Back to the Blog with a Word about Eggs

It seems like forever but it has only been a few weeks since I last posted.  I took some time off and when I returned we moved right into planning our Big Bowl Chef’s Conference; a great event that concluded yesterday afternoon.   I’ll have more about the Chef’s Conference in a later posting.

These past two weeks there has been a lot of talk in the news about food safety, especially eggs.  We use a lot of eggs at Big Bowl. Can you imagine our Pad Thai without a fresh scrambled egg?  The recent Salmonella outbreak has a lot of guests asking how we handle our eggs.  Six years ago when Big Bowl came back under the umbrella of Lettuce Entertain You, Big Bowl chefs wanted to switch from frozen eggs packed in their cardboard carton to fresh shell eggs.  We loved the flavor and texture of eggs cracked fresh from the shell.  After careful consideration and direction from Carrol Symank, Vice President of Food Safety for Lettuce Entertain you, we began using fresh eggs pasteurized in their shell.  Pasteurization is a process which involves heating a substance to a temperature which is too high for bacteria and viruses to survive.  Making pasteurized shell eggs is a bit tricky. The goal is to kill any harmful bacteria or viruses in and on the eggs, without actually cooking the eggs. This requires special equipment with very precise temperatures.  In addition to using pasteurized eggs, we refrigerate our eggs and fully cook them to order.

These eggs cost more but Big Bowl is committed to your health and safety and serving great food.  A pasteurized shell egg allows us to do both.  We hope you enjoy your Pad Thai with the same confidence that we serve it.