Eggland’s Best Seasonal Foodie Event

It’s press-related week – dedicated to a couple of press events or products that I’ve received for review, etc… I know how you all love reading about these 🙂

I was invited to an event discussing and learning about Eggland’s Best eggs.  I did wonder briefly how they can claim to be better than other eggs – aren’t all eggs created equally (within their own categories; I understand there’s organic, cage-free, etc.)?  Apparently, this is not true (and I’m sure the FDA would have their heads on a platter if this hadn’t been proven in the past): feeding your chickens a special organic feed produces eggs lower in cholesterol and higher in a bunch of really good things.  I was actually really surprised to learn this.  Of all the things I buy in the supermarket on a regular basis, eggs happens to be one of the few things to which I am not brand-loyal.  I go into wherever and see what eggs are the cheapest – I generally refuse to pay more than $1-something for a dozen eggs, call me weird – and call it a day.  I’m not even sure what brand of eggs I ‘usually’ find are cheapest, though Trader Joe’s does seem to have the cheapest eggs on a regular basis (even cheaper than the cheap Asian stores!).  I do know that I don’t often see Eggland’s Best eggs though, since their packaging is pretty distinct.  So I was pretty interested in learning more about why I should seek out these eggs that I quite frankly don’t see often at all. 

As we stood around chatting and mingling during cocktail hour, hors d’ouevres were passed around.  First up: literal egg rolls; thin egg sheets wrapped aroudn shrimp with soy sauce for dipping.  Pretty mild and inoffensive; I wish the edamame puree (the green you see in the picture) were a little more pronounced. 

Next was a shaved ham crostini with eggs somewhere.  I liked the saltiness of the ham with the creamy egg. 

The next and last appetizer circulating was a custard of sorts with caviar on top.  For whatever reason, the bite I had was super fishy, and I didn’t like it – I rushed to get some soda to wash out my mouth.  Oh well, can’t all be winners, right?

At this point, we were given chef’s toques and told that we were actually going to be cooking dinner.  Whoa!  I’ve been to events before where we worked on parts of dinner or dessert but this time, the entire dinner was on us – if we FAILed, we’d be eating the taste of humiliation!!!  Okay fine, we had people on hand to help us out, and most of us were very comfortable in the kitchen (and those of us who aren’t just hung back and observed, really).  Here, Shoshi of Kosher Soul Food puts on her toque and discovers that … we’re in a big people world.  Haha she looked so cute I had to snap a photo… hope she doesn’t kill me for posting it 🙂

I ran to the bathroom to wash my hands and had to snap a photo of myself in this hat… never thought I’d see myself in one of these!  I have that funny look on my face because I’m trying not to keel over from laughing so hard 🙂

Here’s a photo of Esther of Ambitious Delicious(ness) chopping strawberries at the dessert station, where I was stationed as well.  I wound up really only mixing flour with sugar and um spices or something (ICE students had prepped the mise en places for each station, minus chopping most things, so I really just dumped ingredients into a bowl as directed and then stirred a few dry ingredients together). 

The next station over was poaching eggs; I’d been happy that I didn’t get that station because poaching eggs is hard for me to handle.  But then I saw they were using ring molds which makes it so much easier…

Esther and I pose for a photo together… aren’t we darling?  🙂

And here, two of the guys who had chosen to hang back a bit and observe the ladies at the dessert station (I don’t blame them) were enlisted to ladle pudding/souffle mixture into ramekins. 

“Instead of taking pictures, do you want to help us do this?  Here, take this.” 
“Ahhh, I uh… I think I’ll pass…”

Just kidding, I don’t know what they’re discussing. 

Over at the station that petrified me, Cindy of Chubby Chinese Girl handled that dough like an expert.  Look how calm and relaxed she is.  I’d be a wreck, terrified of messing it up…

Finally, it was time to eat!  Eggs adorned our table, which was really cute.  I like that idea. 

The ICE staff took over plating for us. 

Our first course: salad with asparagus, morels, baby carrots, sugar snap peas, duck prosciutto, toasted walnuts and white wine poached eggs topped with champagne vinaigrette. 

…and the food bloggers attack.  I’m not sure if they’re Tweet’ing photos of it, or just Tweeting, or taking pictures… but it was pretty funny to see them in a line doing so.  Adorable Shoshi from Kosher Soul Food, gorgeous Shyema of Beauty and the Feast, and the always lovely Esther of Ambitious Delicious(ness). 

A shot of Esther’s egg, broken into… oozy melty yolk!

