The Bradford Pear trees are bursting with clusters of white blossoms, the cherry trees with beautiful lavender blooms, the tulips and daffodils have popped up, and the azalea buds are about to explode. Wow, is all I can say!

I just love the spring season. I feel refreshed; wanting to recreate my surroundings, reinvent worn out recipes and menus. Spring always makes me think of certain foods - lamb, baby vegetables, thin tender asparagus, artichokes, and eggs.

Yes, I did say eggs.

Our passengers and crews are ordering more eggs than usual. I don’t know why, but sales of eggs in every form are increasing. As I look at the requests, I can see both chicken and quail eggs requested with preparations ranging from hard and soft boiled, to poached and baked. Quail eggs are trending in so many courses. They are the perfect bite size for a snack or an appetizer, or as an addition to a salad. I have had many requests to teach classes about breakfast and brunch meals for the aircraft.

I love breakfast enough that I enjoy it as an evening meal, or as comfort food, so this is a fun class for me to teach. My father traveled a great deal while I was young, and my mother’s 'go to' dinner was a wonderful buttery béchamel sauce with chopped egg whites over broken toast and sprinkled with crumbled egg yolks. To this day, when I'm feeling a bit under the weather or need a reminder of home and comfort, I will make this dish for myself. Sadly, not a single portion but by the litre! I LOVE IT. This dish makes a great brunch menu selection with sliced chip beef, served over an open croissant, a southern buttermilk biscuit, or a slice of brioche. The béchamel reheats beautifully either in an oven or in the microwave.

Scrambled

Another comeback item I see re-emerging for breakfast is simple scrambled eggs; often with a sprinkle of finely chopped fresh delicate herbs added to the custardy egg mixture.

Trivia Tidbit: Fines Herbes is a classic mix of parsley, chives, tarragon and chervil that won't overpower eggs. Use young, tender leaves, chopped finely so they don't bring too much texture, either.

The perfect scrambled egg is a thing of splendor. I know I sound like I'm losing my mind, but seriously . . . Soft, golden-hued, composed of extraordinarily creamy curds so rich and well-seasoned they verge on cheesy. But of course, there's no need for cheese - not when you've got the pure, intense flavors of eggs and butter. My French chef friends might insist on the classic French preparation to achieve this custard like product, but I like to think a bit outside the box and bring in a bit of science to make reheated eggs less like rubber and more like their classic French custardy preparation.

Scrambled eggs can be difficult to reheat and, generally speaking, when your catering source delivers pre-cooked eggs they are meant to be reheated on board. I have found some great options to keep reheated eggs soft, tender and moist as if freshly prepared.

One method is to add a bit of sour cream or cream cheese to the uncooked eggs. I use one tablespoon of either per egg. The fat in these two ingredients bonds itself to the egg protein and helps slow down the rubber effect. Cheese in the egg mix does not have the same results . . . only making the fat separation a chewier greasy mess. My all-time favorite way to keep the custard like texture of a scrambled egg is by stirring a slurry of corn starch and water into the egg before it's cooked. Many food sources are not thinking of the reheated result and may need to be told about these preventative measures.

The second most important thing to consider is the seasoning of the eggs. Underseasoned eggs are a disaster in my opinion. Do not forget that the flavor of salt is diminished by almost half when in the air at cruising altitude. I like to send along a bit of kosher salt, or some delicate crunchy fleur de sel or sea salt, such as Maldon to season the eggs just before serving, after the reheating process. I have eaten many eggs with the shells included in tiny bits, so my personal preference is not to add the crunchy flakes at the end of reheating for the custardy egg.

A bit more trivia: If you are cracking your own eggs, crack them against a flat hard surface, then use your hands to open them up. The eggs will break more evenly and have fewer shards. (wish I'd known this when I was teaching my girls to cook breakfast!).

The new modernist cuisine method of creating the prefect scrambled egg is by changing the proportion of egg yolks to egg whites. For every two whole eggs, you can request the addition of another yolk. The color will be more vibrant, the flavor eggier, and the texture a bit more custardy. I would recommend that this method is used for preparation on board the aircraft. Ask your catering source to pre-crack the eggs for you. It is so much easier to separate eggs with no movement in your surroundings from turbulence. (Not to mention less mess).

