Egg Cream/ Germ-a-phob Question

[DaMomma]

[size="3"]Okay, I've read all these amazing Egg Cream recipes and can't wait to try them. I love eggs, yet the thought of drinking raw eggs freaks me out. Do ya'll really put them in your drinks. I know not all of the recipes call for eggs, I just think the idea is a great one for the added protein.

I need some moral support here if I'm going to try this...:

[jenna...]

I use two raw eggs in my egg cream each morning. It's good and creamy and no hint of the taste of eggs raw or otherwise.

[Kisal]

You can buy sterilized egg yolks and eggs whites. They're packaged separately, though, not as "whole eggs." The store where I shop stocks them right along with the EggBeaters. I believe it says on the cartons how much to use to equal one whole egg.

[kirax2]

I have read on this board that the chances of getting sick - not dying, just getting sick - from eating a raw egg are about one in thirty thousand. If this is true, I take a much greater risk getting in my car to go to work every day than I do by drinking my morning shake. Should I stop driving?

Tips:
1. Buy organic, cage free eggs if at all possible. Even better is if you can find a local person that raises chickens and sells the eggs. I live in Southern California, and was recently lucky enough to find just such a person down the street from me. I know his eggs are very fresh and feel very secure eating raw eggs I purchase from him. But even if you have to buy the ones you find at the grocery store, you should be fine if you go with organic ones. I can't afford to buy everything organic, but eggs are one thing I'm willing to pay a little extra for - it's worth it for the peace of mind IMO. Besides, I can really taste the difference (when I cook them - raw they don't have much of a taste).
2. Buy the freshest eggs you can, but don't stress too hard if you've had them in the fridge for a week. I buy 2 dozen at a time from my egg guy, and it takes me anywhere from 1-3 weeks to use them up, depending on what I'm making.
3. Properly refrigerate your eggs after buying them. Don't leave them in a hot car for a long time, or out on the counter.
4. Never eat raw an egg with a crack in the shell, even a hairline crack.
5. The salmonella will be on the *outside* of the egg, if it is there. Wash your eggs before use with warm water and a little anti-bacterial soap, and you will be fine. Even if you only do these last two things, your chances of getting sick will be virtually zero.

Finally, don't overthink it! Don't hyptonize yourself into feeling sick. Lots and lots and lots of people eat raw eggs every day. I'm fairly new to the egg cream shake myself, but I love it. I'm sure you will too.

-kirax2

[crazywoman-n-wy]

Lot of thread on this forum on this.

And Yes, I do drink raw eggs in drinks, and eat them in ice cream. Have all my life. As did my folks, and theirs, and my in-laws.

And no, I don't buy organic eggs. I just buy eggs.

The study I read (wish I had saved it, but didn't) said one in 80,000 eggs.

As kirax2 said, don't phych yourself into getting sick.

[The Chicken Lady]

Originally Posted by DaMomma

[size="3"]Okay, I've read all these amazing Egg Cream recipes and can't wait to try them. I love eggs, yet the thought of drinking raw eggs freaks me out. Do ya'll really put them in your drinks. I know not all of the recipes call for eggs, I just think the idea is a great one for the added protein.

I need some moral support here if I'm going to try this...:

I’m curious…how do you make your egg cream?

In my day you got an egg cream at the soda fountain in the drug store and it was chocolate milk with seltzer water. It didn’t have any eggs or cream in it.

[crazywoman-n-wy]

Originally Posted by The Chicken Lady

I’m curious…how do you make your egg cream?

In my day you got an egg cream at the soda fountain in the drug store and it was chocolate milk with seltzer water. It didn’t have any eggs or cream in it.

I looked up "egg cream" awhile back, and a "true" egg cream, as you said contains/contained NO eggs, nor usually cream.

[sligh]

I just want you to know you're not alone. I read all those posts on egg creams and while I was intrigued and WANTED to try them, it took many weeks before I got up the nerve. I was so afraid of the taste and texture (more the texture) of eating two raw eggs, but the shakes taste great and the texture is that of a regular shake. No one would ever guess it has raw eggs in it. I started with a pumpkin one and am now hooked on the ones made with coffee. I have them for breakfast now almost every morning and barely give the eggs a thought.

