February 15, 2025 • 30 mins
Looking for a good egg substitute for your baking? Whether you’re vegan, trying to cut back on cholesterol, or just want to try something new, there are plenty of great egg alternatives that can help you make tasty treats with the perfect texture. With egg prices climbing, many people are looking to raise their own chickens for eggs. The rising prices are mainly due to the spread of Avian Flu.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, it's Neil Savedra.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
You're listening to KFIM six forty the Fork Report on
demand on the iHeartRadio app. Hey, happy Saturday to you.
It's the Fork Report. I am your well fed host,
Neil Savedra. Had do you do? I had a little
rain this week. That was nice, right, mostly depending on
where you lived, but that was quite nice. As we
(00:24):
slip into the middle Febuary, I know, right, yesterday was
Valentine's Day and that came by quickly. I hope yours
was lovely. All right, we got a lot to get
into today. You've got Dine Out Long Beach is coming
(00:44):
up next week, and then in March, you've got Orange
County Restaurant Week, so we'll get into that a little
bit later.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
All kinds to get into.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I will be breaking down some questions I got asked
about a eggs and the cost of eggs, and things
like why are chickens and rotisserie chickens and the like
not as expensive or not on the rise, like eggs
are all that stuff, what the Avian flu is and
(01:16):
all those concerns. But first, with technique of the week,
I wanted to start out on eggs substitutes. What do
eggs do in baking? And if you need to make
something and you either don't have eggs, maybe you can't
eat eggs or you can't find them for some reason.
So if you're looking for a good substitute for baking,
(01:39):
and again you could be watching your cholesterol. Although talk
to your doctor. I'm not a doctor. Most recent studies
show that cholesterol food cholesterol does not change your actual
cholesterol to the degree that they once thought, and eggs
are always getting beat up for that. But anyways, once again,
(02:00):
not a doctor, just a guy with a brain between
his ears. Plenty of great egg alternatives out there. You
might be surprised by some of them, so some people
swap them out for different reasons, dietary allergies, lifestyle choices.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Right now, you've got the rise of the price of
eggs very unpredictable. In addition to the cost of eggs
going up, what always happens is a run on something
I think Trader Joe's, Costco. All these places are limiting
how many you can get at a time, how many
(02:38):
cartons of eggs you can get at a time. So
regardless of the reason why you have to change an ingredient.
Maybe you just don't have it on hand. Eggs are
one of those things that you should know how to
swap them out. It's not always going to be perfect
and different youages or different solutions how about that are
(03:06):
going to be better for certain recipes and less good
for others. So you'll kind of work through it as
you learn. So eggs, what are they used for in baking?
There for a few couple reason. They bind things together, right,
we use them for binding. We do this for you know,
if you're going to be putting flour on the outside
(03:30):
of something, flour and your spices like fried chicken. There's
a lot of reasons why you might bind breading or
breadcrumbs to the outside of something. They create a great texture,
They add air, light, fluffy results come from using eggs.
(03:51):
These qualities are key when you're making baked goods. They
create structure so that air can get it inside to
make crunch or airy, pillowy goodness. So a couple of
things to try is now you'll know what this is,
but you probably won't recognize it by this name.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Aqua faba.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Now, aqua faba is the liquid if you've ever gotten
canned chickpeas. It's that cloudy ish liquid that's in canned chickpeas.
That stuff is golden. Never throw it out, especially if
you're making your own. Your own hummus is the word
(04:34):
I was looking for. Thank you, Neil, hummus. If you're
making your own hummus, you want to keep that because
instead of thinning it out with water, you want that aquafaba.
It is silky and smooth and wonderful, super versatile.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
You can whip it into a foam. It's great for
cakes and meringues.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Use three tablespoons of that aqua faba for each egg,
and you start learning these ratios, and that's how you're
gonna build your arsenal of what to separate and what
to substitute. Flax Seed eggs. Flax seed's interesting. Flax Seed
meal when you mix it with water, creates this kind
(05:18):
of gel like texture. Might be a little creepy sometimes,
but great for binding ingredients and muffins, stuffing those types
of things. And you make an egg equivalent by combining
one tablespoon of flax seed meal with three tablespoons of water.
(05:38):
You let it sit for a few minutes so that
it imbibes in the flax seed meal and then it
starts getting that kind of slick, that slick kind of
it's so weird, quite honestly. It is a little gelatin
like loose gelatin. Like I'm trying to find words that
(06:01):
are that don't sound gross, and I guess my brain,
still fighting the crud, cannot come at anything. Yeah, they're
just slick and a little slimy, but so as an
egg as an egg, right, So it combines and that's
kind of the purpose there. So that's how you do
it to make a one egg equivalent. Combine one tablespoon
(06:24):
a flax seed meal with three tablespoons of water. You
let it sit for a few minutes, and that's gonna
take care of you.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
There.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Okay, I've got some more when we come back our
technique of the week. I know there's a shortage of
sorts with eggs. They're incredibly, incredibly expensive right now when
you think of it comparatively to what they've been, when
you think of the amount of protein you get for
an egg, I mean some places you're you know, twelve bucks.
(06:53):
They're like a buck and egg. In some places. Your
average right now is probably nine dollars a car and
or something like that for Curtain of twelve. I may
be off a little bit there, quite honestly, my wife
does the shopping most days. I used to the stone
is more as much as I used to. Sorry, Sue me.
