Steer Clear Of These Egg Cooking Mistakes To Stay Safe

Eggs are delicious (albeit pricey, as you may be paying more for eggs at restaurants and grocery stores these days) and, unless you're following a vegan lifestyle, you probably always have a dozen eggs in your fridge, at the ready, for whenever a craving strikes. Whether you prefer them scrambled, sunny side-up, poached, baked into a quiche, or even simply folded into a favorite baking project, eggs are a staple. However, this staple does come with risks, namely in the form of salmonella.

Time for some harsh (and icky) truths: Salmonella is spread when the eggshells come into contact with infected bird droppings. Chickens carrying the bacteria can also contaminate their eggs before the shells are formed. Salmonella can cause gastrointestinal distress and may require antibiotic treatments, and certain individuals can become extremely ill or even die after a salmonella infection if they're part of a high-risk group. Luckily, while salmonella is easily spread to eggs, it's also easy to avoid when you take the right precautions and fully cook your eggs.

It's not just salmonella you need to worry about, though. Cooking eggs using somewhat risky methods can also cause bodily injury, fires, and other hazards. Here are the egg cooking mistakes you'll want to steer clear of in order to stay safe.

The risks from egg cooking-related mistakes begin before you even buy your eggs. It starts when you're at your local grocery store, staring down at the egg options. You should definitely open your carton of eggs to check whether any are cracked. Buying cracked eggs means you're not getting what you paid for. That's because cracked eggs are unusable. They should be tossed out.

Additionally, you want to look for eggs that are clean. Remember, salmonella equals bird droppings, so if you see bird droppings on your eggs (rare these days but not out of the question), you probably want to steer clear of them. If you get your eggs home and do see droppings or debris that you didn't notice initially, wash the eggs in their shells individually in hot water rather than cold, but do not soak them; soap is okay to use. After washing the eggs, disinfect your sink and surrounding surfaces. Lastly, if the seller is not refrigerating the eggs, the Food and Drug Administration recommends that you avoid buying them.

Once you get your carefully inspected eggs home from the grocery store, it's important that you store them properly so they remain safe until you're ready to cook them. Always store eggs in the refrigerator, and ensure your fridge is set to a temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit or less. Get those eggs into the fridge as quickly as possible after leaving the store. 

After purchase, use eggs within three weeks. To avoid potential spread of salmonella on the eggshells to other items in your fridge, keep the eggs stored in their original carton rather than a separate container. Don't think you'll use all of your eggs within three weeks? You can freeze them, and they'll last for a year. However, don't freeze eggs in their shells. Instead, crack them open, whisk them, and freeze them in an air-tight container. You can also freeze egg whites separately.

Remember that eggs you buy with cracked shells are unusable. You shouldn't cook them under any circumstances. This is because if there's any salmonella lurking on the eggshell when the egg becomes cracked, that salmonella can make its way into the egg's interior — where you'll then eat it and potentially grow ill. One study from Canada published in the International Journal of Food Microbiology found that the likelihood of a salmonella outbreak after eating an egg that had a cracked shell is up to 93 times higher than when using whole, uncracked eggs.

What if you have accidentally cracked an egg but don't want to eat it yet? Don't worry. You don't have to throw that egg out. You can store it in an air-tight container and use it in the next two days. There are plenty of things you can make with just one egg, from small portions of baked goods to dishes that require an egg binder, such as meatloaf or meatballs.

Social media cooking trends come and go at rapid pace, and while many lead to lackluster dishes that never look as good as they do online, other trends can actually be dangerous. Such is the case with a trending egg-cooking hack that popped up on social media last year.

The hack supposedly produces hard-boiled eggs with a creamier texture. It calls for placing a moist kitchen towel directly onto your preheated oven's baking rack and then setting the eggs atop the towel. Then you let them bake. Once they are done, you lift them from the oven using the towel and place them in an ice bath. The problem with this hack? You really shouldn't put flammable items in your oven. While you may get lucky and the towel comes out unscathed, this hack is not worth the risk. There are many, much safer methods to hard-boil an egg.

You might know that you shouldn't overcrowd a pan when sauteing vegetables or meat, as it can lead to your food taking longer to cook or cooking unevenly. That's because the heat can't equally distribute when the food is crowded or in piles. However, when you're boiling something, you rarely think about this. Often, it's first nature to just toss whatever you're boiling right into the water in a giant heap, whether it's vegetables, pasta, or, in this case, eggs.

