Rant: I finally understood why my hollandaise kept breaking after a trip to a farm in Vermont.

For years I used supermarket eggs, and my sauce would split if I looked at it wrong. Last week I got eggs from a farm near Burlington, the yolks were almost orange. Made the sauce with them, held perfect for two hours on the line. It's all about the freshness and what the chickens eat. Anyone else notice a huge difference with specific egg sources?

3 comments

3 Comments

rileyjones2mo ago

Yeah, that line about the yolks standing up like little orange domes... that's the whole thing right there. My own attempts with store eggs always ended up with this sad, pale yellow puddle that refused to thicken into anything. I just figured I had the world's worst touch with a whisk. Turns out I was trying to build a house with wet cardboard.

jakep242mo ago

You've hit on something real there. It's the same reason my poached eggs from the store never hold a shape. The farm fresh yolks have a thicker, richer quality that just binds better. I had a neighbor with backyard chickens and the difference in cooking was night and day. It makes you realize how much we've lost with industrial food. Your Vermont trip sounds like it solved a years long kitchen mystery.

robinson.holly2mo ago

My neighbor's farm eggs have yolks that stand up like little orange domes. The store ones just run all over the pan no matter how fresh the date says. That thickness is the whole game for poaching.