I got through the first one by giving myself permission to throw it out if I didn't like the way it looked. Then I gave myself permission to throw it out if I didn't like the very first small taste. For me, that helped.

[The Chicken Lady]

Originally Posted by sligh

I just want you to know you're not alone. I read all those posts on egg creams and while I was intrigued and WANTED to try them, it took many weeks before I got up the nerve. I was so afraid of the taste and texture (more the texture) of eating two raw eggs, but the shakes taste great and the texture is that of a regular shake. No one would ever guess it has raw eggs in it. I started with a pumpkin one and am now hooked on the ones made with coffee. I have them for breakfast now almost every morning and barely give the eggs a thought.

I got through the first one by giving myself permission to throw it out if I didn't like the way it looked. Then I gave myself permission to throw it out if I didn't like the very first small taste. For me, that helped.

Would you mind posting your recipe for the coffee egg cream?

I’m a coffee freak and I have all these farm fresh eggs right off the presses; I would love to be able to make myself a breakfast frappuccino with them.

[DaMomma]

Excellent information and help. Kirax2, you offered wonderful insight. Thank you! This coffee version is the one I'm anxious to try. Will try tonight and let ya'll know the results.

Egg Cream Frappuccino

3 organic free-range/cage-free eggs (fresh!)
8 oz coffee (brewed strong & chilled overnight - or you can make & use coffee ice cubes!)
1 scoop Jay Robb's whey protein powder (chocolate or vanilla or strawberry)
splash of Torani or DaVinci SF syrup (french vanilla or chocolate or any flavor you like!)
2 Tbsp organic heavy cream
2 Tbsp organic extra virgin coconut oil (melted)

blend/froth eggs first; add cream and blend/froth again
(makes it fluffy!)
add the rest of the ingredients in the order above; add melted CO last

[sligh]

The recipe for Egg Cream Frappuccino in the previous post is the one I use too, although I only use 2 eggs and don't use the coconut oil.

I also meant to thank kirax2 for the excellent advice. Once I understood that I could avoid salmonella by washing the egg first, I felt more comfortable. I get the cage-free organic eggs and wash them and no longer worry about eating raw eggs.

[Kisal]

I have no problem eating raw eggs. I've been eating them all my life -- 63 years. I've gotten sick one time, from an undercooked omelet.

I think that back in the old days, an egg cream might have actually contained a raw egg. I know Orange Juilius' did. The recipe changed when the government started their alert to the "dangers" of eating raw eggs. IMO, though, those dangers are very minimal.

[DaMomma]

I did it!! I just drank the Egg Cream Frap and LOVED it. No weird texture or taste, just YUMMY.

Thanks for all your help. I've found a new breakfast option.

[Houston Heather]

I guess I'm the one in 30,000.

I'm never playing those odds again and my eggs weren't even raw.

[crazywoman-n-wy]

The original "egg cream" was long before Orange Julius or the egg scrare. And it contained no eggs.
There were however a LOT of drinks which did contain raw eggs.

When I was growing up, we drank what we just called "milkshake", which was milk, egg, sugar, and vanilla (basically uncooke eggnog WITHOUT nutmeg). Now alot of people would probably call it an egg cream.

Egg cream
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




The essential components of an Egg Cream: Fox's U-Bet, Seltzer and Whole Milk.


An egg cream is a classic beverage consisting of chocolate syrup, milk, and seltzer (soda water), probably dating from the late 19th century, and is especially associated with Brooklyn, home of its alleged inventor, candy store owner Louis Auster.[1][2] [3]It contains neither eggs nor cream.
The egg cream is almost exclusively a fountain drink; although there have been several attempts to bottle it, none have been wholly successful, as its fresh taste and characteristic head requires mixing of the ingredients just before drinking. The drink could be described as a "poor man's ice cream soda," as it has a similar overall flavor, but traditionally sold for only a slight premium over an ordinary fountain soda. Egg creams are sometimes made with other flavors, especially vanilla or strawberry.

