PHILOSOPHERS may ponder the chicken-egg question. But for cooks, a far more pressing concern is the yolk-white question. Which comes first depends on whom you ask.
For Danny Meyer, the chief executive of the Union Square Hospitality Group, it is undoubtedly the white, at least on weekdays. Two or three mornings a week, Mr. Meyer eats breakfast at one of the group’s restaurants, Maialino. When he does, he invariably gets the frittata bianca, or egg white frittata, made with sautéed leeks and pecorino.
The frittata was born out of necessity: Maialino’s executive chef, Nick Anderer, had a surplus of egg whites.
“I love eggs in general,” Mr. Anderer said. “I don’t love one part more than another. But I favor egg yolks in sauces, like carbonara sauce, and in making pasta dough, like fettuccine or malfatti. When you make dough, you want to add as little moisture as possible and introduce as much fat as possible, which is coming from the egg yolk and which will give it a soft, velvety texture.”
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