(07:14):
I know I'm a four reporter. I should do the
shopping AnyWho. It actually is pretty good when you think
of the protein and what you're getting vitamin wise from
an egg. But I know we do it comparatively to
what they used to be. So not only will I
come back with some more substitutions for eggs after this,
we'll get into what's going on, why the prices are
(07:37):
going up?
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Are they going to come down? If so? Win all
that stuff so go Nowhere is what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
You're listening to the Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
How do you do on this fine Saturday.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Nice to have some rain this past week and looking
forward to the week to come as well. We're talking
about eggs for Technique of the Week, talking about eggs substitutes.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
There's a lot going on with eggs.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I'm going to get it into the details of all
that coming up prices. When can we see relief if
we're going to at all, why is it that we
see it in eggs and not necessarily in poultry, in
you in the chickens themselves, when it comes to rotisseri
or buying a whole chicken or rub parts. I'll get
(08:26):
into all that, but I wanted to start with substitutes
because that kind of is more in line with technique
of the week. So we went through some and I'm
going to move forward. Another one that you can use.
Another item in your kitchen that you can use to
substitute eggs if you need to for baking is over
ripe bananas. So if you mash half of one, it's
(08:48):
about a quarter cup that'll replace one egg. Now, for
brownies or cakes, it works out perfectly, lovely. It gives
a little bit of that fruit fruity flavor, but they're sweet.
You've get extra potassium in there, so as long you
don't have heart issues you worry about, that's a great
(09:11):
thing and works wonderfully. Bananas aren't truly neutral as far
as their their flavor, but that kind of creamy fattiness
vibe is quite helpful and it works out nice in
a brown ear cake. Non dairy yogurts, so non dairy
yogurts like made out of soy or almond. Some even
(09:35):
are cashew based. They're creamy and they wait, they work
very well as egg substitutes, and you use a quarter
cup for each egg. Now, if somebody's just tuning in
right now, don't I don't want you to think that
I'm talking about making an omelet or something. That's not
what these are four. What they are for is to
(09:57):
use in baking, to substitute in baking. There that's really
where you're going to get the best out of these things.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
All right, non dairy yogurt.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
There are some eggs substitutes that are there for different reasons.
Let's say they're there for people that can't do eggs
and that could be their analogy or something like that,
or vegans and the like. People that live a plant
based diet don't wan any of those things. They still,
(10:28):
you know, are good for use in a case like this.
If you're looking for the protein of eggs, or you're
looking to bake something and you need some of the structure,
you can use things like just egg. It's a plant
based product. It's designed to taste, to cook and to
(10:50):
look like real eggs. It works great in everything from baking.
You can the thing with some of these. You can
use them as scrambles, you can use them as an omelet.
It's about three to four tablespoon equals an actual egg,
So keep that in your head and you should be
just vundebah for that, all right.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Apple sauce, now I've loved this.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Apple sauce is moist it's sweet, so it does add
the moisture. That's something more fatty like an egg wood
a little bit of sweetness to it. And these things
work very nicely. So it's easy to keep in your pantry.
If it's not opened, it's shelf stable, and then you
(11:35):
put it in the fridge. Works well to keep that
moisture in, like I said, and that's one of the
reasons why we use fat, yes for structure, but also
for moisture. So you use a quarter cup for each egg.
Unsweetened is best. If you want to try and hit
that neutral flavor, you can use cinnamon. They make cinnamon
(11:56):
apple sauce if you want to kick up that partinular
flavor in your baked goods. Could be really nice, you know,
let's say you're making like a I don't know, a
spice muffin or something like that, or that type of
thing works out great.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Silken tofu. Now it's a great option.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
It adds proteins, It can do the binding of ingredients
together that eggs are so good at, perfect for things
like a cheesecake. You purreate about you pure about a
quarter cup. You see how this is kind of with
some of those moist softer ingredients.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
A quarter cup kind of hits it.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
That replaces one egg back in the flax seed type category.
Chia seeds you don't know what they are.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Chuc cha cha chia, chut chut chu chia.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Those seeds so chia seeds. They're full of nutrients and
they're really great. They make that gel as well like
flax seed when mixed with water. Healthy alternative if you're
gonna put them in your morning muffins or casserole or
something like that up. So mix one tablespoon of chia
seeds again like the flax seeds, with three tablespoons of water,
(13:06):
and that makes a chia egg a substitute for that.
There's also a brand called enter hyphen G Egg Replacer
it's again one of these egg replacers for plant based people,
that types of things. So one box can replace about
one hundred eggs, so that's pretty darn good. Works good
(13:29):
in cookies, works good in bread. Each egg, you want
to mix one and a half tablespoons of powder with
one tablespoon of warm water. Another thing is canned pumpkin.
You can often find can canned pump a little canned pumpkin.
It'll work good for the proper things like a spice cake,
(13:50):
about a quarter cup each for an egg replacement. Cornstarch
good common kitchen ingredient can help bind baked goods, custards,
putting mix one tablespoon of cornstarch three tablespoons of water
to replace an egg. Vinegar and baking soda is an
interesting one, so you know the science experiment the combining
(14:11):
vinegar with baking soda. So baking soda being sodium bicarbonate,
reacts to acid vinegar as the acid it creates the
bubbly bubbly goodness. It can work as an egg substitute
in certain six circumstances where you're using it to make
things fluffy, so bread, biscuits, freez egg combine one teaspoon
(14:33):
of baking soda with one tablespoon of vinegar and that
should take care of you.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Just keep in mind some.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Of these are going to work really well with certain
situations and not as well with others.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
You're gonna have to experiment. Stick around.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
It's the fork punch, forkard punch. What is wrong with
my mouth today? I'm excited to be here, I guess
is what it is? All right, We'll be back with
ware as we cover more about the egg shortage, what
that means to cost and why is it going to
go away when we come back, So go no where.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
You're listening to the Fork Report with Nil Sevedra on
demand from KFI.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
How do you do?
