Most people, if they have heard of tempering at all, have heard about tempering chocolate to make it strong and shiny. There is another form of tempering that you should be practicing in your kitchen, and that is the tempering of of eggs.
Why do eggs need to be tempered?
If you have ever dumped eggs into hot or warm liquid and watched those eggs curdle or scramble? If so, you know first hand the need for tempering eggs. There are techniques to use when blending ingredients of different temperatures, so that you don’t wind up with negative results, such as eggs scrambling. Tempering also helps to open up the protein molecules in your food which encourages bonding via a protein web (which is why tempered chocolate is stronger than non-tempered chocolate).
Tempering eggs is usually done when making a custard, an egg-based sauce or other recipes in which eggs are used to thicken. Even if you don’t normally make such dishes, you may find the need for tempering eggs in every day cooking. A good example is a muffin recipe that includes both eggs and melted butter. You can cool the butter a bit, but in order for it to be liquid, it still needs to be warm.
To temper eggs, you add a small amount of the hot or warm liquid to the beaten eggs. This will warm up the eggs a little bit without curdling or cooking them; it also tend to raise the temperature at which the eggs will scramble, so they can take warmer heat. With the temperature of the eggs matching more closely to the temperature of the warm or hot liquid, there is less likely to be a negative result when you mix them.
Try tempering eggs for yourself and see if it makes a difference in your recipes!