Baking and Boiling Methods of Preparing Eggs

Cooking Methods for Eggs

Cooking is a means of making food ready to be consumed. There are different ways of cooking food such as eggs. For example, hard boiled eggs, soft boiled, hard scrambled, soft scrambled, omelets, scrambles and hashes, over easy, over medium and over hard among others. This report seeks to identify how eggs are prepared using boiling and baking methods and the changes that occurs during the period of preparing the eggs. A 30-minute experiment conducted in the kitchen is used to compile this report. Each method has been allocated 15 minutes each to observe the key changes during the experiment.

Effects of Heat on Proteins

When proteins are heated, their original structure is broken down into molecules that can be easily absorbed in the body. Heating also causes a change in the normal functional of proteins. This can be observed from the changes that occur when dairy products are heated. It can be established that exposure of such food items to heat will reduce their solubility in water (Zayas 38). When dairy products are heated during manufacturing, they can lose their functionality thus hindering the production of desired products (Yazdi & Corredig 1445). However, the nutritional value of the food does not change due to exposure to heat. Another effect is that heating increases the capacity of proteins to hold water, thus continued exposure results in more moisture content in the food product. This property is essential in some food items like yogurt because it helps in maintaining the proper texture.

Exposure of Proteins to Heat

Exposure of proteins to constant heat facilitates denaturation. As a result, long chains of amino acids are broken into smaller pieces with less complexity. In terms of colour, scientific experiments have established that heating transforms proteins to a yellow colour. It is explained that exposure of protein to heat stimulates a Maillard reaction in some items like meat. This reaction destroys particular enzymes that existed before the heating process was started. Hence the cause of a browning effect of meat and steak whenever the product is subjected to intense heat (Zilic 4). In this experiment, eggs were exposed to heat through baking and boiling. In both instances, the white part of the egg transformed to become tender while the yolk changed colour from yellow and become brown. This is a justification to the above scientific conclusions.

Difference between Convective Heat Flow in Water and Air

Convective heat flow involves the transmission of heat from one point to another. The process is usually facilitated through conduction and advection (Bergman & Incropera 62). When water is heated, the molecules are set in constant vibration thus forcing them to move in different direction. In water, convectional currents are initiated where the heated molecules become less dense and move to the top as the dense and cold molecules move downwards. Similar currents can be observed when heating air molecules. The most notable difference is that air molecules are more vibrant and lighter than water. Therefore the process of heat transfer can be faster achieved in a medium filled with air. It has also been established that heat transmission through conduction is more effective in water because the molecules are closely packed. On the other hand, advection is mostly applicable during the transfer of heat in air due to the dispersed nature of molecules.

Difference between Baking and Convective Heat Flow

In the first experiment, baked eggs become hard cooked in a high temperature. In the first 15 minutes, the heat source becomes intense and results to notable and observable features in the egg appearance. The white part of the egg becomes tender while the yolk has little or no grey color at its edges (Shin, Han & Ahn 111). The shell is ready to be cracked after the entire period of the experiment. An observable yellow color on the yolks is worth noting. On the part of boiling, the temperatures increases and the changes are equally notable on the egg. Boiling requires direct convectional heat transfer. Baking on the other hand requires use of prolonged heat which is dry mainly in an oven (Shin, Han & Ahn 98). The basic source of this heat is through a radiation transfer. Convection of the air aids in increase of cooking times through the fans in the oven.

Conclusion

As seen in this report, there are various ways of cooking and preparing eggs. It is clearly evident that the use of baking as a method in preparing eggs requires a radiation as a medium of heat transfer. It makes the eggs to be hard and results to notable changes in the event of undertaking the experiment. Equally, in the use of boiling as a method of preparing eggs in the kitchen involves the convection transfer of heat and makes the eggs a bit soft. Heat makes protein become brown and equally breaks the normal structure of proteins. However, heating of food items does not result in the loss of any nutritional value even though it brings a browning effect on proteins. It has been also observed that convective heat transfer is effective in both air and water through mechanisms such as conduction and advection.

Works Cited

Bergman, Theodore L., and Frank P. Incropera. Introduction to heat transfer. John Wiley & Sons, 2011.

Shin, Meeyong, Youngshin Han, and Kangmo Ahn. “The influence of the time and temperature of heat treatment on the allergenicity of egg white proteins.” Allergy, asthma & immunology research 5.2 (2013): 96-101.

Yazdi, S. Rahimi, and M. Corredig. “Heating of milk alters the binding of curcumin to casein micelles. A fluorescence spectroscopy study.” Food chemistry 132.3 (2012): 1143-1149.

Zayas, J. F. Functionality of proteins in food. Springer Science & Business Media. (2012).

Žilić, Slađana, et al. “Effects of isolation, enzymatic hydrolysis, heating, hydratation and Maillard reaction on the antioxidant capacity of cereal and legume proteins.” Food research international 49.1 (2012): 1-6.