On Food and Cooking

fermentation: that is, it denatures the egg
proteins, and breaks down some of the
complex, flavorless proteins and fats into
simpler, highly flavorful components. The
disruptively high pH forces the egg proteins to
unfold, and at the same time confers on them
a strongly repelling negative charge. The
dissolved salt, with its positive and negative
ions, moderates the repulsion enough that the
fine strands of widely dispersed albumen
proteins are able to bond into a solid yet
transparent gel. In the yolk, the same extreme
conditions destroy the organized structure of
the yolk spheres, and with it the usual
graininess; the yolk proteins coagulate into a
creamy mass. The extreme alkalinity also
browns the albumen by accelerating the
reaction between the proteins and the trace of
glucose (see p. 89), and it greens the yolk by
encouraging the formation of ferrous sulfide
throughout the yolk, not just at its surface (as
in hard-cooked eggs; see p. 89). Finally, the