Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Chemistry => Topic started by: neilep on 14/12/2007 01:08:39

Title: Alcohol Cooks Eggs ?....now c'mon ?.....really ?
Post by: neilep on 14/12/2007 01:08:39

Dear Alcy and Eggologists,

Apparaently, ewe can cook these :

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by dropping them into this !

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Well, I assume ewe have to break the egg first BUT,aren't egg shells porous ?...so..perhaps ewe can get away with not breaking the egg !! (could that be how they pickle eggs too ?)

How does alcohol cook an egg ?....what else can be cooked by being  dropped into a glass of alcy stuff ?...I of course mean cold alcohol !


I don't know....is it true ?...is it ?

Title: Alcohol Cooks Eggs ?....now c'mon ?.....really ?
Post by: Karen W. on 14/12/2007 06:15:06

So I will experiment do I want hard liquor or beer???

Title: Alcohol Cooks Eggs ?....now c'mon ?.....really ?
Post by: lightarrow on 14/12/2007 08:00:40

Quote from: neilep on 14/12/2007 01:08:39

Dear Alcy and Eggologists,

Apparaently, ewe can cook these :

 [ Invalid Attachment ]

by dropping them into this !

 [ Invalid Attachment ]

Well, I assume ewe have to break the egg first BUT,aren't egg shells porous ?...so..perhaps ewe can get away with not breaking the egg !! (could that be how they pickle eggs too ?)

How does alcohol cook an egg ?....what else can be cooked by being  dropped into a glass of alcy stuff ?...I of course mean cold alcohol !


I don't know....is it true ?...is it ?

Don't know if it's true. In case it is, then I can only explain it assuming alcohol goes inside and denaturates the egg's proteins. Proteins denaturation is a chemical process (exploited, e.g., to make cheese from milk) in which  proteins's structure is (usually irreversibly) modified so that they precipitates or become "lumpy". It can be achieved with many chemical substances an many procedures. I think Bored Chemist knows it better.

Title: Alcohol Cooks Eggs ?....now c'mon ?.....really ?
Post by: opus on 20/12/2007 18:37:58

surely cooking must involve heat......?

Title: Alcohol Cooks Eggs ?....now c'mon ?.....really ?
Post by: Wally on 21/12/2007 04:39:29

Well well, as you know 2-Mercaptoethanol is used to denaturate  proteins by breaking the S-S bonds in a protein, I think that could be a start to solve this problem. Anyway let´s continue thinking.....

Title: Alcohol Cooks Eggs ?....now c'mon ?.....really ?
Post by: DrDick on 23/01/2008 18:29:43

Technically, cooking does involve heat, so you wouldn't actually be cooking the eggs.  However, the process of cooking the egg results in denaturation of the proteins present.  Mixing them with alcohol could have the same effect, but I've never seen it done.
Denaturation is a process whereby the 3-d structure of the protein is changed.  Since this structure is dependent on the environment, adding a lot of alcohol where there's normally water would have the effect of changing this 3-d structure.  However, there's no guarantee that the change would be the same that you would see upon heating.

Sounds like a kitchen science experiment to me.  [:)]

Dick