Cooking eggs in the vitalizer

"Steam-cooked eggs? But, they're going to run!"

You're right, you need to know a few tips for steam cooking them.

Basically, if you want to boil your eggs, be it soft, medium or hard, you just need to place whole eggs directly on the Vitalizer sieve and boil gently (the water should simmer with little bubbles but not be brought to a rolling boil).

Your eggs should be at room temperature and not removed from cold storage. You know that eggs should never be placed in the fridge as this weakens their internal membrane which means that toxins can actually enter the egg. Incidentally, when you go to a supermarket, if you still shop there, you'll have noticed that eggs are never placed on refrigerated shelves but are always stored separately in cardboard containers.

Cooking times are the same as boiling in water: 3-6-9 minutes; 3 minutes for soft boiled, 6 minutes for medium, 9 minutes for hard. If your eggs are small, reduce cooking by a minute or so.

You can fry an egg in the Vitalizer: cleanse your egg for 20 seconds by placing it directly in the Vitalizer sieve with boiling water, then break it open onto a small plate which you've greased beforehand with Bernard Gaborit butter, coconut fat or a dash of olive oil, then place the plate in the sieve to let the white cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

When you fry your eggs in a frying pan, you will be heating the fat which will break down into acroleins. Bad news for those of you who adore fried eggs: you're also eating toxic products at the same time!

Avoid omelettes as, once the yolk has cooked, it no longer contains this amazing lecithin which helps fight bad cholesterol. Moreover, when cooked as an omelette, eggs are much less easy to digest. Favour eggs with runny yolk. This yolk contains all the amino acids, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, digestible sodium, magnesium, vitamin B12 and folates – vital elements for pregnant women –, carotenoids – such as lutein and zeaxanthin – ever-so important for our eyes and which, moreover, are antioxidants, which reduce free radicals which are extremely harmful for our health.

Avoid raw egg white as it contains avidin, a biotin-binding protein which hinders its absorption. Avidin is inactivated with heat.

Your children will just love baked eggs! Ever-so easy to make, and you have an endless choice of elements which you can mix in the ramekins.

What can I replace eggs with?

If you're egg-intolerant or allergic, which is the case for me, or if you're vegan, there are quite a few natural alternatives.

You can use ground golden flaxseed to make a binding agent by mixing, for example, 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed with 3 to 4 tablespoons of water. You'll obtain a viscous substance which you can use to bind some preparations. Flaxseed oxidizes very quickly however and can become toxic so I advise you to grind the seed when you when you need to use it.

Bananas also contain a sticky substance which you can use to make chocolate cakes without eggs, but you'll have a predominant banana taste. If you like the taste, then no worries.

You can also use the water from jars of chickpeas. It's perfect for making chocolate mousse, macaroons and homemade biscuits, as this juice can be beaten like egg whites to form peaks. Choose jarred chickpea brands which have high water content, the beaten juice is known as "aquafaba". You can use your chickpeas in salads or make hummus by mixing the chickpeas with sesame purée, garlic, some spring water, curcuma and olive oil.

Egg substitutes also exist but I don't use them myself. You can also use agar-agar and kuzu which are interesting as binding agents in quite a few preparations, as well as chia seeds which give preparations a texture similar to that of tapioca. I don't like cereals such as maize or tapioca flour much, as their glycemic index is too high.