How to Temper Eggs: 5 Steps for Tempering Eggs

Tempering eggs means slowly combining beaten cold eggs or room temperature eggs with a hot liquid without scrambling or curdling the eggs in the process. When you temper eggs correctly, you will activate the egg's thickening power, achieving a rich and silky texture.

To temper eggs, mix a small amount of the hot liquid (such as hot milk, hot water, or soup broth) into the cold eggs to the temperature of the hot liquid. Then, mix the egg in with the rest of the hot liquid. The egg will thoroughly combine with the hot liquid without scrambling if you do this correctly.

Sweet and savory recipes may call for cooks to temper eggs. Some dessert recipes that require tempering eggs include flan, lemon curd, cream pie, pastry cream, crème brûlée, homemade ice cream, pastry cream, crème anglaise, soufflés, and eggnog. Recipes like carbonara sauce, avgolemono, and hollandaise sauce also require tempered eggs.

To temper eggs, you will need a whisk and a ladle. Follow these steps to temper eggs properly:

1. 1. Crack the raw eggs in a bowl. After cracking the eggs, whisk the eggs together. Specific recipes may require whisking only the egg yolks, so be sure to separate the egg whites from the egg yolks.
2. 2. Stream in hot liquid. Slowly stream the hot liquid into the eggs while whisking using a ladle. You can put the bowl of eggs on a dishtowel to prevent the bowl from moving.
3. 3. Assess the temperature. Touch the egg mixture with your finger. If it’s not warm yet, slowly whisk in another ladle of hot liquid. If it’s warm, add the egg mixture into the hot liquid.
4. 4. Thicken the mixture. After combining, you can continue whisking the mixture until the mixture is as thick as you desire. Be sure to scrape the bottom and the sides of the bowl.
5. 5. Strain the mixture. If the final product is chunky, you can run it through a strainer.

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