Freezing Egg Yolks
I have always frozen spare egg whites for future use, but been perplexed over what to do with spare egg yolks. I’ve made attempts at freezing yolks and they never thaw correctly. I was always left with gummy, pasty, yellow balls of goo that were clearly ready to wreak havoc in any recipe I dared use them in.
While flipping through Harold McGee’s book, On Food and Cooking, I came across a great bit of information. He confirms what I discovered, that yolks frozen directly and thawed results in a pasty consistency that does not readily combine with other ingredients. Being the smart food science guy that he is, he provides a solution.
Mixing yolks with either salt, sugar, or acid solves the problem. He recommends mixing 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of sugar, or 4 tablespoons of lemon juice per pint of whole eggs or egg yolks. One large U.S. egg is equivalent to 3 Tablespoons and an egg yolk is equivalent to 1 tablespoon. Working on a much smaller scale, I did some rounding for simplicity, and for six egg yolks mixed in 1 teaspoon of sugar and it worked great.
I no longer feel the need to make ice cream every time I make an angle food cake, meringue, or marshmallows. It’s a whole new world!
All photos by David Peterman unless otherwise noted
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August 8th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Very, very nice research. This will come in mighty handy.
September 21st, 2008 at 2:11 am
Awesome!
I’ve also tried freezing egg yolks with relative success. They do thaw to become a pasty goo. However, I tried making zabaione from thawed yolks once and it came out great. I simply had to heat them a tiny bit when I added the sugar – this made my beating them easier. It was also VERY important to beat them EXTREMELY well – so that no little pieces of yolk remain.
However, I believe that this trick is way way way better than the risky straightforward freezing/thawing.