Speaker 2 (15:09):
We come together every Saturday from two to five and
we just celebrate food, the people that make food, the
people that you know are in hospitality, recipes. We talk
science anything dealing with food for the most part, and
of course beverages as they play a part as well.
(15:31):
So today we're kind of I'm still eyeballs deep in
talking about eggs because they're on everybody's mind, and so
I don't have the clip in front of me, but
one of the listeners, one of you listeners hit me
up on talkback and asked me about why the bird
(15:52):
flu is making egg prices spike but not the cost
of chicken like rotisseri. I think that's what I was
talking about maybe rotie chicken last week, and it triggered
the question about that. So let's break this down a
little bit. Chicken raised for meat and chickens raised for
(16:12):
eggs are two different types of chickens that are raised
in two different types of ways.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
So that's the first.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Thing to keep in mind is they're not really comparable
in the same way, in the same sense because of
these things. So chickens raised for meat they're called broilers.
That is, the chicken that are like rotisserie chickens, or
if you buy a whole chicken, or if you even
buy the parts of the chicken, different from egg laying hens.
Two types of chickens are raised on completely separate farms,
(16:45):
separate areas for separate reasons, so the systems are totally different.
Avian influenza hits egg laying farms much harder than broiler
farms the vast majority of the time, just because of
these circumstances, So egg farms tend to be in what
(17:08):
they call flyway areas major flyway areas, so imagine like
car highways are to us, but these are for birds.
So they're kind of where a lot of birds go,
so more opportunities to come in contact with migratory birds,
and they're the ones, like anything else, that are going
to spread. If they're going having more contact, they're going
(17:29):
to spread more disease that way, So that puts them
in more risk as being an egg laying hen, just
because of where they're raised and how they're raised. Another
reason bird flu is less common for broiler farms, and
those are the chickens that we eat, is the truth
(17:50):
of the matter is they don't stick around long. Broiler chickens,
the eating chickens are typically slaughtered at six to eight
weeks old, much less time to get infected. Because the
hens that are used for laying eggs naturally, because you're
(18:11):
not well killing them for what they bring to the party,
they're around a way lot long. They're way longer than
the broiler or eating chickens, the meat chickens, so the
bird flu is going to affect them differently. Because of
that bird flu outbreak has caused egg prices obviously, to skyrocket,
(18:33):
reaching an average of four point fifteen per dozen back
in December. That was sixty five percent higher than the
previous year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Now
Here in California right now, they're even nuttier on average.
From what I'm seeing in your regular grosser, they're approaching
(18:55):
or knocking on the door of nine bucks a dozen.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
You may see that.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
I know you may be screaming right now. No, I've
seen them much higher, and you might have, depending on
the type or the brand or these types of things.
But I checked at our local grocer and they were
around nine bucks, which is insane. I asked my wife,
(19:21):
and I was like, where the price is? Because I
don't always shop at the grocery store. My wife tends to,
and when I do, I may have something delivered, or
I just kind of I'm not really looking, I guess
unless something really strikes me.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Where the total? And I go, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
But it's been a minute, so I know that some
of you may be screaming saying no, it's way way
more here, or some of you may be going, no,
it's lower here. Welcome to southern California. It's a pretty
big place. So with prices high as they are, what
does that mean? If you walk into your local grocer
right now or Walmart, Costco, whatever traded Joe's, You're going
(20:06):
to probably see a bunch of shoppers hanging around the
egg aisle. Either they're freaking out about the high prices
or they're frustrated with empty shelves, which is a big
problem right now. That is absolutely an issue. So all
the regular sized cartons are gone, you know, you're dozen
(20:27):
up and gone in most places. People are obviously getting concerned,
which is why earlier we talked about substitutions for eggs.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Go back and listen to that. If he didn't listen
to technique the week.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
So across the country, people facing the higher prices, they're
facing empty egg shelves. And this has always been a
cheap and easy source of protein for us. Here's the
even worse news. It might get worse. So egg prices
have been all over the place. They fluctuate all the time,
(20:58):
and part of that's due to inflation. The other is
due to the Avian flu, which is what we've talked about,
that bird flu, that outbreak that hit the US in
twenty twenty two, is still going on.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
So the H five N one virus has.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Infected or killed around one hundred and thirty six million birds,
and the situation continues to get worse. So over the
last three months, another thirty million chickens, that's about ten
percent of the country's egg laying chickens, have been killed,
(21:34):
and most of that is to stop the spread of
the disease so they don't lose more chickens. So we're
looking at months at least before the egg laying chickens
population kind of gets back to normal levels. Imagine this,
that's about three hundred and eighteen million chickens. That's almost
(21:55):
a chicken for every person in the US, So we
need to get back to that to have some normalcy.
This is the absolute worst wave of bird flu outbreak
we've seen since it started back in twenty two, twenty
twenty two. So this particular hit has been the farms
(22:18):
that supply retail stores. That's why we're seeing you, That's
why there's this major gap in the supply. So it's
probably gonna be months at least before it kind of
levels out at all. Keep that in mind when you're
buy an eggs all right, stick around more to come.
