This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...
To find out more...
Egg yolks and caster sugar
We often come across recipes where we need to mix egg yolks with caster sugar.
This would appear to be a very ordinary and simple thing to do but, be warned, these two ingredients can behave oddly together.
This would appear to be a very ordinary and simple thing to do but, be warned, these two ingredients can behave oddly together.
Last modified on: February 15th 2018
Egg yolks and caster sugar
Let’s take confectioner's custard (crème pâtissière, or french pastry cream) as an example: there’s a stage at which the egg yolks are mixed with the sugar. Is there anything particularly difficult about this? Not really. We mix the yolks and sugar together (without whisking) and that’s all, but there’s an important little tip well worth knowing. You might be tempted to separate the egg yolks from the whites and simply tip them into the weighed-out sugar, as shown in the photo below. Then why not go off to do something else, such as putting the milk on to heat up, before coming back to the egg yolks and sugar mixture later?
Why not? Because you will regret it if you do! Something starts to happen as soon as the egg yolks come into contact with the sugar. The sugar sucks out the water from the egg yolks (we say that sugar is hygroscopic) and this effectively begins to “cook” the surface of the yolks. The result is patches of hard yolk (like in a hard-boiled egg) which will not mix in when you add the boiling milk. These will remain as small lumps in your custard and spoil its normal smooth, creamy texture.
This might not seem like a big deal, but it happens very rapidly. If the egg yolks and sugar are in contact for longer than a minute, the reaction will begin and little hard lumps will start to develop.
How can we avoid this? It’s really quite simple, and this goes for any recipe involving a mixture of egg yolks and sugar: put the egg yolks into bowl, then add the sugar required and mix immediately with a spoon or, better still, with a soft spatula. Once mixed like this, the mixture can be left until later without any problem.
As a precaution, you can do what professional pastry chefs do: 1) make sure you use this method of mixing immediately, 2) strain your mixture of egg yolks+sugar+milk+vanilla+cornflour through a fine sieve when you pour it back into the saucepan. This way, you can be sure that your custard will be perfectly smooth. You might well be surprised by what you see left in the sieve: lumps, milk skin, bits of cooked egg yolk, shreds of vanilla pod…
It is worth mentioning that professional pastry chefs will often strain their cold custard a second time through a very fine sieve before using, to make absolutely sure that the texture is smooth. But maybe that’s going a bit far for us amateurs…
To sum up: A recipe where egg yolks are mixed with sugar? Mix these two together immediately with a soft spatula, then you can safely leave them while you get on with the rest of the recipe.
Why not? Because you will regret it if you do! Something starts to happen as soon as the egg yolks come into contact with the sugar. The sugar sucks out the water from the egg yolks (we say that sugar is hygroscopic) and this effectively begins to “cook” the surface of the yolks. The result is patches of hard yolk (like in a hard-boiled egg) which will not mix in when you add the boiling milk. These will remain as small lumps in your custard and spoil its normal smooth, creamy texture.
This might not seem like a big deal, but it happens very rapidly. If the egg yolks and sugar are in contact for longer than a minute, the reaction will begin and little hard lumps will start to develop.
How can we avoid this? It’s really quite simple, and this goes for any recipe involving a mixture of egg yolks and sugar: put the egg yolks into bowl, then add the sugar required and mix immediately with a spoon or, better still, with a soft spatula. Once mixed like this, the mixture can be left until later without any problem.
As a precaution, you can do what professional pastry chefs do: 1) make sure you use this method of mixing immediately, 2) strain your mixture of egg yolks+sugar+milk+vanilla+cornflour through a fine sieve when you pour it back into the saucepan. This way, you can be sure that your custard will be perfectly smooth. You might well be surprised by what you see left in the sieve: lumps, milk skin, bits of cooked egg yolk, shreds of vanilla pod…
It is worth mentioning that professional pastry chefs will often strain their cold custard a second time through a very fine sieve before using, to make absolutely sure that the texture is smooth. But maybe that’s going a bit far for us amateurs…
To sum up: A recipe where egg yolks are mixed with sugar? Mix these two together immediately with a soft spatula, then you can safely leave them while you get on with the rest of the recipe.
Lasts posts
A little leftover butter
Very often when you're making a cake, your recipe will tell you to melt some butter and mix it into the batter - a classic for cookies, cakes, moelleux and the like. And every time you do this, you'll have to butter the baking tin to prevent the dough from sticking during baking. Naturally,...April 16th 20264955
A tablet holder
Perhaps you too cook by consulting your recipe on a tablet or phone, and putting it down on your worktop? It's practical, but not the best solution. Here's a look at how you can make an inexpensive, almost universal stand.March 14th 20261,3575
Pre-calibrated pastry dough
When making pie dough (shortbread, shortcrust, sweet...), it's always a good idea to make a lot at once, and then divide it into pieces, which you can freeze. I've already pointed out the mistake not to make, which is to form a ball before freezing. It's difficult to roll out afterwards because...March 9th 20261,2405
Butter vs. grease
We often read in a recipe where a pastry is put into a mould that, just before pouring, the mould should be buttered or greased. But what's the difference between these 2 terms?December 1st 20253,2695
Getting out of the fridge early
Very often when you're cooking, you need to take food or preparations out of the fridge, to use them in the recipe in progress. There's nothing tricky about this: you just take them out of the fridge and use them, usually immediately, in the recipe. But is this really a good method?November 24th 20252,1795
Other pages you may also like
What is the difference between bakery and patisserie?
This is a question that you may well have asked yourself and which I will attempt to answer. In France the two trades of "boulangerie" (bakery) and "pâtisserie" (patisserie and confectionery) have always been quite distinct, but where exactly do the boundaries lie? .February 7th 2017136 K 14.2
Kitchen ovens
You certainly have one in your kitchen, an oven, the essential tool for all kinds of cooking, whether in the kitchen of course, but also in pastry, bakery, pizza, and many others. Here is some information on its structure and operation.May 16th 202035 K4.4
Should I believe my oven?
Can you really trust your oven? This is an important question as we are always tempted to take the temperature indicated as gospel truth and, unfortunately, this is rarely very precise. .July 4th 201134 K4.6
Candied fruits: don't get ripped off
Do you like candied fruit? You might like to nibble a handful or add it to a recipe, like a classic fruit cake or delicious Italian specialities like panettone or sicilian epiphany pie.June 21th 201770 K 24.2
The beautiful story of the croissants
As you may have already noticed, cooking, baking and pastry-making are full of stories or legends, usually very romantic, about this or that product or recipe. This is often the case for named recipes, for example tarte tatin, peach melba, paris-brest and many others, but it also applies to very...October 10th 201821 K5
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.
The 2 comments already posted on this