FOOD NEWS
What Does It Mean To 'Pool' Eggs (And Should You Be Doing It)?
By Haldan Kirsch
With the current egg shortage and rising prices, we’re all looking to save some money, and one way to do so is to pool your eggs. Pooling means collecting all the eggs you'll need for a given recipe in a bowl, but only after they've been cracked into another smaller bowl first — and while it may sound time-consuming, it has certain benefits.
When you crack a rotten egg into several other cracked eggs and other ingredients, you ruin the entire recipe — but cracking each egg into a bowl before adding it to the rest of the pool helps you spot and get rid of rotten eggs before they ruin the bunch. Pooling eggs also helps keep eggshells out of your food by making removal easier.
Many restaurant chefs will save time by pre-cracking and pooling eggs, instead of cracking eggs every time they get an order. The downside is that some eggs can be contaminated with diseases that are impossible to spot with the naked eye, and mixing a large batch of these eggs can cause the diseases to spread.
With all that said, if you want to start pooling your eggs, there’s a rule of thumb that you must abide by. All you need to do is ensure your eggs are pasteurized and adequately stored to minimize the risk of spreading any food-borne pathogens.