You've been listening to the Fork Report, you can always
hear us live on KFI AM six forty two to
(22:40):
five pm on Saturday and anytime on demand on the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Reminding you that, man.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
There is a lot going on when it comes to
chickens and eggs. Hey, I want to remind you next
a little bit of Next Saturday, we are broadcasting from
go So on the twenty second, we'll be broadcasting from Morongo.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
That's gonna be awesome.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
And they always do such a good job showing us
the new foods, letting us taste them, and I hope
you'll join me for that. It's always a good time
and they always have such interesting stuff to try, so
good things indeed. Then, and also another special Oscar show
on March first. We'll be doing a special Oscars show
(23:28):
on the first from the museum there on Wilshire, so
the Academy Museum, and we'll give you some details on
that coming up. And lastly, want to remind you that
and this actually came from you folks asking me about
my art background and my background as a maker and
things that I love to do on the side, and
(23:51):
you know, other than radio, and so I went ahead
and started an Instagram for that. If you'd like to
join me there. You like our to you like pop culture,
you know, Star Wars, all kinds of things like that,
Join me there. It's at savco Industries SAA v COO Industries,
(24:16):
and that's my new account. I still am doing Folk
Reporter that's never going anywhere, but this is for those
of you who might want to hang out with me
on a more you know, the stuff that I like
to do and artists that I like, stuff that I
purchased and I'm excited about stuff that I make around
here showing you my shop and stuff like that. So
(24:39):
again on Instagram, SAA v COO Industries, and I'd love
to have you join me there. I have a good
time and it's slowly growing. It's only had it for
a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Okay, more egg talk. I get it.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
I know it's a lot of egg talk, but man,
I've been getting so many questions. I want to answer
them the best I can. So we've talked about the
Avian flu bird flu and the problems it causes with
egg laying hens and why it causes more problems with
them than like the meat or what they call the
broiler hens, not hens, broiler chickens, and those are the
(25:19):
ones that we eat. So your rotisserie chicken and the
meat that you find at a butcher or at your
local grosser, it's.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Not affecting them in the same way.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Because well I already explained all that, so you can
go back and listen to the podcast. I want to
move into raising backyard chickens because that's another question I got,
and that is very popular.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Now.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
I don't raise them myself. Our good buddy Dean Sharp
does he and Tina have a killer set up? As
a matter of fact, it's like an adu for chickens.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
This is the breakdown of the information I've gathered from
looking at all this egg price is climbing. We see
that people look to raise their own chickens for eggs.
I get that the Avian flu is a massive part
of the raising costs, not the only There is inflation
as well.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Now.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Tom Tabler, is a poultry scientist at the ut Animal
Science Department, says backyard chickens are becoming popular across the US. However,
if you're thinking of raising chickens to save money on
eggs might not be as cheap as you think, so
break this down. Truth is, eggs are expensive. We know that,
(26:32):
especially here in California. Some of the highest prices on
eggs are right here in our own backyard, which is
a bummer not your backyard, but I mean at our
local grosser. Chickens can be expensive too once you factor
factory in all the costs, the coop, the run, the
feed supplies like feeders or drinkers or any of these things.
So the biggest upfront cost is going to be building
(26:54):
a safe and a safe and clean environment for the
hens to lay their eggs.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
That can range from a few hundred.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Bucks or a few or several thousands of dollars depending
on how you build it, what the materials, all materials are.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
And so on. Adult egg laying chickens can cost it
to sixty bucks each.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
That's not too bad, but when you get into the
feed for your chickens, you can be as cheap as
twenty bucks for a bag of chicken feed, which is
pretty low here. I think in California you'll pay more
for that. You could go out and buy treats like
meal worms or a black fly larva or these types
of things, and that gets into more money. Egg laying
(27:42):
hens love scratch grains, things like cracked corn, black sunflower seeds,
proteins like meal worms. When you start doing that and
treating them, you know, lovingly like that, I mean, not
that you're not treating them lovely if you don't give
them me away anyways, that's when it starts to get pricey.
(28:04):
And once you get up into those prices and you
go down that particular road, then buying eggs from the
store might actually be cheaper. Chickens need daily care, and
that means rain or shine. You gotta be focused on that.
Some hens even take a break from laying eggs in
the winter, depending on your area and how cold it is.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Now.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Regarding the taste, regarding the quality of eggs coming from
your own chickens, nothing's going to beat it.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Nothing. My sister in law my brother in law live.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
In Arizona and they have a farm ranch, and you're
just you're just not going to have anything like it.
They're just gorgeous in color, they're fresh, the consistency, everything
about them is beautiful. However, the Avian flu is still
(28:58):
around and still causing problems, so even if you have
backyard chickens, they could be at risk. The virus can
still spread through it's the nasal secretion, so it's the
nose and droppings of wild birds and it causes problems.
So it depends where you live again and if you
(29:19):
have migrating or strange birds coming around your neighborhood. So
backyard hens egg hens doesn't mean that you're not going
to have any bird flu issues. You're thinking about starting
a back yard flock, just think about what you're getting into.
Might not be the best time right now because migrating
(29:40):
birds cause that problem.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
If you move ahead with it.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Just quarantine any new birds for at least a month.
Follow biosecurity measures. That's all about isolation, traffic control, sanitation,
keep your coup clean and dry. These will help prevent
those problems. If you're thinking about starting your own, there's
some experts out there that are into backyard egg farming,
(30:04):
and they say my recommendation is getting a fertilized AA
or a one day old chicken keeps things more affordable.