Safety

I would not be doing my job if I didn’t inform you about some of the safety information and precautions regarding eggs. The bacteria salmonella can be on the inside AND outside of an egg that looks normal. Chickens carry the bacteria in their own bodies, and pass Salmonella along to the yolk and white while the egg is forming in the ovaries. Egg color, size, shape, texture, taste or farm source have no bearing on whether the egg has Salmonella inside. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 1 in 10,000 eggs contain Salmonella. If you consider most egg dishes are made with at least 2 eggs, that's 1 in 5,000 egg dishes that potentially contain Salmonella. Eggs involved in Salmonellosis are almost always Grade A commercial eggs. Contrary to popular beliefs, cracked eggs are not responsible for the primary Salmonella problem. An intact shell by no means guarantees safe eggs. The most common element in foodborne illness: Eggs were served raw or undercooked.

I found this chart that is a good baseline for egg storage. BUT these are storage times only when the eggs are refrigerated. If you have a forced air drawer, the eggs should not be kept for the full time mentioned. When you are ordering raw eggs from your catering source, you will not have any idea of the sell-by date on the original packaging, or how long the separated eggs have been separated when you receive your catering. Request that your catering source labels your raw eggs with a use-by date or the date they were separated. In the event this is not provided to you, my personal suggestion would be to discard yolks, whites and uncooked egg substitutes at the end of the flight - especially if there is no temperature controlled refrigerator on board.

Egg Storage Chart

 Hints and Tips

Since I love to share tidbits of trivia, I hope you enjoy the following:

• If you can’t remember if an egg is fresh or hard boiled? Just spin the egg. If it wobbles, it’s raw. If it spins easily, it’s hard boiled.
• A fresh egg will sink in water, a stale one will float.
• Eggs contain all the essential protein, minerals and vitamins, except Vitamin C. But egg yolks are one of few foods that naturally contain Vitamin D. Eggs also contain choline, which is necessary for healthy cell membranes in the body. Choline stimulates brain development and function and helps preserving memory. Eggs also are good for your eyes because they contain lutein which helps prevents age-related cataracts and muscular degeneration. In fact, eggs contain more lutein than spinach and other green vegetables.
• The color of the egg shell is not related to quality, nutrients, flavor, or cooking characteristics. White shelled eggs are produced by hens with white feathers and white ear lobes. Brown shelled eggs are produced by hens with red feathers and red ear lobes. Brown egg layers usually are slightly larger and require more food, thus brown eggs usually cost more than white eggs.
• An egg shell has as many as 17,000 pores over its surface through which bacteria can penetrate.
• There are about 70 calories in an uncooked egg and 77 calories in a cooked egg.
• Freezing is not recommended for eggs because, after freezing and thawing, the eggs will turn into a thick clumpy paste. For those of you who want to freeze your eggs to extend their shelf life or because you are traveling self-contained, it is best to crack the eggs into a freezer safe container and gently blend in 1/2 teaspoon of salt before freezing. The eggs can then be thawed and used, but these eggs will not rise much if later used in baked goods. If you do this, also be sure to thaw the frozen eggs in the refrigerator before using.
• Do you want your yolks to be in the center of a hard or soft cooked egg? There is a trivia secret here also. Store your fresh eggs in the carton on their side. The yolk will be more centered.

Fun stuff isn’t it?

Hard and Soft boiled

Have you ever had hard cooked eggs delivered and when cut open they had a dark green ring around the yolk? This is an indication that the egg was over cooked. To get the perfect hard cooked egg, place in cold heavily salted water and bring to a boil, remove from heat, cover and allow to sit for 12 minutes. Pour off hot water and fill pot with cold water and shake the eggs to crack the shells. The shells should peel easily . . . don’t forget the salt. You can also hard cook an egg in the oven which is great for making hard boiled eggs on board. Place the eggs in a muffin tin so they don’t roll around in the oven. Place the muffin pan in a preheated oven to 325 -350 F and bake for 30 minutes., remove place in an ice bath and the shells will peel off easily. An incorrect oven temperature will cause the egg to be less than perfect. Solution: place an oven thermometer to check for accuracy.

