Licking the spoon

@Thomas,

mmmmmmm wouldn't pasteuring an egg sort of make it not raw? which would sort of defeat the purpose of using raw egg

@ehBeth,

No -- that's what pasteurizing means, and what requires this very narrow temperature range of 162-166 F. Lower than 162, and you're not getting rid of the bacteria. Higher than 166, and you will un-raw-ify the egg. (There must be a better verb than this, but I can't think of it at the moment.)

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@Thomas,

it seems like you'd be poaching the egg at that kind of temperature

you don't want it getting much above room temp, if that

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@Wy,

Wy wrote:

Yes. And the chocolate cake batter. And a homemade eggnog. (Egg, milk, sugar, nutmeg or cinnamon, blender/mixer/fork, drink up!) The problem isn't in the raw egg itself, it's salmonella bacteria on the outside of the shell, which gets transferred in when you crack the egg. So wash the egg first, and lick away!

This is nonsense. Salmonella is indeed inside the egg, and the only sure way to avoid it is to cook it until ALL the liquid is gone. You shouldn't make **** up to answer health questions.

Odds are the kids won't get it, and won't really be harmed by it if they do. I wouldn’t worry about any kid older than 5. Frankly, she's more likely to get it handling a reptile than from an egg.

1 egg in 20,000 has salmonella, most strains of salmonella are harmless and very few people who get it are sick for more than a couple days.

Conversely, most reptiles carry salmonella. Hand washing after handling them is a must.

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@Thomas,

Thomas wrote:

No -- that's what pasteurizing means, and what requires this very narrow temperature range of 162-166 F. Lower than 162, and you're not getting rid of the bacteria. Higher than 166, and you will un-raw-ify the egg. (There must be a better verb than this, but I can't think of it at the moment.)

Cook?

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@OCCOM BILL,

I kind of associate "cook" with boiling water.

According to a quick Google search, the right temperature for pasteurization varies. For eggs, it's 52 degrees Celsius (126 Fahrenheit), which might meet Beth's criterion of "not much above room temperature".

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@DrewDad,

One can?

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Ooh thanks!

We made a passel of cookies (with raw eggs in the dough) a couple of days ago. She licked spoons. I judiciously tasted the dough before baking to make sure everything was fine and we didn't forget any ingredients (ahem).

Later that night, I had a raging tummy ache. She developed one a bit after I did. The cookie dough tasted fine at the time, nothing obviously wrong with the eggs.

E.G., our control (no raw cookie dough, same dinner), was fine.

The tummy aches weren't great but weren't terrible, especially in the sense that nothing bad came of hers (didn't lead to barfing, just "offness" for a while). She is supremely suggestive when it comes to this stuff -- as in, there is some possibility that only one of the tummy aches (mine) was caused by anything we ate.

The baked cookies seemed totally fine.

I'm trying to figure out if this was a coincidence or if I should be way more careful about giving her unbaked cookie dough (and having it myself).

Seems opinion is somewhat mixed thus far...

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Oh dear.
If I lick another freaking spoon Im going to die of dough overdose.
One happy death I tell ya :0)

We lick em alright. I deliberately leave little chunks in the bowl too because it is just goooooooooood.

I know there are dangers, but honestly I have never worried about it. My kitchen is not messy enough to where I would leave raw egg on my counter to warm to room temperature and fester with anything. I dont leave my eggs out either for days on end and I know that sawww-manilla how ever you spell that, is found in our bodies. We actually do not react to the majority of strains out there because they are not dangerous to us. And if eggs really were deadly? And infected eggs that common? Just like those cribs where babies get their heads caught, they would be pulled from the shelf. That is too big of a law suit for anyone to want to contend with. That does not make all eggs 100% safe, but that makes ME not worry about every egg every where every time.
Anything raw, left to warm at room temperature and fester can cause one to get sick. Most of the chemicals in our foods are hurting us more than any egg would. I really have not thought to ever say no.

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No festering here. Out of fridge to licking the spoon was maybe 20 minutes.

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People....

Have you not heard of Egg Beaters?
Can be used in anything where raw eggs are required.

1/4 cup = 1 egg

I use it all the time making banana bread, and gladly lick the spoon.

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@sozobe,

I think it all comes down to your understanding and tolerance for risk. There is a very small chance of becoming ill from licking the spoon. Someone posted 1 in 20,000 and that sounds about right. I've heard lower. If you become ill, there is a small chance that the illness will be serious. Like everything in life, there is a risk and you have to balance the expected pleasure (from spoon licking - very, very high) with the risk and decide if you are willing to go there. I let my children lick the spoon. A risk free life is also one without joy.

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@chai2,

Egg Beaters are a "pasteurized egg product".

http://www.dietfacts.com/html/nutrition-facts/egg-beaters-pasteurized-egg-product-99percent-real-eggs-cholesterol-free-fat-free-48179.htm

I've got some to take to work to make omelettes in a cup in an emergency.

They're a bit of a <shrug> for me as I find they're flavourless - ok in a recipe, but not as "egg".

I wonder if it's the processing/pasteurization that takes away the egg taste.

cheese slices/cheese whiz = pasteurized cheese product
egg beaters = pasteurized egg product

all fine for starving to death in a blizzard but I prefer the taste of real unpasteurized eggs and cheese

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@shewolfnm,

My concern is that one never knows what happened to the egg up to the point one buys it.

Have you ever been to the store at midnight when they're restocking the shelves? Frozen foods on the floor, all down the frozen food aisle.

I understand that contaminated eggs are supposedly very rare. On the other hand, the negative effects of having a violently ill child are pretty severe.

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@engineer,

engineer wrote:

I think it all comes down to your understanding and tolerance for risk. There is a very small chance of becoming ill from licking the spoon. Someone posted 1 in 20,000 and that sounds about right. I've heard lower. If you become ill, there is a small chance that the illness will be serious. Like everything in life, there is a risk and you have to balance the expected pleasure (from spoon licking - very, very high) with the risk and decide if you are willing to go there. I let my children lick the spoon. A risk free life is also one without joy.

I agree completely with this. With a little planning, however, one can eliminate the risk entirely, and still have the pleasure.

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@DrewDad,

Best if you can pick up eggs from a farm yourself. Get 'em, use 'em within a week or two - they don't even need to be refrigerated.

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@ehBeth,

I agree, if one is making an omelet.

When baking cookies, though, I can't really taste the egg flavor, so (for me) there's no downside to using pasteurized egg products.

(I edited out the part about souffle's. I never make souffle's, and I have no idea why I put it in there to begin with. How pretentious am I?)

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@DrewDad,

DrewDad wrote:

I agree completely with this. With a little planning, however, one can eliminate the risk entirely, and still have the pleasure.

Of course taking reasonable precautions always makes sense.

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@engineer,

My choices about this may change when my kids are 16 and 14 instead of 6 and 4....

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@DrewDad,

I think that's part of the problem. Most of us are used to fairly bland, tasteless store-bought eggs. So it's not a big step to using a pasteurized egg product when baking.

Good, farm-fresh eggs - where the chickens have had a good, mixed diet - they have a distinct flavour that comes out in something like a pound cake.

Remember the thread where people talked about how different farm-fresh eggs look and taste? it has an effect down the cooking chain.

<shrug> it depends on how you feel about your food and its sources.

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Licking the spoon

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