Name
The origin of the name "egg cream" is constantly debated. Stanley Auster, the grandson of the inventor, has been quoted as saying that the origins of the name are lost in time.[4] One commonly accepted origin is that Egg is a corruption of the Yiddish word echt ("genuine" or "real") and this was a "good cream". It may also have been called an "Egg Cream" because in the late 1800s, there were already many chocolate fountain/dessert drinks using actual eggs (e.g. 'Egg Brin'), and Auster wanted to capitalize on the name.
Another explanation comes from reports that it grew out of a request for "chocolat et crème" from someone who had experienced a similar drink in Paris, which name morphed phonetically into the current version. Yet another plausible answer is that the first version did, in fact, use egg and cream, but due to the food limitations in WWII they were dropped from the recipe. One work from 1859, Domestic and rural affairs.: The family, farm and gardens, and the domestic animals, does include a recipe that consists of barely more than these two ingredients:
"Egg-Cream.-To the yolks of three eggs, and a dessertspoonful of good new milk or cream, add two drops of oil of cinnamon. This is a very good nourishing mixture. The oil of cinnamon is cordial and tonic, and the above has been recommended in lung complaints..."[5]
A similar recipe still was cited at the beginning of the 20th century, but had already dropped the cream:
"EGG CREAM.
The yolks of 6 eggs, 1/2 pint of water, juice of 1 lemon, 2 oz. of sifted sugar, a little cinnamon. Beat up all the ingredients, put the mixture into a saucepan over a sharp fire, and whisk it till quite frothy, taking care not to let it boil; fill into glasses and serve at once."[6]
Another from the same year (1915) uses both ingredients, though the intent here seems to be to reinforce whipped egg whites:
"3. EGG CREAM.
2 tablespoons fresh cream, the white of 1 egg.
Put the white of egg on to a plate and beat to a stiff froth with the flat of a knife. (A palette knife is the best.) Then beat the cream into it. This makes a nourishing dressing for either vegetable salad or fruitsalad. Especially suitable for invalids and persons of weak digestion."[7]
This supports another likely explanation for the name, which relates to the fact that the term "egg cream" was a very common term in the past (especially in the United States) for beaten egg whites, and the foam on the top of the beverage resembles these.

A New York Egg Cream.

In popular culture

In popular culture, the egg cream is often used to evoke a New York atmosphere, as something New Yorkers would typically drink, as something expatriate New Yorkers would particularly miss, or as something completely alien to people not from New York.
In the movie Kramer vs Kramer, Ted Kramer said to his son, that in his day "we had egg cremes which is a little bit of chocolate syrup, a little bit of seltzer water, and a little milk it tates delicous!"
In the children's book Harriet the Spy, set in New York, Harriet orders a chocolate egg cream at a luncheonette. In Spike Lee's film Jungle Fever, egg creams are ordered frequently at Paulie Carbone's candy store in Bensonhurst. In an episode of Who's the Boss, Tony Micelli, an Italian-American from Brooklyn, makes egg creams. In an episode of Hey Arnold! a millionaire loves egg cream so much that he has an egg cream dispensing robot named Mr. Egg Cream. On the long-running children's television program Sesame Street, which is set in New York, Hooper's Store offers egg creams for 25¢.
Jimmy Luxury's I Love Life features a woman reminiscing about the good old days when they used to "..drink egg creams and look at the boom boxes." In William Goldman's novel Marathon Man, Babe longs for an egg cream so much that he leaves his flat, where he is supposed to be hiding from potential attackers. In the film Squirm, a New Yorker has difficulty ordering an egg cream in a small town in Georgia.
On the television show The West Wing, in a scene that highlights a culture clash between the President's New Hampshire and Toby's Brooklyn, the President drinks an egg cream for the first time: "I know it sounds terrible, but trust me, I don't know where this has been all my life." "It's called an egg cream, Mr. President. We invented it in Brooklyn."
On the television show Homicide: Life on the Street, in season 4, episode 9 Detective Frank Pembleton orders an egg cream and becomes upset when he receives what he dubs "not an egg cream."
After the comic book supervillain Black Adam was captured by Captain Marvel, the magic word that gave him his powers was changed from "Shazam!" to "Chocolate egg cream", a phrase he was considered unlikely ever to utter.
Lou Reed, a New Yorker, wrote a song "Egg Cream" for the album Set the Twilight Reeling.
"When I was a young man, no bigger than this A chocolate egg cream was not to be missed Some U-Bet's Chocolate Syrup, seltzer water mixed with milk Stir it up into a heady fro', tasted just like silk You scream, I scream, We all want Egg Cream"
**************

