"Over egg the pudding"

Posted by Pamela on November 16, 2006

In Reply to: "Over egg the pudding" posted by Bob on November 15, 2006

: : : "Over egg the pudding" - what's the origin of this phrase? I've read a culinary suggestion concerning egg used to glaze pastry and the mush that can result from using too much, but it seems a bit far-fetched. Any other suggestions?

: : Far-fetched? Oh, please! You can't easily over-egg an omelet or scrambled eggs, but in most other dishes there's an optimum quantity of eggs or egg-white or yolk, and a price to pay if you exceed that quantity by very much.
: : SS

: True. Also please note how Smokey hyphenated "over-egg." The original might have been easier to recognize it the hyphen had been included.

I wouldn't have brought pastry into it. If you have ever cooked a pudding (rice pudding, plum pudding and so on) then you would know that too much egg gives it a strange eggy texture and taste. Mind you, some people do use the word "pudding" to mean any dessert dish, so perhaps a pie/flan could be a pudding and the pastry over-egged. Pamela