It’s my daughter Meredith’s birthday tomorrow, and tonight Jenn came by to help me with some advance prep for the celebration dinner. We made Mere’s favourite cake, which required us to separate four eggs. This was the perfect opportunity to demonstrate four different techniques for separating the whites and yolks. Yes, four different techniques! Isn’t that exciting?

First, a tip … I work with three bowls. The first is for the white that I’m in the process of separating. The second is for all the yolks. And the third is where I put all the whites after each is separated. That way, if I’m working on egg number three and accidentally break the yolk into the white, I’m only spoiling one. (A little lesson I’ve learned the hard way.)

Ready? Here we go.

Four Ways to Separate Eggs

The Special Device

#1: Use a handy dandy egg separating device. This jaunty yellow plastic number was a prize at a Tupperware party many years ago. Not only is it great for its intended purpose, but my granddaughter thinks it’s a nifty toy.

Use the Shell

#2: Crack the egg, break the shell in two, and gingerly pass the yolk from one half to the other while the white falls into the bowl. (Don’t know about you, but I use two hands to open an egg, not the stylish one-handed technique you see so often on FoodTV.)

Break the Egg into Your Hand

#3: Break the egg into the slightly cupped fingers of one hand, letting the white run between your fingers into the bowl. This is a very tactile approach and rather fun.

The Scoop Method

And finally, #4: I just saw this technique for the first time last week on Roger Mooking’s show on FoodTV. Simply break the egg into the bowl, and gently scoop up the yolk with your fingers, letting any white run off.

So there you have it, a whole plethora of choices the next time you need to separate an egg. Now, just wait until you see what we did with those eggs, along with chocolate, butter and sugar. Stay tuned!

First published 2011 10 19
Updated 2021 12 07