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If I had one whole egg (my understanding being that the white has more 'setting power' than the yolk), how much milk would I be able to set?

If I tried to set 2 cups of milk with 1 egg, can I expect something like a creme anglaise or something thicker?

Erica
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NRaf
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  • I've found that **three** normal-size eggs and precisely **one cup** of **full** cream, works perfectly. – Fattie Apr 06 '19 at 12:26

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It really depends on how thick you want it. Some sites recommend one egg or 2 yolks per cup of milk. Ruhlman mentions 2 eggs per cup as 'standard', with 1 egg able to thicken 3/4 of a cup of liquid (but more fat helps).

I can't comment on thickness of creme anglaise -- I had to gave up dairy years ago, and that's not something that I've ever made.

Joe
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My understanding (from school days, Mrs Crabtree would be surprised) is that 1 medium egg will set 1/4 pint UK. That's 5 fl oz UK. USA is different and metric different again.

I use 1 FRESH medium egg to set 150mls of milk.

Janis
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  • My compliments to Mrs Crabtree and welcome to Seasoned Advice to you! Don't forget to take the [tour] and browse our [help] to,learn more about this site. – Stephie Jul 01 '16 at 09:58
  • fl oz are the same between US and UK (although pints are different ... a US pint is 1 pound of water (16 fl oz) instead of the UK 20 fl oz) – Joe Jul 16 '16 at 10:11
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Just checking this out for a class I am teaching and confirmed with a quick look at 'Cooking Explained' Barbara Hammond, Longmans 1966, and yes, she says 2 meium eggs to half a pint (UK measures), 4 to 5 pz shortcrust pastry and a 7 ins sandwich tin to bake it in.

If its a pouring custard (creme anglaise ) 1 egg o half a pint creamy milk or light cream.

Tessa Mitchell
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