this is an egg safety question

here's what I did:

1. in a double boiler dissolve 150g powdered sugar in juice of 1-1/2 lemons

2. add white of one egg and cook until it reaches 160F, stirring constantly

only thing is, I don't have a thermometer so I just guessed and cooked it
for ~5 min after adding the egg whites

does that sound sufficient? I hope so...

"tert in seattle" > wrote in message
...

> this is an egg safety question
> here's what I did:
>
> 1. in a double boiler dissolve 150g powdered sugar
> in juice of 1-1/2 lemons
> 2. add white of one egg and cook until it reaches
> 160F, stirring constantly only thing is, I don't have
> a thermometer so I just guessed and cooked it
> for ~5 min after adding the egg whites
>
> does that sound sufficient? I hope so...

Well, if you were supposed to cook it until 160F and you don't have a
thermometer, you have no way of knowing if what you did was sufficient. My
general rule of thumb is that, if I buy eggs from a reputable source, keep
them refrigerated and use them quickly (and we go through a lot of eggs),
I'm comfortable serving something with raw or soft-cooked eggs for my
husband and any friends/family who might come over, since none of them are
very old, very young or immune compromised. If one of those criteria is not
met, then I'll make something else.

My question is why you added an egg white to a basic lemon-sugar glaze in
the first place? Powdered sugar with lemon (probably a lot less lemon juice
than you used for that quantity of sugar) is a fine glaze all by itself.

-j

writes:
>"tert in seattle" > wrote in message
...
>
>> this is an egg safety question
>> here's what I did:
>>
>> 1. in a double boiler dissolve 150g powdered sugar
>> in juice of 1-1/2 lemons
>> 2. add white of one egg and cook until it reaches
>> 160F, stirring constantly only thing is, I don't have
>> a thermometer so I just guessed and cooked it
>> for ~5 min after adding the egg whites
>>
>> does that sound sufficient? I hope so...
>
>Well, if you were supposed to cook it until 160F and you don't have a
>thermometer, you have no way of knowing if what you did was sufficient. My
>general rule of thumb is that, if I buy eggs from a reputable source, keep
>them refrigerated and use them quickly (and we go through a lot of eggs),
>I'm comfortable serving something with raw or soft-cooked eggs for my
>husband and any friends/family who might come over, since none of them are
>very old, very young or immune compromised. If one of those criteria is not
>met, then I'll make something else.
>
>My question is why you added an egg white to a basic lemon-sugar glaze in
>the first place? Powdered sugar with lemon (probably a lot less lemon juice
>than you used for that quantity of sugar) is a fine glaze all by itself.
>
>-j

I'm following a recipe that says use 300g of sugar, some egg white, and
"enough lemon juice". This was my first time & I took a wild guess at
how much lemon to use. It's for a carrot cake that's kind of plain on
its own although rich. The glaze goes great with this cake.

The egg white gives it some air ... I guess it's a texture thing.