Double Yolkers

by Judith Skilleter

a cold Belgian beer

I have a problem with double yolkers, eggs that is. First of all I have to say that double yolkers are a delight when just eating, it is as if you are getting double your money, two for the price of one. There is not much that is as yummy as a double yolked fried or poached egg with lots of soldiers dripping with salty butter. Dip dip yum yum.

And then when the dipping is sadly over there is delight in making the uneaten egg (or is it eggs?), depleted double yolkers with just a fringe of solid golden yellow, into a sandwich. I reckon one double yolker would nicely cover a whole slice of bread to be then covered by a little more salt and a second slice of bread. Of course there are those who would add bacon or other goodies to this edible marvel – and why not. The world is not so constricted that we do not have sandwich choices.

But double yolkers are a nightmare in cooking. Imagine you are making a cake, your butter and sugar is nicely creamed and the recipe says add 2 eggs. What if one of those eggs is a double yolker? Does that count as 2 eggs?  If a further egg was added would that mean you have put in 3eggs or just 2 as advised by the recipe?

There is a saying “Do not over egg the pudding.” The following is from Google

“Over-egg the pudding” is an English phrase and first appeared in the mid-19th century. It originated as a simple literal phrase alluding to the way that baked foods may be spoiled by using too many eggs. 

So is that the answer. By increasing the egginess the chemical imbalance (I don’t know if it is a chemical imbalance but it sounds good and it sounds as if I know what I am talking about) of the baking is altered and the final results are not as good as they might have been.

Another suggestion is that we mustn’t spoil our baking by trying too hard to improve it and I am sure there are some recipes that can be improved by adding an extra egg. But what if we are not trying to improve it. What if we are just baffled by the fact that we have 2 eggs in one egg shell and do not know what to do next?

In my experience this bafflement had led to cakes that taste okay but have a dip in the middle and do not look as if they have just been taken with loving care from Mary Berry’s oven.

There are then two choices. I could then turn the cake over and what do you know, a perfect cake appears but unfortunately my family are not so easily fooled. If the cake is seen before inversion I have memories of comments like “Vesuvius must have looked like this after it erupted in AD79.” Or I might fill the dip with icing or chocolate or fruit and a sort-of flan appears. Comments would then follow like “Was this supposed to look like this?” or “I thought you were making a cake, mum?”

“Grrrr” is often my reply

Needless to say, double yolker advice would be gratefully received.

But not by me!

About the author 

Judith Skilleter is new to writing fiction after a long career in social work and teaching and her first children's novel will be published shortly. She is a Geordie, who settled in East Yorkshire 45 years ago and is married with nearly three grandchildren