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Nagging Question
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Why Is Dried Egg So Hard to Clean Off?It’s in the egg’s nature to be stubborn |
We wanted to know why cleaning an egg-crusted plate is always a brutal task. Barry Swanson, an Institute of Food Technologists spokesperson and professor of food science at Washington State University, was able to break it down.
He says that eggs are unique due to their high concentrations of both protein and fat. Cooked, dried egg residue is 45.8 percent protein and 41.8 percent lipid (fat). When dried, both proteins and fats are still very sticky, so they adhere really well to porous surfaces, such as ceramic plates. Washing the residue off is so tough because the “combination of lipids and denatured proteins is insoluble and for the most part impenetrable by water,” explains Swanson. The egg proteins also contain “charged” amino acids, which adhere more strongly.
When it comes to cleaning off egg residue, Swanson’s best advice is to soak the dish in hot, soapy water before you try to wash it because most detergents have fat solubilizing and wetting agents that can penetrate and break down the protein-lipid mix.
You may want to try pouring a little left over coffee on the plate. It always worked for me. Can't tell you why. The coffee did not have to be hot, just black. The dried egg yolk practically fell off the plates after only a couple minutes of setting with the coffee on the plate.
They used to use egg to paint with. They would mix pigment in with egg and then paint with it. It lasts forever, there are still paintings from the first century that used egg. The Last Supper was painted with egg temera. Kind of amazing that egg can last so long.
Well, I read somewhere that you should soak dishes with dried egg in cold water not hot as the hot sets the egg even more because it is protein. Failing that Cillit Bang works for me. It's my new best friend. Do you have that in the States?