proteins are especially important for the cook
and worth knowing by name.
Ovomucin accounts for less than 2% of
the total albumen protein, but has by far
the greatest influence on the fresh egg’s
commercial and culinary value. It makes
fried and poached eggs compact and
attractive by making the thick white
thick — 40 times more so than the thin
white. Ovomucin somehow pulls together
the otherwise soupy protein solution into
an organized structure; gently tear a
piece of hard-cooked white and you can
see its laminations along the edge of the
tear. This structure is thought to help
cushion the yolk and slow the penetration
of microbes through the white. It
gradually disintegrates with age in the
raw egg, which may make the white more
digestible for the developing chick, and
certainly makes the egg less useful for
the cook.