Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Hi - what you're doing is adding raw eggs (or egg whites) to a hot liquid, as the eggs will thicken the liquid once they cook. This is standard in things like custards, puddings, and sauces.

However, if you were to just take your hot saucepan of custard and crack in some eggs, the eggs would scramble right there in the pot. So you'd have custard with chunks of cooked eggs in it - not very appealing.

Tempering prevents this. You gradually whisk in several large (very large) spoonfuls of the hot custard mix to the bowl of egg whites. This will heat the egg whites without cooking them. You then whisk the egg white mix into the custard pan, so you can incorporate the eggs to thicken the custard without ending up with scrambled chunks.

- Heather

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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!

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