If you are interested you can do a "google" search for "egg cream", and come up with several "articles" about egg creams and their probable origins.

[theislandgirl]

Originally Posted by kirax2

I have read on this board that the chances of getting sick - not dying, just getting sick - from eating a raw egg are about one in thirty thousand. If this is true, I take a much greater risk getting in my car to go to work every day than I do by drinking my morning shake. Should I stop driving?

Tips:
1. Buy organic, cage free eggs if at all possible. Even better is if you can find a local person that raises chickens and sells the eggs. I live in Southern California, and was recently lucky enough to find just such a person down the street from me. I know his eggs are very fresh and feel very secure eating raw eggs I purchase from him. But even if you have to buy the ones you find at the grocery store, you should be fine if you go with organic ones. I can't afford to buy everything organic, but eggs are one thing I'm willing to pay a little extra for - it's worth it for the peace of mind IMO. Besides, I can really taste the difference (when I cook them - raw they don't have much of a taste).
2. Buy the freshest eggs you can, but don't stress too hard if you've had them in the fridge for a week. I buy 2 dozen at a time from my egg guy, and it takes me anywhere from 1-3 weeks to use them up, depending on what I'm making.
3. Properly refrigerate your eggs after buying them. Don't leave them in a hot car for a long time, or out on the counter.
4. Never eat raw an egg with a crack in the shell, even a hairline crack.
5. The salmonella will be on the *outside* of the egg, if it is there. Wash your eggs before use with warm water and a little anti-bacterial soap, and you will be fine. Even if you only do these last two things, your chances of getting sick will be virtually zero.

Finally, don't overthink it! Don't hyptonize yourself into feeling sick. Lots and lots and lots of people eat raw eggs every day. I'm fairly new to the egg cream shake myself, but I love it. I'm sure you will too.

-kirax2

I'll just add to this one (my pet rule for eggs and other animal products):
6. Get a veggie fed (as in no ground up animal "byproducts" used for protein) egg with no hormones or antibiotics in the feed...who knows where the next "mad critter" disease will come from.

If I can't afford organic (which is ALL of the above, pretty much), I ensure to get cage free and veggie fed.

[The Chicken Lady]

Originally Posted by DaMomma

Excellent information and help. Kirax2, you offered wonderful insight. Thank you! This coffee version is the one I'm anxious to try. Will try tonight and let ya'll know the results.

Egg Cream Frappuccino

3 organic free-range/cage-free eggs (fresh!)
8 oz coffee (brewed strong & chilled overnight - or you can make & use coffee ice cubes!)
1 scoop Jay Robb's whey protein powder (chocolate or vanilla or strawberry)
splash of Torani or DaVinci SF syrup (french vanilla or chocolate or any flavor you like!)
2 Tbsp organic heavy cream
2 Tbsp organic extra virgin coconut oil (melted) blend/froth eggs first; add cream and blend/froth again
(makes it fluffy!)
add the rest of the ingredients in the order above; add melted CO last

Originally Posted by sligh

The recipe for Egg Cream Frappuccino in the previous post is the one I use too, although I only use 2 eggs and don't use the coconut oil.

I also meant to thank kirax2 for the excellent advice. Once I understood that I could avoid salmonella by washing the egg first, I felt more comfortable. I get the cage-free organic eggs and wash them and no longer worry about eating raw eggs.

Thanks !!!!!!

[The Chicken Lady]

Originally Posted by Houston Heather

I guess I'm the one in 30,000.

I'm never playing those odds again and my eggs weren't even raw.

