact.
Gluten Meal Custard.—Beat together thoroughly, one pint of rich milk, one egg, and four tablespoonfuls of gluten meal. Add a little salt if desired, and cook with the dish set in another containing boiling water, until the custard has set. ”

“ The yolk should always be beaten first, since, if the white is left to stand after being beaten, a portion of the air, which its viscous nature allows it to catch up, escapes and no amount of beating will render it so firm a second time. Eggs which need to be washed before breaking should always be wiped perfectly dry, that no water may become mingled with the egg, as the water may dilute the albumen sufficiently to prevent the white from becoming firm and stiff when beaten. ”

“ The white is elastic and more or less tough, while the yolk, upon being thoroughly cooked, becomes powdery, or mealy, and breaks up into minute particles. The egg white begins to coagulate at 134 degrees Fahrenheit, and it becomes white and jellylike at 160 degrees. Bringing an egg to such a temperature produces a more desirable result than cooking it at a high temperature--boiling point, for instance--because the albumen, instead of becoming tough, as it does at a high temperature, acquires a soft, tender consistency that exists throughout the entire egg. ”

“ If the yolk does not come out readily, get a cup full of water, and immersing the sharp end into it, put your mouth to the blunt end, and suck up some of the water into the shell, then shake it about well, and blow it out again ”

“ To prepare them, the narrow end is broken open, the white, which is said to have a disagreeable taste, is thrown away, and then having added a little butter, salt, and pepper, the yolk is cooked by being stirred over the fire, using the egg-shell as a saucepan. ”

“ In such a case, the egg itself divides into a number of portions: two, four, eight, or even twelve and sixteen individuals being normally developed from every egg, in consequence of this singular process of segmentation of the yolk,—which takes place, indeed, in all eggs, but in those which produce but one individual is only a stage in the natural growth of the yolk during its transformation into a young embryo. ”

“ Force-meat balls may also be made of raw meat prepared as for timbale paste (see page 297) .
RADISHES CUT TO IMITATE ROSES. EGG BALLS
Rub to a paste, with a wooden spoon, the yolks of hard-boiled eggs; season with salt, pepper, and butter; add enough raw [93] yolk to bind the paste; form it into balls one half the size of a natural yolk; roll them in white of egg and then in flour, and poach the balls in boiling water for a few minutes.
Three yolks will make five balls. One ball is enough to allow to each portion of soup. ”