And a strangely lit photo of my egg.  The salad had a lot of lovely components – crunchy sugar snaps, salty duck prosciutto – but the morels, which I was excited to try because I don’t recall having very often in the past, were really weird.  Esther and I agreed that they were spongy and didn’t taste that awesome.  I’m glad I never bought them to try when people would rave about them – they are not my thing.  And I like most mushrooms.  Weird. 

The main course: crab and lobster ravioli with peas, golden beets, fennel, leeks, saffron and chives in a lobster broth and prosecco sabayon. 

No dearth of lobster or crab meat here!  The pasta was light, pillows of crab/lobster meat within, and I really enjoyed the golden beets.  The broth was deeply flavored, and everything went really well together. 

We paused to listen to the CEO tell us a bit about the company and the eggs, what makes Eggland’s Best better than others, and why they’re awesome.  And to stare at this hot guy at our table that I hadn’t noticed earlier.  Hello… 

Merengue cookies.  One of these was coconut.  I had to play the guessing game to avoid another allergic reaction in this very same kitchen… and I won!  I really enjoyed these cookies quite a bit.  I wonder if they gave us the recipe…

And finally, our dessert – my station! – lemon pudding souffle with mixed berries and rhubarb coulis. 

I’ll be completely honest, I was not expecting to like this.  I don’t like rhubarb that much, and I’m not a huge fan of souffles.  But I dug in with a slightly open mind and found that making it into a pudding-souffle was absolutely genius.  The bottom was creamy, almost custard-like, and the top was airy and fluffy.  I really liked this and need to make it again, with tweaks to the flavors.  Love! 

A final parting shot of Cindy, me, and Esther. 

What’s a press event without a goodie bag?  Among the wonderful items within were “Wedgey” this awesome egg-shaped egg-contraption (that I always see at cutesy home goods stores and force myself not to buy! – Poachey will be mine one day!)… and bags of hard cooked peeled eggs. 

So of course I decided to use Wedgey to make a quick egg salad with the hard cooked peeled eggs I’d received. 

First of all, I love Wedgey.  He makes my kitchen look happy.  Second, I’d wondered at the reasoning behind having pre-cooked, pre-peeled eggs.  Are people that lazy?  The answer is: yes.  The bags I had were excellent for breakfast on the go – I’d just grab one or two, sprinkle a little salt on it and eat it as I walked to my car.  Perfect for mornings when I’m just a little behind on time. 

Now, each bag is meant to be good for 5-7 days after you open it, and there are 6 eggs in each.  Not bad.  But the bags before you open them are good for about 5 weeks from the time they hit the store (there’s a date printed on each bag).  As the 5 weeks gets nearer and the eggs get older, though, they definitely take on a bit of rubber – the whites taste a bit rubbery if you eat them plain, so I highly recommend if you buy these, eat them right away.  And don’t even mess with that 5-7 day window – mine went bad almost immediately as the day turned.  I don’t know that I’d go out of my way to buy these – I kind of prefer the flexibility of raw eggs more – but I understand their purpose in some people’s lives, and I certainly didn’t turn my nose up at them on my busy days. 

As for Eggland’s Best – I also was able to snag a few of the raw eggs to try, and I did notice a remarkable difference in frying them vs. frying other eggs.  It was actually easier to cook the whites through for my sunny side up eggs, without using the ‘sort of steam the top with a lid over it’ method.  I appreciated that greatly.  The texture and consistency of the raw eggs looked very different too.  After some research, I discovered that Eggland’s Best strives to have the eggs in stores within 24-48 hours of being laid.  In some areas around the country, with their many farm-partnerships, this is possible and routine.  However, I’m not entirely sure if they hit this goal in New York, but I would presume that even if they don’t, they are still pretty quick with turnaround for eggs.  The fresher the egg, the better it tastes, we all know that. 

My conclusion?  Not only was it fascinating to learn about Eggland’s Best – what makes them better, really – but I discovered that I do care a bit about my eggs.  When they are normal eggs, I find them fine to eat, but not the star of the show, just there.  However, when I used them for breakfast one morning, I found that I paid more attention to their taste because they had one – and it was good.  I would definitely seek out Eggland’s Best eggs in the future – when I’m no longer a poor student and have to seek out whatever eggs are cheapest. 

Thanks, Eggland’s Best! 

For Esther’s opinion, click here!

I was invited to attend this complimentary event and did not receive any monetary compensation to write about it.  Eggland’s Best was informed beforehand that I reserved the right to share my opinion or not, and that opinion would be my honest reflection of everything.