overcooking eggs damages the protein in them?

jon

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Have heard it suggested that, if you overcook eggs, you reduce the nutritional value of the protein there. Could well be true for all I know, but does anyone know if this is correct and to what extent?

Thanks,

Jon
 
Never heard that. But I can say for sure that it does adversely affect the taste.
 
It causes the protein strands to seize up, thus squeezing liquid out. Especially nasty when eggs are scrambled. But I've never head that the nutritional quality of the eggs are damaged.
 
jon said:
Have heard it suggested that, if you overcook eggs, you reduce the nutritional value of the protein there. Could well be true for all I know, but does anyone know if this is correct and to what extent?

Thanks,

Jon
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Well that would require a definition of overcook vs burn. But as the process known as cooking is often based on rearraging protein's through thermal stress, I am not sure how to concider this. There is also the issue of do you actual use the proteins or does your body break them down into amino acids and build its own proteins, then the issue would be dammaging the amino acids.

I don't think it is something people should worry about, if it is edible it is likely not so dammaged to make a significant difference. As a counter example look at vitamins, sure cooking dammages and reduces some of them, but it also makes it easier for our bodies to get them out of the food so from the bodies point of view the increased accessability is more important than the reduced ammount.
 
Yeah, I know that overcooking damages the taste/texture :D This is from a discussion with a vegetarian who likes eggs overcooked (e.g. boiled too long, not burned) and didn't think that these overcooked eggs were a particularly useful source of protein. And yeah, I'm also not sure how to address the absorbtion of protein from overcooked eggs...
 
jon said:
Have heard it suggested that, if you overcook eggs, you reduce the nutritional value of the protein there.
Click to expand...


My A level biology is rusty, so the usual caveats apply but here goes anyway…..

Cooking eggs, or anything rich in protein for that matter, results in a denaturation (sp?) of the protein molecules essentially they jumble up to into a polymer like state. Hence the “gluing” together of the albumin into a nice thick white lump. A similar effect can be seen when beer produces a protein haze especially evident in “white” beers

Whether this has an effect on nutritional value, I have no idea.
 
thanks - and yeah, still haven't been able to figure out effects on nutrition (if any)
 
I am taking a course in Nutrition this fall and while I haven't actually started the class yet, I did research your question in my ginormous (and expensive) textbook. I couldn't find anything saying overcooking damages the nutritional quality of protein.
 
I suggest : What Einstein Told His Cook 1 and 2 Robert Wolke (Norton) for non-academics with food prep interest (like subject of this thread which is in 2). For the pro/academic, hard to beat On Food and Cooking Harold McGee (Rev. and Updated) Scribner.
 
jon said:
Have heard it suggested that, if you overcook eggs, you reduce the nutritional value of the protein there. Could well be true for all I know, but does anyone know if this is correct and to what extent?

Thanks,

Jon
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How many thousands of degrees are you heating your eggs to? The short answer though is almost certianly not.
 
thanks - will have a look at What Einstein... when I get round to reading some non-work related books again :(

And thanks for the info Lisa.
 
Overcooking/scrambling eggs will generally (but not always) reduce their nutional value.

Why?

Because they are nasty to most people and therefore will not be ingested.

Scrambling eggs is an artform that goes hand in hand with boredom.
 
jon said:
right, so boiling them for ages is probably OK then :)
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Not really - for appearance and taste reasons. Proper boiling: cold water in pan with (preferably) eggs laid about a week or more earlier (date laid usually on package - as packaging date and date laid usually the same). Water should be at least an inch (2.54 cm) above highest egg. Put pan on high heat until it boils, turn heat off, cover and leave covered for ca. 13 to 17 minutes (small to XL). Uncover and run cold water over (or add some ice in water) to stop the cooking. When cool, peel (start at big end - air space area). Too much cooking won't ruin protein (we are assuming you aren't grilling or broiling the eggs to make this statement) but it will cause the combination of sulphur and oxygen that we know and love as "rotten egg" smell. And it will make the yolk a weird and unappetizing color.
 
I think the issues will be whether there is an increasing number of cross-links that make some amino acids indigestible, and if there is an increasing degradation of lysine.
Maybe someone else can find an answer.
 
fuelair said:
Not really - for appearance and taste reasons. Proper boiling: cold water in pan with (preferably) eggs laid about a week or more earlier (date laid usually on package - as packaging date and date laid usually the same). Water should be at least an inch (2.54 cm) above highest egg. Put pan on high heat until it boils, turn heat off, cover and leave covered for ca. 13 to 17 minutes (small to XL). Uncover and run cold water over (or add some ice in water) to stop the cooking. When cool, peel (start at big end - air space area). Too much cooking won't ruin protein (we are assuming you aren't grilling or broiling the eggs to make this statement) but it will cause the combination of sulphur and oxygen that we know and love as "rotten egg" smell. And it will make the yolk a weird and unappetizing color.
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That sounds more or less right, I would add that you can dump out the hot water shake the pot a bit and then add the cold water. THis will make them peel easier.

WHy don't you pour off the hot watter?
 
ponderingturtle said:
That sounds more or less right, I would add that you can dump out the hot water shake the pot a bit and then add the cold water. THis will make them peel easier.

WHy don't you pour off the hot watter?
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You can - actually, I am adding /pouring on cold water as I pour out the hot , but that will depend on pot size, number of eggs, sink size, etc. (not as complicated as that may make it sound).
 
Rob Lister said:
Scrambling eggs is an artform that goes hand in hand with boredom.
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Couldn't agree more. A touch of butter in the pan, on the lowest heat available, and wait. Stir now and then. Of course, I may be committing blasphemy by frequently adding kalonji to them. But then, I add kalonji to most things.

Cheers,
Rat.
 
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