 Does danger lurk in raw dough? Ask Mom
I round the corner into the kitchen, where I've just finished mixing a big batch of chocolate chip cookie dough. As I enter, my two teenagers leap back from the bowl like they've been burned. But their sticky fingers, full mouths and guilty expressions give them away: They've been sneaking dough again, flouting a lifetime of lectures about the dangers of raw eggs. "No!" I scold, for perhaps the 10,000th time since I became a mother. "Don't eat that! It's raw!! You'll get sick!" And then I snatch the bowl away, breathing hard, leaving the now-grinning thieves to swallow their booty. "Oh, Mom, relax," my 16-year-old daughter says. "You worry too much. It's only dough." "Yeah," agrees her brother, 13. "What's the big deal?" Not for the first time, I launch into a diatribe about harmful bacteria, weakened immune systems and imperfect poultry farmers. I rant about correct cooking temperatures and thorough heating and how if I've told them once, I've told them a thousand times, salmonella poisoning is not a nice thing. And then they do what they always do. They sigh and wait for me to walk away before they're back at the bowl. The truth, of course, is that my kids don't believe that there's danger lurking in the cookie dough. Now it turns out that I may not have to worry much longer, either. It may soon be safe to eat raw eggs again, thanks to a new process that uses hot water baths to kill bacteria, including the salmonella bacteria that infects one in 20,000 eggs. The new pasteurized eggs are being test-marketed on the East Coast this spring, part of efforts to combat salmonella infections that kill dozens of people each year and sicken an estimated 300,000. President Clinton recently endorsed food safety rules that allow producers to skip some regulations if they pasteurize the eggs before shipping.The spectre of salmonella poisoning, like other food-borne illness, has haunted hypervigilant cooks like me for years. We've read the news, we know the score. We recall the General Accounting office report that showed too many federal agencies did too little for too long to protect the nation from salmonella-contaminated raw eggs.We're the ones who shudder at the notion of salad with traditional Caesar dressing. We're the folks who cringe when the wrap from the pack of chicken touches the counter. We're the people for whom handwashing is a kitchen sacrament. There's good reason for this, of course. The effects of infection aren't pretty: diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramping, headache, nausea, vomiting.But like all prudent behavior, taking steps to prevent food poisoning takes some of the joy out of the essential act. It's no fun, for instance, to tell a kid she can't lick beaters dripping with batter from a chocolate birthday cake. It's a drag to pass up a perfectly good French Silk pie just because it's full of raw eggs. It's annoying to think twice about the issue of lemon meringue. So I'm hoping these pasteurized raw eggs do well in their East Coast debut. I'm hoping they usher in a whole new era in egg consumption. I'm hoping to have one less thing to lecture my kids about. Meanwhile, the worrywart rules still apply. Eggs must be cooked to a temperature of 160 degrees F to be safe. Following is a anxiety-free version of French Silk Pie, one that uses a cooked custard to bind the velvety chocolate filling. It comes courtesy of the American Egg Board.Egg-Safe French Silk Pie
Stir together cracker crumbs, ground almonds, 1/3 cup of the butter and 1/4 cup of the sugar until evenly combined. Press firmly over bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree F. oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool. In medium saucepan, stir together remaining 1 1/4 cups sugar and eggs until well blended. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat a metal spoon with a thin film and reaches 160 degrees F on a food thermometer. Remove from heat. Stir in three squares of chocolate and vanilla until chocolate is melted. Continue stirring until mixture is cool enough to the touch, about 90 degrees F. In a small mixing bowl at medium speed, beat remaining 1/2 cup butter until light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add cooled egg mixture. Beat at high speed an additional 5 minutes. Pour into cooled pie shell. Sprinkle with almonds and shaved chocolate, if desired. Chill at least 6 hours before serving. Makes 8 to 12 servings.Send questions to A la carte, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501. Reach JoNel Aleccia at 776-4465 or by e-mail at jaleccia@mailtribune.com |
