By Scott Mechura EBS FOOD COLUMNIST
One of life’s age-old questions, along with “What is the meaning of life?”, is this: Which came first—the chicken or the egg?
How could you possibly have an egg just appear with no
chicken? Don’t you need a chicken to lay
an egg in the first place? But where did this chicken come from?
You can plausibly scramble the logic any way you want to
make your case. However, here is some black-and-white science to shed some
light on this great debate once and for all.
The egg came first, and it’s not even close. Or is it?
The first amniotic eggs showed up about 340 million years
ago, while the first chicken as we know it made its first appearance a mere
58,000 years ago.
But the ‘as we know’ it part is key.
The chicken, and similar fowl, are descendants of a group
called theropods. Theropods split into two groups, and then those two groups
split again, forming all kinds of life forms.
The one that eventually became the modern chicken traces
back some 68 million years to the same dinosaur that paleontologist Jack Horner
discovered a fossil of right here in Montana in 2003. A blood vessel that was
preserved and tested in this particular dinosaur’s leg bone revealed that,
genetically, it was the chicken’s closest relative.
That’s right—the chicken is a fairly direct descendant of
Tyrannosaurus rex.
And as a curious mind that likes to know a ridiculously
large amount of useless information about the most mundane things, I wanted to
know more about the other player in this that seems to me to be one of nature’s
most unique creations: the egg.
On a basic level, there are three components to an egg: the
shell, the white and the yolk. But digging a little deeper, an egg is far more
complex.
The shell contains as many as 17,000 pores and is made of
calcium carbonate. Does this compound sound familiar? It is a substance found
in many rocks, as well as the main component of pearls, marine animal shells
and snails.
There are four distinct layers before you reach the yolk,
and an egg has three distinct membranes inside, all working symbiotically to
provide an all-inclusive life support system.
There is the shell of course, then the outer membrane,
followed by the inner membrane. Next, we have the ‘white’, or albumen, which
has the purpose of protecting the chalazae. This is that ultra-thin layer that
holds the contents of the yolk. And anyone who has ever cracked or separated an
egg knows just how delicate this layer is.
Maybe you have noticed that air pocket in the wider end of a
hard-boiled egg when you peel it. That air space is not there when the egg is
laid. It develops over time due to the contents cooling after being laid as
well as evaporation. The smaller the air pocket, the higher quality the egg.
An eggshell is also one of the
strongest creations in nature. But angle is the key. When applying equal
pressure throughout the entire surface evenly, it is almost unbreakable. It is
only when uneven pressure is applied, such as your kitchen counter, or your
floor, that the science behind its efficient design is compromised.
I’ll close with one of my favorite quotes: “If an egg is
broken by an outside force, life dies. If the egg is broken by an inside force,
life begins. Great things always come from within.”
Scott Mechura has
spent a life in the hospitality industry. He is a former certified beer judge
and currently the executive chef at Buck’s T-4 Lodge in Big Sky.