Egg Yolk Conundrum

[coulis-o]

I was thinking about this particular question when making English Creams at work a week or so ago...

I was wondering if a recipe requires a certain number of egg yolks, and one of the eggs had two yolks in it, would you count that as 2 yolks or 1?

 

[amazingrace]

Oh, how we love to torment ourselves!  My guess is that each yolk would count, provided they are both the same size as a regular yolk. 

 

[amazingrace]

Oh, how we love to torment ourselves!  My guess is that each yolk would count, provided they are both the same size as a regular yolk. 

hmm..that was wierd.  first I got a message that the attempt had faild,  and I should try again...now, wound up double posting. 

 

[chefedb]

Don't think it matters. Don't let it bother you. If you look close most double yokes are smaller then a single in a shell..

 

[coulis-o]

it doesn't add much to precision or being pedantic in following a recipe that requires 8 yolks if coming across a double yolk egg.

 

[chrislehrer]

It could matter only in certain kinds of baking, in which case you should be working by weight anyway.

For example, if you were making a sabayon-based sauce, e.g. hollandaise, and you got a double-yolked egg, you'd just adjust the quantity of fat when you beat it in at the end based on how thick you wanted the sauce to be. It's not that precise. But if you're making some sort of pastry that has to be just so, you need to be working by weight because of the flour and especially because of the very hygroscopic ingredients (salt, sugar, honey, etc.), and in that case it makes no difference whether the yolks were large or small to begin with.