By Richard Cornish
Epicure answers your vexing food queries
Why is it sometimes impossible to peel a boiled egg cleanly and other times the shell comes away perfectly? A. RIES
IT'S ALL about freshness. And perhaps not in the way you think. Egg whites change from being slightly acidic when freshly laid, to more neutral as they get older. In freshly laid eggs this acidity makes the egg white attracted to the membrane lining the eggshell. This means that when you boil a fresh egg the membrane, or skin, cooks onto it so when you peel off the shell and membrane, bits of egg white go with it. As the egg ages the pH rises, or becomes less acidic, and the albumen becomes less likely to stick to the membrane. So if you want perfect peeled boiled eggs, use them a bit older. You can artificially raise the pH by adding a little baking soda to the water in which you boil fresh eggs, but beware this can exacerbate the egg smell.
Peeling cooked eggs ... There's a reason why the shell sometimes sticks to the white.Credit: Quentin Jones
I am trying to make Mexican green salsa from green tomatoes, but the sauce keeps splitting. K. WALTERS
IN MEXICO salsa verde is made with what we call tomatillos (Physalis philadelphica) but what Mexicans call tomates. They look like little green tomatoes surrounded by a husk, and are closely related to cape gooseberries. Our green tomatoes are simply unripe tomatoes (by the way, Mexicans call red tomatoes jitomates). Tomatillos are high in pectin, which makes their sauce quite thick. With the rise in popularity of Mexican food, tomatillos are beginning to appear at farmers' markets. But if you can't find them, try making the recipe using medium-sized green tomatoes (smaller ones can be a little too green-tasting and acidic) and do as some chefs do: add a little gelling agent such as guar gum or even agar, both available at food stores.
Where can I buy cans of flageolet beans? D. LORENZ
HARVESTED and dried before they are completely mature, flageolet beans are the classic partner to lamb in Paris bistros. In her book French Country Cooking, Elizabeth David suggests serving them with a leg of mutton strewn with rosemary and roasted in dripping with garlic. She suggests using dried flageolet beans, soaking them overnight and simmering with bay leaves and an onion for three hours. The dried beans available from The Essential Ingredient, South Yarra (1 kilogram, $15.45), take about half this time to cook. A friend makes a great Nicoise-style salad of warm new potatoes, boiled eggs, black olives and flageolet beans served on a bed of lettuce dressed with a vinaigrette. D'Aucy is a reputable tinned brand, but cooking from dry is superior. Buy the tinned option at Leo's, Heidelberg, Kew and Hartwell (400 grams, $2.80).
Why don't chickens sold at the butcher and supermarket come with necks or giblets these days?M. YOUNG
I WAS 24 in 1991, and after a few courses at Italian night school at Holmesglen TAFE I decided to hitch-hike around Italy. A mad Machiavelli-quoting Florentine truck driver recommended a local restaurant that served pollo intero - which I thought was an entire chicken. I ordered it and I was wrong. It was actually what was left after processing the chicken. The liver, the comb and wattle, the intestines, all gently cooked in olive oil, garlic and oregano, and served with the tiny raw unformed eggs from inside the hen on top. It was truly one of the most remarkably intense dishes I have eaten. A mate of mine who processes chickens says you won't find necks or livers inside chickens any more because he can make more money selling them separately. He also says that a while back, customers said they couldn't bring themselves to chop off the chooks' necks. Too much like the real thing.
Send your vexing food queries to brainfood@richardcornish.com.au