My poor son-in-law has gotten sick twice since the salmonella outbreak from eating fresh stir-fried vegetables from the grocery store. I eat salad all the time and “Knock on Wood” I haven’t gotten sick yet.

They get their eggs from me so they don’t worry that but my daughter has said this is the last straw!!! She’s planting a fall garden and they are going to eat out of their garden and put up their own stuff. In the mean time they buy only frozen vegetables. So far he hasn’t gotten sick on the frozen stuff.

[kirax2]

Originally Posted by DaMomma

I did it!! I just drank the Egg Cream Frap and LOVED it. No weird texture or taste, just YUMMY.

Thanks for all your help. I've found a new breakfast option.

Congratulations! I was never very big on "breakfast shakes" before, but having tried it, I'm a new convert! I love how full I stay throughout the day after drinking my shake in the morning. I'm so glad I was able to help you overcome your fear!

Kisal, I think the reason that the government started regulating the use of raw eggs is because they can't guarantee that restaurants will follow the precautions I mentioned. Improperly stored eggs (i.e. not refrigerated) or cracked eggs are more likely to put you at risk, and I doubt that restaurants wash their eggs before use - so while I think it's too bad that restaurants can't use raw eggs in Caesar salad dressing, at the same time, I'm kind of glad of it. Even if I could, I doubt I would ever buy an egg cream at a restaurant...there's just no guarantee that the eggs would have been properly stored/washed/handled.

Houston Heather, I understand your concern. My husband got really sick after eating some bad eggs in a restaurant several years ago. He didn't get salmonella, thankfully, just some nasty food poisoning that made him utterly miserable for about 24 hours. In no way do I want to belittle your experience, but I want to mention in this thread (for those that might not know this) that you got salmonella after "eating out", not after eating a raw egg at home. (I searched through your old posts to figure this out, so please correct me if I'm wrong about this.) You were in a situation where you were not in control of the preparation of the food; someone else was. I feel very secure eating egg creams because I know that the eggs have been properly refrigerated, that they have no cracks, and that they have been thoroughly washed before being cracked open. I know these things because I make them myself, with my own hands. And even my husband drinks them...and loves them. ^_~

-Janice
aka kirax2

[billgirl]

I have always been careful about not using cracked eggs, but never knew that the Salmonella was on the outside...I guess it makes sense, it's not from the chicken. I will wash my eggs from now on! Thanks
I was just here checking out the info on egg creams that everyone is raving about...
Thanks again

Originally Posted by kirax2

Congratulations! I was never very big on "breakfast shakes" before, but having tried it, I'm a new convert! I love how full I stay throughout the day after drinking my shake in the morning. I'm so glad I was able to help you overcome your fear!

Kisal, I think the reason that the government started regulating the use of raw eggs is because they can't guarantee that restaurants will follow the precautions I mentioned. Improperly stored eggs (i.e. not refrigerated) or cracked eggs are more likely to put you at risk, and I doubt that restaurants wash their eggs before use - so while I think it's too bad that restaurants can't use raw eggs in Caesar salad dressing, at the same time, I'm kind of glad of it. Even if I could, I doubt I would ever buy an egg cream at a restaurant...there's just no guarantee that the eggs would have been properly stored/washed/handled.

Houston Heather, I understand your concern. My husband got really sick after eating some bad eggs in a restaurant several years ago. He didn't get salmonella, thankfully, just some nasty food poisoning that made him utterly miserable for about 24 hours. In no way do I want to belittle your experience, but I want to mention in this thread (for those that might not know this) that you got salmonella after "eating out", not after eating a raw egg at home. (I searched through your old posts to figure this out, so please correct me if I'm wrong about this.) You were in a situation where you were not in control of the preparation of the food; someone else was. I feel very secure eating egg creams because I know that the eggs have been properly refrigerated, that they have no cracks, and that they have been thoroughly washed before being cracked open. I know these things because I make them myself, with my own hands. And even my husband drinks them...and loves them. ^_~

-Janice
aka kirax2

[woogers_1]

What are you all washing your eggs with that will kill salmonilla or any other bacteria?