up — pickling them in acid or salt, beating
them into a foam — work in the same basic
way, by overcoming the proteins’ aloofness
and encouraging them to bond to each other.
When you combine treatments — adding both
acid and heat, for example — you can achieve
a whole range of consistencies and
appearances, depending on the degree of
protein unfolding and bonding: from tough to
delicate, dry to moist, lumpy to jellylike,
opaque to clear.
...But Not Too Close In nearly every egg dish
we make, we want to bond a liquid — the egg
alone or a mixture of eggs and other liquids
— into a moist, delicate solid. Overcooking
either gives the dish a rubbery texture or else
curdles it into a mixture of hard lumps and
watery liquid. Why? Because it bonds the
proteins too exclusively to each other and
squeezes out the water from the protein
network. This is why it is that boiled or fried