EGG PULP FOR CAKES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 162, 11 July 1930, Page 18

EGG PULP FOR CAKES.

, NO GOOD SUBSTITUTE.

ADVICE IN PREPARATION.

Some people believe tliftt eggs are Hot used in cake-makingj but they are used to a far greater extent than is generally believed. Readers are veiy apt to say it .is impossible for tile commercial cakemaker to put eggs in Cakes at the present price of eggs. That would be so if he bought the egga at this tiiue of the year, but at ldast the large cake-makers purchase eggs ill the form of egg pulp. The average price paid is about 1/3 or 1/4 per Ib, Hot per dozen, The cakemaker who really knows his business, aiid has studied it in all its details, welcomes tllo presence of eggs iii his goods. - Egg pulp of good quality might be described as the dement in the building of the cake. If the albumen is of good quality a large amount of flollr and Water call be added to the beaten eggs. The flour, water and sugar, which ttl'fl really the chief items in cake-making, al'6, kept in place by the egg just as sand might be kept in place by- cement. When the eggs are thoroughly beateii and amalgamated with iloilr, witter, etc., there is a iluiilbCr 6f little cells or caves, *as they might be termed, Which the albumen holds up, and wljen tjie ckke is baked tlie ftlbuliloil k coagulated arid So. continues holding in place the other ingredients of the cake. • There has never yet been found a gatisfactoiy substitute for eggs in ctlkoIn&king. ihere have been a nunibei' of SO-called substitutes, especially of American manufacture, but they are not real substitutes. A cake without eggs becomes dry and brittle ; in other words, the ceiiient is hot of the right quality. Even When the eggs are Used a certain amount of Colouring is added, but that is' simply catering to the fashion or what the public require, just as butter has to be Coloui'ed ill the winter time, when it is often almost white, whereas in summer it may be of a quite* bright yellow. The public look for" liniformity, otherwise they think that they are hot getting the same quality. Further, what might be termed the natural colouring in egge varies considerably, due chiefly to the feed, Colour Depends Oii Food. Tlier.6 is one large firm in Sydney which, in the pulping season, would have sixteen girls pulping eggs. The son of the proprietor for a couple of years took charge of the egg pulping and used his brainsi At the end of two years what he didn't know about the pulping of eggs was not worth knowing. He would surprise- visitors by allowing them to crack eggs into a cup, and lie would then tell them where the eggs came from, whether" they were local eggs from the large poultry faring out Botany Bay or La Perouse districts, or aiiy of the poultry farming districts surrounding Syclil&y, whether they came f fain the Northern Rivers district', Or whether they were produced in South Australia arid imported into New South Wales by his firm. Visitors would think this Waß Wonderful ( or that thei'e was some "catch" in it, but it was very simple when one had studied the matter. South Australia ie a wheat growing country, arid the hens which produce the eggs were invariably fed On wheat, and the eggs had Very pale yolks. In the Northern Elvers district maize was the staple gain crop, and the yolks of the ■eggs were darker in t colour than those frdiit South Australia. What might be ternied local eggs Vere vdry thick ill the white, and their yolks Were of a rich/ colour, due to the amount of albumen they Were fed, as at that time butter-milk, paunches, livers, etc., could bo obtained at very low prices. Repeated attempts wei'fi made to utilise dried eggs, but I am happy to say that wo have very little to fear in this direction. The whites of the eggs were fairly satisfactory for certain purposes, such as the making of meringues and the icing of cakes, but the yolks, Which were only partly-dried, were nob satisfactory, and had to. be discarded. Now , , if only a portion of the egg can be used it will make the price of the other portion too dear, eo that settles that. The Preparation of Pulp. Many readers would not think it very important that the sheila of eggs shoutd be perfectly clean if the contents df the egg are to be pulped, and I am afraid that the pulpers in many cases do not recognise this , necessity, but the fact remains that there is the necessity, and I will tell you why. In the old-fashioned way of pulping, which is still the way of the small man, each egg is broken separately into a cup, or similar vessel. and tipped on to a sieve, so that the yolk is broken and mixed with the wliite, otherwise the yolks would all float to the top and the , white would remain at the bottom. It is necessary to break each egg sepai , -* ately- so that each can be examined, One bad one would naturally spoil the lot- When tlie egg is broken into the vessel a small quantity of the albumen, or Avhite of the egg, remains clinging to the two halves of the shell. A small quantity, admitted, but multiply these small quantities and they represent a considerable value. So a machine was invented which whirls round very quidkly and extracts the albumen from the shell on the same principle as honey is exti-acted from the comb, or water from clothes in a modefil laundry, because the specific gi'avity of the albumen differs from that of the shell. Now readers will see why it is necessary for the shells to be dean when they afe placed oil this whirling machine. Small particles of dirt are also whirled off because they are not of the same gravity as the- shell of the egg. They mix with the pulb, and unless it is brought tlown to a low temperature very quickly, contaminate, or the contaminatibri may take place aftgf the pulp leaves the freezer; The fact Of freezing does not destroy certain bacteria. Very large pulpei's who wish to establish or have established a reputation for the quality of their egg pulp, pulp with the sieve, not with the machine, but they drain the shells With the machine. Tliet recognise that what might be termed the drahiiiigs of the shells is contaminated more or less by dift from the shells, just as dirt from the udder of the cow might contaminate milk. Special attention should be paid to the cleanliness of egg shells,if we are to build up a profitable trade in eg<? rulp.