Some people consider it extravagant to use many eggs in cooking. It is extravagant to use them unnecessarily, that is, to use four in a place where one would answer the same purpose, as in muffins or corn cake, or to use them in the ways in which we get the least good from them, as in rich, heavy cake, or to use them freely in the season when they cost the most. But in the spring, when the price is low, they may be used in any of the simple ways of boiling, poaching, etc., or in plain cake and custards and other wholesome combinations. Eggs are nutritious and contain all the elements we need in food ; but as they are too highly concentrated we must supply what they lack by using bread, rice, butter, or milk with them.

The shells of newly-laid eggs are almost full, but as the shells are porous, on exposure to the air the water inside evaporates, and the eggs grow lighter, while air entering in fills the place of the water, and causes the elements in the egg to change, and the eggs soon spoil. This explains why a good fresh egg is heavy and will sink in water, and why a stale egg is lighter, has a rattling or gurgling sound, and floats in the water.

Eggs should be kept in a cool dark place and handled carefully, as any jarring motion may rupture the membrane which separates the white from the yolk, and if they become mixed, the egg spoils quickly. Anything which will entirely exclude the air from the eggs will help to keep them.