Why would a recipe say mix all ingredients, then add egg and mix again?
I have a recipe for meatloaf in which the method boils down to:
- In a large bowl, add everything except the beaten egg, and mix well
- Add the beaten egg, and mix well
- Cook
Now, I understand why you might want to mix all dry ingredients before adding anything wet, for example when making a cake; but here the everything except the beaten egg is most definitely not dry once all mixed together.
What's the benefit of mixing the egg last, separately?
Best Answer
There isn't really a technical reason for this in most cases. It is for the convenience of the cook, to get things mixed thoroughly with a minimum of mess and hassle.
However, with meat loaf, once you add the egg, it gets even more sticky and messy.
When I make meatloaf or meatballs, I actually do it in three stages:
- Mix all the onions, herbs, spices salt and so on into the breadcrumbs so that they are uniformly distributed (everything except the meat and eggs).
- Mix that with the ground (minced for you UK types) meat, loosely breaking it up and tossing with my fingers
- Add the eggs and mix again briefly just to incorporate.
The only purpose of this is to easily get thorough mixing, with minimum messiness, and minimum additional working of the meat.
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Why is it important not to add all of the ingredients at once mix and cook?
The Reason Behind It? Over mixing batters and dough will toughen and strengthen the gluten in the flour. Doing this to the gluten will yield you tougher baked goods, not a light and tender bake, like you want.What happens if you add eggs after flour?
If you add eggs after flour, all the other ingredients then have to be worked into what is already a dough and never really becomes homogenous, may never fully dissolve (in the case of sugar) and may to be beaten to death and still may not get fully mixed.How can I stop overmixing?
If you sift your flour \u2014 which you can do by tapping it through a metal sieve, or by just whisking out the lumps in a pinch \u2014 you guarantee smooth flour going into the mix, which helps avoid overmixing.What is the blending method?
The blending method is a culinary technique used for mixing cakes when the weight of the sugar is equal to or greater than the weight of the flour. This method is used for layer cakes, gingerbread, and many other cakes made in quantity.You really can't whip egg whites with yolk in them?
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