The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 136

Salt affects eggs by weakening the magnetic attraction that yolk proteins have for one another (yes, egg proteins do find each other attractive) Egg yolks are comprised of millions of tiny balloons filled with water, protein, and fat These balloons are too small to see with the naked eye, but they are large enough to prevent light from passing through them Salt breaks these spheres up into even tinier pieces, allowing light to pass through, so the salted eggs turned translucent What does this mean for the way they cook? To find out, I cooked three batches of eggs side by side, noting their finished texture SALTING TIMING RESULTS 15 minutes The least watery and the most tender, with prior to cooking moist, soft curds Just before cooking Moderately tender and not watery Toward the end of cooking Toughest of the three, with a tendency to weep liquid onto the plate Turns out that salt can have quite a drastic effect on how eggs cook When eggs cook and coagulate, the proteins in the yolks pull tighter and tighter together as they get hotter When they get too tight, they begin to squeeze liquid out from the curds, resulting in eggs that weep in a most embarrassing manner Adding salt to the eggs well before cooking can prevent the proteins from bonding too tightly by reducing their attraction to one another, resulting in a more tender curd and less likelihood of unattractive weeping Adding salt immediately before cooking helps, but to get the full effect, the salt must have time to dissolve and become evenly ... eggs cook and coagulate, the proteins in the yolks pull tighter and tighter together as they get hotter When they get too tight, they begin to squeeze liquid out from the curds, resulting in eggs...prior to cooking moist, soft curds Just before cooking Moderately tender and not watery Toward the end of cooking Toughest of the three, with a tendency to weep liquid onto the plate Turns out that salt can have quite a drastic effect... most embarrassing manner Adding salt to the eggs well before cooking can prevent the proteins from bonding too tightly by reducing their attraction to one another, resulting in a more tender curd