Welcome to tips and techniques at start cooking.com. I'm Kathy Maister. To crack an egg open,

tap it on the counter until there's a small dents in the egg. Then put your two thumbs on opposite

sides of the dent and gently pull apart the shells. Or just give it a good sharp crack on the side of a bowl and pull it apart.

Always crack the egg into a cup before adding it to your mixing bowl.

That way you can see if there are any stray shells, which you can scoop out with a piece

of the broken shell. To separate the yolks from the white, use three bowls, one to work over,

another one for the whites, and a third for the yolks. Give the egg a sharp crack on the side

of the bowl. Let the white slip into the bowl while you flip-flop the yolk from one half of the egg shell to the other.

Or if you have an egg separator, set it on top of a cup, crack the egg open, and slide it into the separator.

The yolk stays on top while the white slips through.

Perfect. Cheers.