Some recipes call for separating eggs, so it's a good skill to learn! Meringue will need just egg whites, whereas custard will need just egg yolks, and soufflés will need both (but still separated!). Follow our step by step guide for easily separated eggs every time.
1. Crack egg against the rim of a clean dry bowl and open the two halves with your thumbs, allowing some of the white to run out into the bowl.
2. Carefully pass egg yolk back and forth between two half shells without breaking it, allowing rest of egg white to fall into the bowl.
3. Put separated egg yolk into another bowl. Don't let the yolk break and mingle with the whites.
4. If a piece of shell falls into the whites, use shell half to fish it out.
5. If separating several eggs, transfer separated whites to another bowl, so if yolk does break, only one white will be spoiled.
Use your skills to make these triple-tested recipes:
White chocolate mousse recipe
25 marvellous meringue recipes
Or, use your egg leftovers to whip up this frittata in a quick recipe!
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).