Unfortunately, though, if you overcrowd your pot when hard-boiling eggs, you could see the same thing happen. The eggs do not cook evenly. Since you can't check the doneness of hard-boiled eggs before you peel and cut into them, at which point it's too late to cook them further, you may end up with some eggs that are cooked to perfection and others that are woefully undercooked. If hard-boiled eggs are not cooked until they are fully solid all the way through, they may still contain salmonella, which could cause illness.

Let's say that you hard-boiled your eggs correctly and safely — are you in the clear from salmonella and any other hazards that lurk? Not exactly. You'll also need to take care to not leave your hard-boiled eggs sitting in water for too long once they are done cooking. While you may think that the water will keep the eggs warm until you use them later in the day, this could be risky.

Once your boiled eggs have stopped cooking, they begin to cool off. If they cool off enough, dropping beneath 140 degrees Fahrenheit, they'll enter the danger zone — and that's where bacteria can quickly begin to grow, even on hard-boiled eggs. As such, if your hard-boiled eggs sit in their cooling water for two hours or more, play it safe and throw them out. You should store your uneaten hard-boiled eggs as quickly as possible after they're cooked. The best way to store leftover, still-in-shell hard-boiled eggs is to quickly cool them in water, dry them off, and put them in an air-tight container in the fridge.

You know to check the internal temperature of your Thanksgiving turkey or your summertime steak on the grill, but should you really pull out the food thermometer anytime you're cooking eggs? If you're worried about whether or not your eggs are truly done and whether they're safe to eat, then yes. You should definitely check your eggs' internal temperature before chowing down.

After cooking, eggs should have an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit. This will typically require you to cook the eggs at 160 degrees Fahrenheit for two continuous minutes, after which point the egg whites and yolks will both be entirely firm and done. This temperature and length of time has been shown to completely destroy salmonella, allowing you to eat your eggs with confidence. Beyond checking regular eggs for this desired temperature, you should also similarly be checking egg-containing or egg-coated items, such as French toast, quiche, or breakfast casseroles.

If you're frying an egg the traditional way, you'll flip the egg at some point in the cooking process so that you can cook both the egg white and yolk to your desired level of doneness. However, you may be tempted to cook a sunny side up egg until it has no raw whites, leaving the yolk runny. For a fully cooked, fully safe egg, though, you do need to fry both sides until the whites are completely set and the yolks thicken and set, too. If you don't let the yolk harden, then your eggs may be risky to eat, particularly for certain people.

If you struggle to flip an egg and always end up with a broken mess of white and runny yolk, there are a few things you can do to make the job easier and keep your fried egg intact. For starters, ensure that you're using a non-stick pan and that you've added some sort of lubricant to that pan, such as butter, oil, or non-stick spray. Then be sure to flip the egg with an appropriately sized spatula. A smaller spatula results in breakage, so go big or go home.

If you want a hard-boiled egg but you don't want to wait for water to boil or if you don't have access to a stovetop, you may get the idea in your head to simply pop the egg into the microwave. However, this is a big no-no. Microwaving an egg in its shell causes steam to build up beneath the shell, which, with enough time, will cause the egg to explode. At best, you'll have a nice, messy surprise when you open up the microwave. At worst, the egg won't explode until after you open the microwave, sending shards of steaming hot eggshells and egg all over your kitchen — and you — when you least expect it.

Even cooking an egg without its shell in the microwave comes with a risk of explosion if steam builds up in an unbroken egg yolk. If you must cook an egg in the microwave, always whisk the egg thoroughly first. You also have the option of buying kitchen gadgets — like this Eggpod by Emson — that's made specifically to cook hard-boiled eggs in the microwave.

When you think of a poached egg, you might imagine a runny yolk. However, poached doesn't have to equal raw. In fact, for safety reasons, you should poach your eggs until the yolks start to become firm. If they're not completely firm, avoid serving them to high-risk individuals.

Perfectly poached eggs take practice. If you're poaching eggs in simmering water, be sure they cook for at least five minutes. If you're cooking the eggs in a pan with specially made poaching inserts, let the eggs cook for at least six to nine minutes. While some sources endorse pre-cooking poached eggs in large batches and then reheating them right before serving, this isn't advised, as it can be difficult to heat a poached egg so that it's safe to eat without overcooking it.

If you hate the thought of eggs Benedict with a decidedly un-runny egg, you may want to avoid this dish altogether. Beyond the poached egg, there's also the hollandaise sauce with its raw egg base to worry about.