But you got to wait six months before your chickens
start laying eggs, and for an average sized family. Some
suggestions say four to six chickens. Sounds like a lot
of poop. That's what I hear, a lot of chicken poop.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
You're listening to The Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from KFI AM Sixt
Hey, it's Neil Savedra.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
You're listening to KFIM six forty the Fork Report on
demand on the iHeartRadio app. Hey, happy Saturday to you.
It's the Fork Report. I am your well fed host,
Neil Savedra. Had do you do? I had a little
rain this week. That was nice, right, mostly depending on
where you lived, but that was quite nice. As we
(00:24):
slip into the middle Febuary, I know, right, yesterday was
Valentine's Day and that came by quickly. I hope yours
was lovely. All right, we got a lot to get
into today. You've got Dine Out Long Beach is coming
(00:44):
up next week, and then in March, you've got Orange
County Restaurant Week, so we'll get into that a little
bit later.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
All kinds to get into.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I will be breaking down some questions I got asked
about a eggs and the cost of eggs, and things
like why are chickens and rotisserie chickens and the like
not as expensive or not on the rise, like eggs
are all that stuff, what the Avian flu is and
(01:16):
all those concerns. But first, with technique of the week,
I wanted to start out on eggs substitutes. What do
eggs do in baking? And if you need to make
something and you either don't have eggs, maybe you can't
eat eggs or you can't find them for some reason.
So if you're looking for a good substitute for baking,
(01:39):
and again you could be watching your cholesterol. Although talk
to your doctor. I'm not a doctor. Most recent studies
show that cholesterol food cholesterol does not change your actual
cholesterol to the degree that they once thought, and eggs
are always getting beat up for that. But anyways, once again,
(02:00):
not a doctor, just a guy with a brain between
his ears. Plenty of great egg alternatives out there. You
might be surprised by some of them, so some people
swap them out for different reasons, dietary allergies, lifestyle choices.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Right now, you've got the rise of the price of
eggs very unpredictable. In addition to the cost of eggs
going up, what always happens is a run on something
I think Trader Joe's, Costco. All these places are limiting
how many you can get at a time, how many
(02:38):
cartons of eggs you can get at a time. So
regardless of the reason why you have to change an ingredient.
Maybe you just don't have it on hand. Eggs are
one of those things that you should know how to
swap them out. It's not always going to be perfect
and different youages or different solutions how about that are
(03:06):
going to be better for certain recipes and less good
for others. So you'll kind of work through it as
you learn. So eggs, what are they used for in baking?
There for a few couple reason. They bind things together, right,
we use them for binding. We do this for you know,
if you're going to be putting flour on the outside
(03:30):
of something, flour and your spices like fried chicken. There's
a lot of reasons why you might bind breading or
breadcrumbs to the outside of something. They create a great texture,
They add air, light, fluffy results come from using eggs.
(03:51):
These qualities are key when you're making baked goods. They
create structure so that air can get it inside to
make crunch or airy, pillowy goodness. So a couple of
things to try is now you'll know what this is,
but you probably won't recognize it by this name.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Aqua faba.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Now, aqua faba is the liquid if you've ever gotten
canned chickpeas. It's that cloudy ish liquid that's in canned chickpeas.
That stuff is golden. Never throw it out, especially if
you're making your own. Your own hummus is the word
(04:34):
I was looking for. Thank you, Neil, hummus. If you're
making your own hummus, you want to keep that because
instead of thinning it out with water, you want that aquafaba.
It is silky and smooth and wonderful, super versatile.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
You can whip it into a foam. It's great for
cakes and meringues.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Use three tablespoons of that aqua faba for each egg,
and you start learning these ratios, and that's how you're
gonna build your arsenal of what to separate and what
to substitute. Flax Seed eggs. Flax seed's interesting. Flax Seed
meal when you mix it with water, creates this kind
(05:18):
of gel like texture. Might be a little creepy sometimes,
but great for binding ingredients and muffins, stuffing those types
of things. And you make an egg equivalent by combining
one tablespoon of flax seed meal with three tablespoons of water.
(05:38):
You let it sit for a few minutes so that
it imbibes in the flax seed meal and then it
starts getting that kind of slick, that slick kind of
it's so weird, quite honestly. It is a little gelatin
like loose gelatin. Like I'm trying to find words that
(06:01):
are that don't sound gross, and I guess my brain,
still fighting the crud, cannot come at anything. Yeah, they're
just slick and a little slimy, but so as an
egg as an egg, right, So it combines and that's
kind of the purpose there. So that's how you do
it to make a one egg equivalent. Combine one tablespoon
(06:24):
a flax seed meal with three tablespoons of water. You
let it sit for a few minutes, and that's gonna
take care of you.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
There.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Okay, I've got some more when we come back our
technique of the week. I know there's a shortage of
sorts with eggs. They're incredibly, incredibly expensive right now when
you think of it comparatively to what they've been, when
you think of the amount of protein you get for
an egg, I mean some places you're you know, twelve bucks.
(06:53):
They're like a buck and egg. In some places. Your
average right now is probably nine dollars a car and
or something like that for Curtain of twelve. I may
be off a little bit there, quite honestly, my wife
does the shopping most days. I used to the stone
is more as much as I used to. Sorry, Sue me.
(07:14):
I know I'm a four reporter. I should do the
shopping AnyWho. It actually is pretty good when you think
of the protein and what you're getting vitamin wise from
an egg. But I know we do it comparatively to
what they used to be. So not only will I
come back with some more substitutions for eggs after this,
we'll get into what's going on, why the prices are
(07:37):
going up?
