Unyoking This is no Yolk!

The final installment of columns on What's Left, and photos from The Kitchen Shrink in Real Life

Dear Tamar:

My favorite icing is an Italian buttercream which is satin smooth and stable. My problem is that the recipe calls for five egg whites, leaving me with five egg yolks. Too often I end up wasting them because I can't figure out something healthy and delicious to do with them. What to do with five, sometimes ten egg yolks?

-This is no Yolk!

Dear This is no Yolk:

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love eggs so heartily and with such vividness that my sister-in-law, after hearing me read aloud something I’d written about eggs, told me that she wished once in her life to love anything like I loved an eggs. I have a book by Aldo Buzzi called ‘The Perfect Egg,’ which is mostly stories of literary figures eating eggs. I have such feeling and thoughts on eggs that to keep myself in line, I’m going to list exactly what you should or could do with your five or ten yolks. If I let myself on a looser tether, there’s no telling what will happen.

First: store your yolks in a clean, clear, glass jar, labeled with the number of yolks, and keep it front and center in your refrigerator.

1. Make mayonnaise with two of the yolks for Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches. My formula is one yolk to one cup of oil. If you want it to be fast, put the yolks in a blender, add a little pinch of salt, a little bit of Dijon mustard, a squeeze of lemon, then start blending, adding neutral oil in a thin stream, slowly. Add a trickle of water when it gets thick. This can also be done with an immersion blender if you take a few precautions. Or do it by hand, as I usually do—then you can use olive oil if you like. Store the mayonnaise, labeled, in its own clear jar and use it where you do purchased mayonnaise: in addition to for leftover turkey, for the outside of grilled cheese from cheese plate leftovers, and a dip for leftover mashed potato cakes, until it’s gone.

2. Make the delicious Persian rice dish, Tachin, with three of the yolks. The other ingredients are rice, yogurt, saffron, oil…and barberries. Or leave out the barberries and don’t call it Tachin—call it Baked Rice, or call it nothing, since you likely don’t write a nightly menu. Here are two recipes. There are dozens. It’s a magnificent food.

3. Make Avgolemono soup with two of the yolks. This can be made with or without chicken meat—just broth, rice, yolks, dill, and lemon. That version is just as good, maybe better—more soothing and simpler. I’ve used this recipe, with leftover cooked chicken.

4. Make Golden Fried rice with four of the yolks. This is richer, more beautifully hued fried rice, with the lovely tang of Shaoxing wine (or substitute sherry), and a bit of scallion for brightness. Here is one recipe. Search for more, by the English name or by huángjīn chǎofàn. You’ll find a treasury.

5. Make Aigo Buido, a creamy garlic soup, with three of the yolks. I have a recipe from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art, but I’m not linking to it because I quibble with some of the instructions. I might boil the 16 cloves of garlic, as she does. More likely, I’d just peel and pound three or four fresh. I would omit dried spice cloves, which she includes…the quibbles go on. But do read a few recipes for this soup, which is simple and perfect for chilly autumn weather, when garlic is still fairly fresh. Then choose your path and take it, knowing that whether you follow Julia or me or someone else, you’ll need yolks to get there.

6. Make more cakes and more icing! Julia Child’s first two butter creams call for two and five yolks, respectively.

Dear cook, you’ve long ago run out of yolks. Time to get serious: now you need a recipe for meringues.

I’ve kept this short and sweet because so many people are cooking today! I will be checking Instagram for direct messages all day. Send me questions via IG if you need help in the moment! And for all future questions…