While scrambled eggs seem fairly simple, there are many ways you can mess them up. One thing that many try to avoid when scrambling eggs is cooking them too long and drying them out. However, if you don't cook your eggs long enough and find yourself with loose, watery scrambled eggs, your eggs could be undercooked and, thus, not safe for everyone to eat. Scrambled eggs should be cooked until they're completely firm.

So how do you manage to ensure your scrambled eggs are fully cooked but not overcooked and dry? There are a few extra things you can do beyond serving partially raw eggs. For example, when you whisk up your scrambled eggs, don't just add water to the yolks and whites. Also add some fat, which can help ensure the eggs retain more moisture as they cook. Try incorporating cubed butter, half and half, or cream instead of water. You can also add salt to your raw eggs, which can likewise help the eggs retain more moisture as they cook.

An egg wash can add a golden-brown sheen to your pie crust. It's a must for many baking recipes. Luckily, using an egg wash is pretty safe, too, as the egg cooks while your pastry cooks.

However, make sure that you clean up properly after using an egg wash, or you may inadvertently spread bacteria around your kitchen and to other food. If you used a pastry brush to apply your egg wash, thoroughly clean your pastry brush before using it on any other foods you might be baking. Don't use hot water at first, though. That can actually cause the leftover egg residue stuck between all the brush's fibers to begin to cook, making the egg more difficult to remove. Instead, rinse all the egg off and out of the brush with cold water. Then, when the egg is completely removed, clean the brush with hot water and dish soap.

For certain pies, a meringue topping is a necessity. While making a perfect meringue can require practice, a meringue is, at its heart, pretty simple. It's just egg whites beaten into stiff peaks, with sugar and sometimes acid added. However, even if you've perfected your meringue, crafting beautiful, fluffy toppings for your lemon and lime pies, don't make the mistake of serving a side of salmonella with each pie slice. You have to cook that meringue long enough to kill any bacteria.

While recipes will sometimes tell you to just layer that meringue onto your pie and then bake it until the meringue is golden-brown, there is a minimum amount of time that you need to bake the pie at a certain temperature for safety reasons. Always bake meringue-topped pies at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for at least 15 minutes. You can always bake the pie for longer, if this doesn't result in the color you want, but don't bake the meringue for less than this or at a lower temperature.

Some pie recipes, such as those for chiffon pies, call for using raw eggs, but then you don't actually bake the pie, so the raw eggs ... well, stay raw. These pies can be risky as a result, but the good news is you don't have to forgo them altogether. Instead, just replace the raw egg whites in the recipe with another ingredient.

For example, you can use pasteurized dried egg whites or even whipped cream in place of the raw egg whites. In pie recipes like these, the egg whites add a particularly fluffy, light texture, so whipped cream can help replicate that without any risk of food-borne illness.

If you do make a pie with raw eggs, whatever you do, don't let that pie sit out of the refrigerator for too long. Raw eggs and any items containing raw eggs should be refrigerated as soon as possible and stay refrigerated as much as possible to ensure safety.

If you have eggs left over from breakfast or a slice of frittata that you brought home from brunch, you may want to reheat those eggs at a later date. Don't assume, though, that just because the eggs were safe to eat the first time around that they'll be safe to eat the second time around.

Leftover eggs and egg-based dishes should be refrigerated in an air-tight container. You should use them within four days (unless you're specifically dealing with hard-boiled, in-shell eggs, which can keep for about a week in the fridge). When you're ready to eat your leftover eggs, be sure to properly reheat them. It's time to break out the cooking thermometer. Your leftover egg dishes should reach a temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit or hotter.

That said, reheating egg dishes too quickly or at too high a temperature can lead to dry eggs. If you're reheating them in the microwave, do so in short bursts. If you're reheating on the stovetop, do so slowly and add some extra fat such as butter to the eggs.

While there are many risky behaviors to avoid if you want to ensure that you won't come down with a case of food poisoning, it is worth noting that certain types of food poisoning are fairly rare, even when you eat runny eggs. According to a study published by the scholarly journal Foods, salmonella is one of the most globally documented causes of food poisoning and the second most common source of food poisoning in the United States, with 20% of the country's salmonella cases stemming from poultry and poultry products. The study also noted that salmonella contamination affects only about 0.005% of U.S. industrially processed eggs.

That said, while the risk is low, it can be exceptionally dangerous for some people. Certain individuals are more likely to become seriously ill from salmonella, including children younger than age 5, those older than age 65, and those with weakened immune systems. If you're serving any of these individuals, you should take particular caution when cooking eggs.