How to crack an egg

If you're like me, then you probably thought you knew how to crack an egg. If you are like me, you probably learned to crack the egg on the side of the bowl or frying pan, or any edge that is nearby. I've seen my mom crack eggs since I was a kid, it's easy, right? The answer is yes, your just making it harder on your self.

The reason this is the wrong way to crack an egg is that you end up needing to crack the eggs into a small bowl before you add the egg to the recipe. This is all right until you realize that the reason you crack it into the small bowl in the first place is so that you can remove any egg shell pieces that may have accidentally fallen in along with the egg itself. This means the sole problem with cracking an egg on the edge of something is that it can inject tiny egg shell fragments into the your eggs.

Another problem, is that taking the egg out of the shell and into a bowl so that you can remove the shell fragments, only to transfer it again to another bowl is a waste of time and resources. Your creating dirty dishes, wasting time, and not adding any value to what your cooking. In the Lean Manufacturing System (something that is going to come up again in future posts), these are big no-nos.

The easier way to crack an egg is to crack it against a flat surface, along the widest point of the egg. You don't need to hit it hard, in the past I have let gravity do the work for me by dropping it from less than 3 cm above the surface (I mention only to emphasis how little effort you actually need). This will cause the egg to crack cleanly around its circumference and allow you to open the egg effortlessly and without any shell fragments from entering the egg.

Don't, crack on the edge of something

Do, crack on a flat surface

Now, I know I said that using that extra step of putting the egg into a bowl was a waste of time. Well, I lied, kind of. Depending on what you are doing with the egg, it can be an unnecessary extra step or it can save your dish. I would only recommend using the bowl in one circumstance. That being, if you are unsure of the quality of the eggs you are using. If you're in doubt and think they are either low grade or nearing there expiration dates, you can crack them into the bowl and inspect them before adding to your recipe.