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Are they going to come down? If so? Win all
that stuff so go Nowhere is what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
You're listening to the Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
How do you do on this fine Saturday.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Nice to have some rain this past week and looking
forward to the week to come as well. We're talking
about eggs for Technique of the Week, talking about eggs substitutes.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
There's a lot going on with eggs.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I'm going to get it into the details of all
that coming up prices. When can we see relief if
we're going to at all, why is it that we
see it in eggs and not necessarily in poultry, in
you in the chickens themselves, when it comes to rotisseri
or buying a whole chicken or rub parts. I'll get
(08:26):
into all that, but I wanted to start with substitutes
because that kind of is more in line with technique
of the week. So we went through some and I'm
going to move forward. Another one that you can use.
Another item in your kitchen that you can use to
substitute eggs if you need to for baking is over
ripe bananas. So if you mash half of one, it's
(08:48):
about a quarter cup that'll replace one egg. Now, for
brownies or cakes, it works out perfectly, lovely. It gives
a little bit of that fruit fruity flavor, but they're sweet.
You've get extra potassium in there, so as long you
don't have heart issues you worry about, that's a great
(09:11):
thing and works wonderfully. Bananas aren't truly neutral as far
as their their flavor, but that kind of creamy fattiness
vibe is quite helpful and it works out nice in
a brown ear cake. Non dairy yogurts, so non dairy
yogurts like made out of soy or almond. Some even
(09:35):
are cashew based. They're creamy and they wait, they work
very well as egg substitutes, and you use a quarter
cup for each egg. Now, if somebody's just tuning in
right now, don't I don't want you to think that
I'm talking about making an omelet or something. That's not
what these are four. What they are for is to
(09:57):
use in baking, to substitute in baking. There that's really
where you're going to get the best out of these things.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
All right, non dairy yogurt.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
There are some eggs substitutes that are there for different reasons.
Let's say they're there for people that can't do eggs
and that could be their analogy or something like that,
or vegans and the like. People that live a plant
based diet don't wan any of those things. They still,
(10:28):
you know, are good for use in a case like this.
If you're looking for the protein of eggs, or you're
looking to bake something and you need some of the structure,
you can use things like just egg. It's a plant
based product. It's designed to taste, to cook and to
(10:50):
look like real eggs. It works great in everything from baking.
You can the thing with some of these. You can
use them as scrambles, you can use them as an omelet.
It's about three to four tablespoon equals an actual egg,
So keep that in your head and you should be
just vundebah for that, all right.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Apple sauce, now I've loved this.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Apple sauce is moist it's sweet, so it does add
the moisture. That's something more fatty like an egg wood
a little bit of sweetness to it. And these things
work very nicely. So it's easy to keep in your pantry.
If it's not opened, it's shelf stable, and then you
(11:35):
put it in the fridge. Works well to keep that
moisture in, like I said, and that's one of the
reasons why we use fat, yes for structure, but also
for moisture. So you use a quarter cup for each egg.
Unsweetened is best. If you want to try and hit
that neutral flavor, you can use cinnamon. They make cinnamon
(11:56):
apple sauce if you want to kick up that partinular
flavor in your baked goods. Could be really nice, you know,
let's say you're making like a I don't know, a
spice muffin or something like that, or that type of
thing works out great.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Silken tofu. Now it's a great option.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
It adds proteins, It can do the binding of ingredients
together that eggs are so good at, perfect for things
like a cheesecake. You purreate about you pure about a
quarter cup. You see how this is kind of with
some of those moist softer ingredients.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
A quarter cup kind of hits it.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
That replaces one egg back in the flax seed type category.
Chia seeds you don't know what they are.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Chuc cha cha chia, chut chut chu chia.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Those seeds so chia seeds. They're full of nutrients and
they're really great. They make that gel as well like
flax seed when mixed with water. Healthy alternative if you're
gonna put them in your morning muffins or casserole or
something like that up. So mix one tablespoon of chia
seeds again like the flax seeds, with three tablespoons of water,
(13:06):
and that makes a chia egg a substitute for that.
There's also a brand called enter hyphen G Egg Replacer
it's again one of these egg replacers for plant based people,
that types of things. So one box can replace about
one hundred eggs, so that's pretty darn good. Works good
(13:29):
in cookies, works good in bread. Each egg, you want
to mix one and a half tablespoons of powder with
one tablespoon of warm water. Another thing is canned pumpkin.
You can often find can canned pump a little canned pumpkin.
It'll work good for the proper things like a spice cake,
(13:50):
about a quarter cup each for an egg replacement. Cornstarch
good common kitchen ingredient can help bind baked goods, custards,
putting mix one tablespoon of cornstarch three tablespoons of water
to replace an egg. Vinegar and baking soda is an
interesting one, so you know the science experiment the combining
(14:11):
vinegar with baking soda. So baking soda being sodium bicarbonate,
reacts to acid vinegar as the acid it creates the
bubbly bubbly goodness. It can work as an egg substitute
in certain six circumstances where you're using it to make
things fluffy, so bread, biscuits, freez egg combine one teaspoon
(14:33):
of baking soda with one tablespoon of vinegar and that
should take care of you.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Just keep in mind some.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Of these are going to work really well with certain
situations and not as well with others.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
You're gonna have to experiment. Stick around.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
It's the fork punch, forkard punch. What is wrong with
my mouth today? I'm excited to be here, I guess
is what it is? All right, We'll be back with
ware as we cover more about the egg shortage, what
that means to cost and why is it going to
go away when we come back, So go no where.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
You're listening to the Fork Report with Nil Sevedra on
demand from KFI.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
How do you do?