There really is no mystery to making a soft boiled egg . . . and one perfectly done. Everyone has a different idea of how to soft boil an egg, but in the culinary world it would have perfect tender whites with warm perfectly cooked yolks that are warm, soft and the white is formed on the outside and softer in the center. This is a great alternative to fried or scrambled eggs because there is not butter or oil in the cooking process! (but if like me, I add it at the end as I smear the jelly like filling on buttered toast.) For hard boiled, allow to sit in hot water for 12 minutes and soft boiled, for 6 minutes. To peel, hit the large end on the counter to crack, as this is where you find an air pocket inside the shell and will make peeling easier.

Deviled

A great high protein snack is a deviled egg. Alternative fillings made with the cooked yolk are endless; Boursin cheese; a bread pudding top; caviar; chives. Whether the eggs are cut so they stand high and dramatic, or sliced in half lengthwise, filled with avocado, smoked salmon, salmon caviar, the choices are limited only by your imagination.

Serving eggs with the slippery white can present a challenge on the aircraft, but I can offer a couple of solutions that seem to work well:

Eggs can be placed in a bed of shredded lettuce or sea salt flakes (leave the salt out of the filling), on a spinach leaf, in egg cups or simply take a thin slice off the bottom of the egg to level it a bit. Notice the chive sticks - they are actually placed in a way that prevents the eggs from sliding (like a log jam).

Try eggs with fillings of chopped olives, truffle oil and gold leaf or avocado. Alternatively, beet soaked for a purple white flesh, or a smoked salmon filling. One of my favorite brunch preparations is a potato latke topped with a half deviled egg and crème fraiche; a slice of smoked salmon and topped with a glistening spoonful of succulent caviar. Order this type of egg presentation in pieces from your catering source as it will be a dreadful mess after delivery if sent assembled.

Salads

Whether quail or chicken, hard or soft boiled eggs are a great addition to salads as the main protein. Use bite-size quail eggs to turn a potato salad from a side dish to an entrée, or a vegetarian dinner entrée of wild mushrooms and spring asparagus.

. . . or an artfully created spring salad on a bed of smooth and rich avocado, rasishes, caper berries and three preparations of beets.

Adding hard cooked eggs to a sandwich adds another dimension of texture and flavor.

Or you can simply place the half egg on toast as a canape, beet infuse with caviar or on a potato nest…all as an appetizer.

Poached

Poached eggs are beautiful added to a dish. The fresher the egg, the higher and more intact the center white and yolk is. Older eggs will 'scatter' when added to the hot water. There are numerous pieces of equipment that can be used in the microwave to make a poached egg and it's worth experimenting if your passengers or crew like their eggs poached. To reheat on board, pour off cold water and add hot water from your hot pot or coffee maker. Allow to sit in hot water 3-4 minutes.

The most famous dish made from poached eggs is Eggs Benedict. The creamy Hollandaise sauce, the saltiness of the bacon or ham, the warm oozy center of the yolk running over the English muffin are hard to beat. Now, here in the south, we make our own regional version with a base of cornbread, the ham is salty cured country ham, the hollandaise is spiced up with chilies. The heat from the spice makes it a sure taste explosion when in the air!

Poached quail eggs can top a bread, potato or procuitto cup, steak tar tar, or a quinoa rosti, topped with a bed of spiral cut pickled beets.

Poached eggs can be added to soups or a classic caprese salad instead of the mozzarella.

Fried

Fried eggs seem to be on the decline, but more because you might think they are unhealthy fried in fat. What I do here at TYC is spray the pan with a quick release spray and heat the skillet, then slide a cracked egg into the hot skillet and allow to sizzle and brown. When the outside edge bubbles a bit, I add water to the skillet and cover. The steam cooks the top of the egg so you can have an over-easy and the water prevents the proteins from sticking to the skillet. So, a fried egg with no fat - only water. If reheating in the microwave,

prick the yolk so it doesn’t burst. Fried eggs make a great addition to salads, sandwiches and the latest rage to top off the all-American hamburger!

