For Green Leaves

Seperate Eggs With a Cocktail Strainer

The post title says it all: use a cocktail strainer to seperate eggs.

But this is a blog, not graffiti, so perhaps I should expand my thoughts.

I hate seperating eggs. It's why I never make waffles. But I have been getting better at it, at least, I think I have been. Every time I think I have it, I suffer the worst egg-seperation known to Man, and I give in.

But my eldest child loves fried eggs, but hates the yolks. So if I don't seperate them, they complain -- and I don't want my kids complaining about the food I cook them (they can complain about my partner's food!)

So I came across the idea of using a cocktail strainer to seperate them after watching a YouTube video (that looked  and sounded suspiciously like AI) which had a fancy little tool to seperate the eggs. I don't need another tool, and I already have a perfectly beautiful and functional cocktail strainer in the cupboard, already.

The first result was a mess. It just went straight through and I pretty much  had to make an omelet. So I had to go back and think about my method and  I have come up with one that is pretty fool-proof. 

Just in case you don't know what a cocktail strainer is, it is a little tool that you hold inside a glass when you are pouring a fruity cocktail from one glass to another. It has a little spring wound around the edge to act as a seal, and it has a few gaps at the base to allow liquid to pass through, but not pulp and pips and skin and anything else that might have been blended up in your cocktail.

I'd add a picture, but I want this to be a 'link free blog' where it is just text. You can google it. I'm sure you'll find an image. You probably have one at the back of your cupboard.

The method is very simple. You need:

  1. A coffee cup or mug.
  2. A small bowl.
  3. A butter knife.
  4. A cocktail strainer.
  5. Eggs!

Crack the eggs on the rim of the coffee mug. Yes, I know, I know -- you may get bits of shell this way; but I find if you crack it hard enough you really don't. (If you do get shell, use part of the remaining egg shell to scoop it out of the mug. I don't know why it works, but it does.)

Dump the entire egg into the mug. The yolk should stay in one  piece. If it splits, you will have to start again.

I find cracking the egg directly into the mug is the best way to make sure the yolk doesn't split. As long as you don't crack the eggs so hard that you cleave it in two, you should be fine.

Put the cocktail strainer into the bowl at an angle. I rest the handle against the rim of the bowl and it just lies at the base. Make sure the spring is pointing upwards, as this will hold the yolk.

Pour the entire contents of the mug into the centre of the strainer, so the yolk is caught by the springs. Let the egg white do what it needs to do. It should run off.

Dump the egg yolk wherever you want to. We often keep them for custard or something else that needs egg yolks. 

To be honest, most of the time we give them to the cat, but the little feline seems to like egg shells more than actual eggs.

Crack another egg and repeat the process.

Now, sometimes the egg white doesn't want to leave the yolk. I am sure there is a method involved to do this but I haven't got it yet. You'll pick up the strainer and the egg yolk hangs down like snot fingers. But the yolk is still in one piece.

This is where the butter knife comes in. Just wipe it across  the base. You'll get most of the egg white (if not all) and the rest isn't worth worrying about.

And there you have it. A simple way to seperate  eggs... And I don't even like eggs!