Speaker 2 (15:09):
We come together every Saturday from two to five and
we just celebrate food, the people that make food, the
people that you know are in hospitality, recipes. We talk
science anything dealing with food for the most part, and
of course beverages as they play a part as well.
(15:31):
So today we're kind of I'm still eyeballs deep in
talking about eggs because they're on everybody's mind, and so
I don't have the clip in front of me, but
one of the listeners, one of you listeners hit me
up on talkback and asked me about why the bird
(15:52):
flu is making egg prices spike but not the cost
of chicken like rotisseri. I think that's what I was
talking about maybe rotie chicken last week, and it triggered
the question about that. So let's break this down a
little bit. Chicken raised for meat and chickens raised for
(16:12):
eggs are two different types of chickens that are raised
in two different types of ways.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
So that's the first.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Thing to keep in mind is they're not really comparable
in the same way, in the same sense because of
these things. So chickens raised for meat they're called broilers.
That is, the chicken that are like rotisserie chickens, or
if you buy a whole chicken, or if you even
buy the parts of the chicken, different from egg laying hens.
Two types of chickens are raised on completely separate farms,
(16:45):
separate areas for separate reasons, so the systems are totally different.
Avian influenza hits egg laying farms much harder than broiler
farms the vast majority of the time, just because of
these circumstances, So egg farms tend to be in what
(17:08):
they call flyway areas major flyway areas, so imagine like
car highways are to us, but these are for birds.
So they're kind of where a lot of birds go,
so more opportunities to come in contact with migratory birds,
and they're the ones, like anything else, that are going
to spread. If they're going having more contact, they're going
(17:29):
to spread more disease that way, So that puts them
in more risk as being an egg laying hen, just
because of where they're raised and how they're raised. Another
reason bird flu is less common for broiler farms, and
those are the chickens that we eat, is the truth
(17:50):
of the matter is they don't stick around long. Broiler chickens,
the eating chickens are typically slaughtered at six to eight
weeks old, much less time to get infected. Because the
hens that are used for laying eggs naturally, because you're
(18:11):
not well killing them for what they bring to the party,
they're around a way lot long. They're way longer than
the broiler or eating chickens, the meat chickens, so the
bird flu is going to affect them differently. Because of
that bird flu outbreak has caused egg prices obviously, to skyrocket,
(18:33):
reaching an average of four point fifteen per dozen back
in December. That was sixty five percent higher than the
previous year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Now
Here in California right now, they're even nuttier on average.
From what I'm seeing in your regular grosser, they're approaching
(18:55):
or knocking on the door of nine bucks a dozen.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
You may see that.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
I know you may be screaming right now. No, I've
seen them much higher, and you might have, depending on
the type or the brand or these types of things.
But I checked at our local grocer and they were
around nine bucks, which is insane. I asked my wife,
(19:21):
and I was like, where the price is? Because I
don't always shop at the grocery store. My wife tends to,
and when I do, I may have something delivered, or
I just kind of I'm not really looking, I guess
unless something really strikes me.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Where the total? And I go, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
But it's been a minute, so I know that some
of you may be screaming saying no, it's way way
more here, or some of you may be going, no,
it's lower here. Welcome to southern California. It's a pretty
big place. So with prices high as they are, what
does that mean? If you walk into your local grocer
right now or Walmart, Costco, whatever traded Joe's, You're going
(20:06):
to probably see a bunch of shoppers hanging around the
egg aisle. Either they're freaking out about the high prices
or they're frustrated with empty shelves, which is a big
problem right now. That is absolutely an issue. So all
the regular sized cartons are gone, you know, you're dozen
(20:27):
up and gone in most places. People are obviously getting concerned,
which is why earlier we talked about substitutions for eggs.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Go back and listen to that. If he didn't listen
to technique the week.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
So across the country, people facing the higher prices, they're
facing empty egg shelves. And this has always been a
cheap and easy source of protein for us. Here's the
even worse news. It might get worse. So egg prices
have been all over the place. They fluctuate all the time,
(20:58):
and part of that's due to inflation. The other is
due to the Avian flu, which is what we've talked about,
that bird flu, that outbreak that hit the US in
twenty twenty two, is still going on.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
So the H five N one virus has.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Infected or killed around one hundred and thirty six million birds,
and the situation continues to get worse. So over the
last three months, another thirty million chickens, that's about ten
percent of the country's egg laying chickens, have been killed,
(21:34):
and most of that is to stop the spread of
the disease so they don't lose more chickens. So we're
looking at months at least before the egg laying chickens
population kind of gets back to normal levels. Imagine this,
that's about three hundred and eighteen million chickens. That's almost
(21:55):
a chicken for every person in the US, So we
need to get back to that to have some normalcy.
This is the absolute worst wave of bird flu outbreak
we've seen since it started back in twenty two, twenty
twenty two. So this particular hit has been the farms
(22:18):
that supply retail stores. That's why we're seeing you, That's
why there's this major gap in the supply. So it's
probably gonna be months at least before it kind of
levels out at all. Keep that in mind when you're
buy an eggs all right, stick around more to come.
