Cracking Eggs in Plague Time

I frankly think the rampant fear of bird flu is overated, yet the risk of some pandemic is undeniable.

When I first learned my culinary skills I was taught to crack an egg only on a flat surface -- so as not to drive the shell (which may be contaminted by fecal as well as other matter) into the edible part of the egg. In the last ten years I've seen near every TV chef violate this rule with the exception of Pepin.

Eggs are probably routinely washed before packaging, yet I will maintain my original practice.

-ramon

Ramon wrote:When I first learned my culinary skills I was taught to crack an egg only on a flat surface -- so as not to drive the shell (which may be contaminted by fecal as well as other matter) into the edible part of the egg.

I also learned not to separate eggs by passing them from shell half to shell half for this reason. (And also because it's easy to catch the yolk on the sharp shell edge.) I used to have a nifty ceramic egg separator, but since I broke it, I separate eggs by breaking the egg into my (clean) hand and letting the white run through my fingers.