Baked

Baked eggs will be the last type of egg today. They work very well on the aircraft, especially in a ramekin, lightly buttered, if you only have an oven to work with. If prepared in advance they will reheat in short order. If you want to create a frame to hold the egg you have several options. Flatten a slice of bread with a wine bootle, then press it into a muffin tin or ramekin. You can use and egg roll wrapper as below, or you can use a crepe placed in a ramekin or muffin tin to bake an egg mixture that can be ordered ready to bake fresh on board.

Alternatively you can throw all the filling for a Spanish omelet or western omelet into a ramekin, lightly buttered, and bake as required (especially if the crew eat at different times from other crew or passengers). One of our latest creations is to bake a ham, cheese muffin and when half the batter is in the tin, we drop in a raw egg, top with more batter and bake.

Or add a raw egg to a hollowed avocado and bake- Yum! Great middle of the night snack.

If you need a creative canape, request your catering source to send you rectangular bread slices lightly buttered and toasted with a small circle cut out- but left in the rectangle -from one side and pre-cracked quail eggs. Individually packed in a soufflé cup. When ready to cook, press the cut bread circle down so your egg has a base to cook on without running out of the toast. Simply place the toast in the oven and bake until the egg is firm. Garnish with a small rolled piece of smoked salmon, a sprig of chive and viola!

As you may have noticed I do love breakfast, brunch and eggs. I hope I have shared something that has inspired you to step outside the box and play with eggs.

About Paula Kraft . . .

Paula Kraft is the founding partner of the DaVinci Inflight Training Institute located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and the founder/president of Tastefully Yours Catering, an aviation specific caterer, located in Atlanta, Georgia for over 35 years.

Paula is active with many aviation and catering-related groups including the International Caterers Association, the International Inflight Food Service Association and is a board member of Women in Corporate Aviation. She is the past chair of the NBAA Flight Attendant Committee Caterer’s Working Group for 15 years perfecting unique catering training sessions for NBAA conferences and events. Currently, she serves on the NBAA Flight Attendant Advisory Committee and is a member of the Training and Safety Subcommittee. Paula was a founding member of the Steering committee for the creation of a European Flight Attendant Committee and conference and serves as a subject matter expert to the board of International Standard for Business Aircraft Handlers (IS-BAH).

After founding Tastefully Yours Catering, she has been offering culinary and food safety related training to the general aviation community. With a strong dedication to improving catering safety, risk mitigation and safe food handling, she developed and introduced the concept of “catering safety management systems”. As a certified food safety instructor, Paula offers catering SMS and culinary classes for all aviation professionals. Paula’s first-hand experience, business acumen, research, and relationships make her an industry expert - one which allows her to share information that will help raise the professional training level for flight attendants today that will reduce the risk of food-related concerns tomorrow.

From Paula . . .

I have coordinated training programs and clinics for NBAA and EBAA conference attendees for over 10 years, created mentoring programs for caterers and flight attendants to broaden their aviation culinary skills, and to assist them in adapting to the unique challenges and constraints found in catering for general aviation. I recognize the need for training and have worked closely with flight departments, flight crews, schedulers and customer service reps at the FBOs to ensure that catering specific training provides information and skills necessary to reduce risk while assisting them in their job duties that include safe food handling, catering security, accurate transmission of food orders, and safe food production, packaging and delivery.

I fell into aviation catering quite by accident. I was the in-house caterer and bakery supplier for Macy’s department stores in Atlanta when catering was ordered for a Macy’s customer which was soon to change my life. After the client enjoyed the catering provided, I was summoned to the client’s corporate office to provide several of the items delivered through Macy’s to the executive dining room. Within a week, I was providing food for the flight department and my first order was for the President of a foreign country (as I was too be told soon after).

So, here I am, some 35 years later, still loving every minute of every day in aviation catering.