The spun egg (also called witch’s hair) is a decorative food of Portuguese origin in the form of fine yellow-orange threads made mainly with the egg yolk and sugar . The texture and its color make it an appropriate element to decorate sprinkled dishes and food trays in festive buffets, as a rule of meat or sausages, seafood trays, fish (usually salmon ), canapés. Its elaboration is slightly complicated, however it is marketed “by weight” in confectionery stores. The effect it has on the dishes is twofold, on the one hand it adds color and on the other hand its light sweet flavor contrasts with the salty taste of the other dishes.
characteristics
The ‘spun egg’ is made into a syrup with water and sugar and is heated, when it reaches the temperature of 100 ° C (boiling water) the beaten egg yolks are poured with a special strainer for spun egg (just use a strainer simple with a ‘medium pitch’), allow to cool. The operation of pouring the yolks makes the egg curd into threads inside the syrup. They are placed immediately after this operation in cold water and removed with a spider forceps to dry. The ratio of eggs to sugar varies from recipe to recipe, but for 14 egg yolks it ranges from one-half to one kilo of sugar. The ratio of water and sugar to make the syrup is 1: 4 (a quarter of a liter for every kilo of sugar). It is usually sold in pastry shops.
