NEW YORK — If you’re ever at the grocery store and wondering how old the eggs really are in the dairy section, Lisa Steele has a trick. Look for the secret number.
Printed on one end of each carton, you’ll find a three-digit number from 001 to 365, which represents the packaging date. The No. 001 refers to Jan. 1, while No. 365 stands for Dec. 31.
“It’s very sneaky how they do that because they really don’t want you to know how old the eggs are,” says Steele from her home in Maine, where she raises over a dozen chickens, 10 ducks and two geese. “I just envision people everywhere in grocery stores now checking out the egg carton code.”
From her popular blog Fresh Eggs Daily, Steele dispenses plenty of similar tips on egg handling and chicken raising. So this month she delivers a natural extension: a cookbook that showcases the adaptable egg, “The Fresh Eggs Daily Cookbook,” from Harper Horizon, an imprint of HarperCollins.
“I don’t know that there is someone else who raises chickens who has written an egg cookbook,” Steele says. “I do have a different perspective and obviously a lot of eggs.”
The recipes include dishes ranging from breakfast to dessert, including Sweet Potato Sausage Frittata, Deviled Eggs with Avocado Oil and Sage, Bacon and Beet Hash, Egg Yolk Ravioli and Angel Food Cake — plus a Lime Bourbon Sour to wash them down.
Steele notes that the humble egg is very versatile and an inexpensive way to get protein while cutting down on eating red meat. It’s not just for breakfast.
“I think people get into a rut with the scrambled, fried, maybe hard boiled — you forget all the other things that you can do with eggs,” she says. “They’re almost like two ingredients because a yolk is completely different than the white. You can use them together. You can use them separately.”
Some of the more innovative recipes in the book include a Bacon and Egg Pizza with scallions and garlic that you can reheat for breakfast, and an Egg Lemon Soup, which uses chicken stock and rice.
“A fresh egg from a chicken that has been eating bugs and weeds and things just tastes really good on its own,” she says. “But it’s also super neutral, so you can pair it with different spices, or different herbs or different cheeses and come up with a completely different meal.”
Steele thanks her husband in the acknowledgments for “eating way too many eggs on demand” during testing. While perfecting her mini soufflés, she once made 18 in a day until she was happy with it. “The chickens ate a lot of soufflé that day because they got all the disasters,” she says.
Freshness matters, since egg whites thin out as an egg ages, making poaching and frying harder. But eggs are also resilient: Refrigerated eggs can remain good to eat with little reduction in nutritional value for three to four months or longer. In addition to the secret number on the carton, there are two other good tests for freshness: If you shake an egg and the insides slosh around, it’s old. And a fresh egg will sink to the bottom of a glass of water.
Steele also guides readers through the maze of categories that egg manufacturers use on their cartons, like “cage-free,” “pasture-raised,” “organic” and “hormone-free.” (Ignore “all-natural” as a marketing ploy, while “hormone-free” and “antibiotic-free” are basically meaningless, she says.)
“Honestly, I think everybody should raise their own chickens. But, short of that, finding a farmers’ market or a local farm or a neighbor or someone who raises chickens is your next best bet,” she says. If that’s not possible, she says, look for “certified humane pasture-raised,” which means the chickens have been outdoors every day for hours on grass or other forage with lots of space to move around.
“It’s a little more expensive, but I don’t think it’s going to break anybody’s pocketbook to pay, say, $4 or $5 for a dozen eggs instead of $3 or $2.50 or something like that. You’re not talking huge dollars here,” she says. “There are definitely choices when it comes to eggs, and I think they’re important.”
Angel Food Cake
Servings: 12. “The Fresh Eggs Daily Cookbook” by Lisa Steele (Harper Horizon, 2022)
As long as your bowl and beater are clean, the whites should whip up well. And remember that eggs are easier to separate when cold from the fridge but whip up higher at room temperature. Before you start, grab your eggs from the fridge and separate them, then let the whites sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before you start beating them.
13/4 cups sugar, divided
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
12 egg whites, room temperature
11/4 teaspoons cream of tartar
11/2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
Topping Options:
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Fresh blueberries
Fresh mint
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and place a rack in the bottom third of the oven.
In a medium-sized bowl whisk 1 cup of the sugar with the flour and salt. Use a stand mixer with a whisk attachment to beat the egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed for 30 to 45 seconds until combined. Add the vanilla bean paste and orange extract. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat until soft peaks form, about 2 to 3 minutes.
Slowly add the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar, while the mixer is running, until fully combined and stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes more. Remove the bowl from the mixer and sift in the flour mixture 1/4 cup a time, folding it gently into the batter with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until it’s incorporated and no flour clumps remain.
Spoon the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan with a removable bottom, then run a long wooden skewer or knife through the batter to get the bubbles out. Finally, smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
Bake until the cake is golden brown, about 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Invert the pan on a wire rack or glass bottle to cool for at least 1 hour, then run a knife around the outer edge of the pan to release the sides of the cake.
Remove the cake and center insert from the pan, then run the knife around the center tube and along the bottom to unmold the cake. Place on a cake plate or stand and dust with confectioners’ sugar. Cut the cake into slices with a serrated knife and garnish with fresh blueberries and mint or other preferred toppings. Store tightly wrapped with plastic wrap at room temperature for two to three days.
