The Secret To Separating Eggs You'll Wish You Knew Sooner

The ancient riddle "which came first: the chicken or the egg?" may seem insignificant when dealing with the stress of separating eggs without making a mess. Imagine trying to separate eggs and thinking, "Maybe eggs existed before chickens did." No one does that. But anyone trying to make cute heart-shaped macarons, heavenly angel food cake, or anything with egg whites knows that the struggle of separating the whites from the yolk is as real as it gets. 

But we're not running away from the somewhat frustrating task because we know that egg whites are incredibly nutritious and make some genuinely luscious desserts. Also, there are many amazing ways to use leftover egg whites that may leave us deliberately separating more eggs than needed. But if you don't have an egg separating gadget, a little bit of creativity, practice, and patience can help you complete the chore with ease.

Using two halves of an eggshell to get perfectly separated egg whites or yolks is a tense experience. After all, there isn't a solid backup plan if a broken yolk leaks into the bowl of egg whites. But there's an easy hack that can prevent that from happening and make the overall venture so hassle-free, you may find time to contemplate the "chicken or the egg" debate.

Most of us have been separating eggs wrong our whole lives. Separating eggs when they are cold works like a charm and prevents the yolk from breaking. That's because the whites and yolks hold their shape better when the egg is cold, compared to room temperature eggs (via Fine Cooking). But if you're making something that requires beating the egg whites, as in the case of soufflés, it would be best to leave the separated clear liquid at room temperature for 15 minutes first. Doing this will ensure that the egg whites have a better viscosity, which increases the liquid's original volume and helps give a better puff and structure to the recipe.

You can also separate the surprisingly delicate yolk with your hands. Simply crack one egg into one hand and let the whites slip through your fingers. Make sure your fingers are apart enough to allow only the whites to slip through easily (via MasterClass). And if you don't want to get your hands dirty, you can always try making an easy DIY egg separator that only requires a clean plastic water bottle.

If any of these methods fail to provide eggs-quisite results (we highly doubt they will), just egg-nore them and try this egg-ceptional three-bowl egg separating trick. Well, that's enough egg puns for today.