On Food and Cooking

long. If the hen has mated in recent days,
there will be sperm stored in a “nest” at the
upper end of the oviduct, and one will fuse
with the egg cell. Fertilized or not — and
most eggs are not — the yolk spends two to
three hours slowly passing down the upper
end of the oviduct. Protein-secreting cells in
the oviduct lining add a thickening layer to its
membrane, and then coat it with about half the
final volume of the egg white, or albumen
(from the Latin albus, meaning “white”).
They apply this portion of albumen in four
layers that are alternately thick and thin in
consistency.
The first thick layer of albumen protein is
twisted by spiraling grooves in the oviduct
wall to form the chalazae (from the Greek for
“small lump,” “hailstone”), two dense,
slightly elastic cords which anchor the yolk to
the ends of the shell and allow it to rotate
while suspending it in the middle of the egg.
This system keeps as much cushioning