You've been listening to the Fork Report, you can always
hear us live on KFI AM six forty two to
(22:40):
five pm on Saturday and anytime on demand on the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Reminding you that, man.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
There is a lot going on when it comes to
chickens and eggs. Hey, I want to remind you next
a little bit of Next Saturday, we are broadcasting from
go So on the twenty second, we'll be broadcasting from Morongo.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
That's gonna be awesome.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
And they always do such a good job showing us
the new foods, letting us taste them, and I hope
you'll join me for that. It's always a good time
and they always have such interesting stuff to try, so
good things indeed. Then, and also another special Oscar show
on March first. We'll be doing a special Oscars show
(23:28):
on the first from the museum there on Wilshire, so
the Academy Museum, and we'll give you some details on
that coming up. And lastly, want to remind you that
and this actually came from you folks asking me about
my art background and my background as a maker and
things that I love to do on the side, and
(23:51):
you know, other than radio, and so I went ahead
and started an Instagram for that. If you'd like to
join me there. You like our to you like pop culture,
you know, Star Wars, all kinds of things like that,
Join me there. It's at savco Industries SAA v COO Industries,
(24:16):
and that's my new account. I still am doing Folk
Reporter that's never going anywhere, but this is for those
of you who might want to hang out with me
on a more you know, the stuff that I like
to do and artists that I like, stuff that I
purchased and I'm excited about stuff that I make around
here showing you my shop and stuff like that. So
(24:39):
again on Instagram, SAA v COO Industries, and I'd love
to have you join me there. I have a good
time and it's slowly growing. It's only had it for
a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Okay, more egg talk. I get it.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
I know it's a lot of egg talk, but man,
I've been getting so many questions. I want to answer
them the best I can. So we've talked about the
Avian flu bird flu and the problems it causes with
egg laying hens and why it causes more problems with
them than like the meat or what they call the
broiler hens, not hens, broiler chickens, and those are the
(25:19):
ones that we eat. So your rotisserie chicken and the
meat that you find at a butcher or at your
local grosser, it's.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Not affecting them in the same way.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Because well I already explained all that, so you can
go back and listen to the podcast. I want to
move into raising backyard chickens because that's another question I got,
and that is very popular.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Now.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
I don't raise them myself. Our good buddy Dean Sharp
does he and Tina have a killer set up? As
a matter of fact, it's like an adu for chickens.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
This is the breakdown of the information I've gathered from
looking at all this egg price is climbing. We see
that people look to raise their own chickens for eggs.
I get that the Avian flu is a massive part
of the raising costs, not the only There is inflation
as well.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Now.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Tom Tabler, is a poultry scientist at the ut Animal
Science Department, says backyard chickens are becoming popular across the US. However,
if you're thinking of raising chickens to save money on
eggs might not be as cheap as you think, so
break this down. Truth is, eggs are expensive. We know that,
(26:32):
especially here in California. Some of the highest prices on
eggs are right here in our own backyard, which is
a bummer not your backyard, but I mean at our
local grosser. Chickens can be expensive too once you factor
factory in all the costs, the coop, the run, the
feed supplies like feeders or drinkers or any of these things.
So the biggest upfront cost is going to be building
(26:54):
a safe and a safe and clean environment for the
hens to lay their eggs.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
That can range from a few hundred.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Bucks or a few or several thousands of dollars depending
on how you build it, what the materials, all materials are.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
And so on. Adult egg laying chickens can cost it
to sixty bucks each.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
That's not too bad, but when you get into the
feed for your chickens, you can be as cheap as
twenty bucks for a bag of chicken feed, which is
pretty low here. I think in California you'll pay more
for that. You could go out and buy treats like
meal worms or a black fly larva or these types
of things, and that gets into more money. Egg laying
(27:42):
hens love scratch grains, things like cracked corn, black sunflower seeds,
proteins like meal worms. When you start doing that and
treating them, you know, lovingly like that, I mean, not
that you're not treating them lovely if you don't give
them me away anyways, that's when it starts to get pricey.
(28:04):
And once you get up into those prices and you
go down that particular road, then buying eggs from the
store might actually be cheaper. Chickens need daily care, and
that means rain or shine. You gotta be focused on that.
Some hens even take a break from laying eggs in
the winter, depending on your area and how cold it is.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Now.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Regarding the taste, regarding the quality of eggs coming from
your own chickens, nothing's going to beat it.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Nothing. My sister in law my brother in law live.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
In Arizona and they have a farm ranch, and you're
just you're just not going to have anything like it.
They're just gorgeous in color, they're fresh, the consistency, everything
about them is beautiful. However, the Avian flu is still
(28:58):
around and still causing problems, so even if you have
backyard chickens, they could be at risk. The virus can
still spread through it's the nasal secretion, so it's the
nose and droppings of wild birds and it causes problems.
So it depends where you live again and if you
(29:19):
have migrating or strange birds coming around your neighborhood. So
backyard hens egg hens doesn't mean that you're not going
to have any bird flu issues. You're thinking about starting
a back yard flock, just think about what you're getting into.
Might not be the best time right now because migrating
(29:40):
birds cause that problem.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
If you move ahead with it.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Just quarantine any new birds for at least a month.
Follow biosecurity measures. That's all about isolation, traffic control, sanitation,
keep your coup clean and dry. These will help prevent
those problems. If you're thinking about starting your own, there's
some experts out there that are into backyard egg farming,
(30:04):
and they say my recommendation is getting a fertilized AA
or a one day old chicken keeps things more affordable.
But you got to wait six months before your chickens
start laying eggs, and for an average sized family. Some
suggestions say four to six chickens. Sounds like a lot
of poop. That's what I hear, a lot of chicken poop.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
You're listening to The Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from KFI AM Sixt
The Fork Report w Neil Saavedra News
Popular Podcasts
40s and Free Agents: NFL Draft Season
Daniel Jeremiah of Move the Sticks and Gregg Rosenthal of NFL Daily join forces to break down every team's needs this offseason.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.