A simple (visual) guide to eggs

>> Update on 3/30/11: Thanks again to all those who provided great feedback. An updated version of the infographic had been added below and you can read more about it here. The infographic is also available for print here.

When I got a question asking about the different labels on eggs and shortly thereafter had a brunch-time discussion about how to order eggs, I realized that it was time for another Culinaut infographic (check out the previous one on the dangers of cooking with teflon).

So here's my attempt at capturing egg basics in an infographic guide. For simplicity, I stuck to chicken eggs in their most common forms. The top of the graphic covers info relevant to buying eggs from a store, and the bottom has some of the basic egg cooking/ordering options. It's also worth noting that the sizes, grades, and farming methods here are based on US guidelines and differ in other countries.

Dangers of cooking with Teflon

(click image above for high-res infographic)

Nonstick pans are a huge convenience when it comes to cooking. You don't need to spend forever scrubbing your pans and you can get away with using a lot less oil when you cook. But for all the good, there's some potential dangers that every cook should be aware of when it comes to nonstick.

Nonstick pans are coated with the synthetic polymer polytetrafluoroethylene - better known as Teflon®. What you may not know is that Teflon can release toxic fumes when heated above certain temperatures. One of the gases, perflurooctanoic acid (PFOA) aka C-8, has been linked to cancer and birth defects in lab studies, and is suspected to be the culprit behind the birth defects found in children of DuPont (maker of Teflon) employees who were exposed to the substance.

How to chop onions without crying

I recently attended a dinner party where we decided to make some guacamole from scratch together. It was then that I found out that one of my friends didn't know how to chop vegetables. Eager to learn and pitch in, he took up chopping the tomatoes, while I volunteered to demonstrate how to dice the most notorious veggie on the chopping block: the onion.

The basics: How to dice an onion

You might wonder how much explanation is really required for this basic task, but there is actually a decent amount of technique to it (though for those of you who have been chopping veggies all your life, the following section might be more interesting). I first learned how to mince an onion by watching the masterful Jacques Pepin on PBS, and this technique was later reinforced by watching the meticulous folks at America's Test Kitchen (gotta love PBS cooking shows!). Here's how to do it: