(Photo: Kang Kim for New York Magazine)

1. The yolk’s color is dependent on the hen’s diet, and farmers’-market eggs from well-fed pastured hens tend to be richer and deeper.

2. Both the yolk and the white should stand tall. Inferior, older eggs look flatter.

3. In fresh, high-quality eggs, the white spreads less.

4. The two strands of egg white that anchor the yolk are called chalazae, and the more prominent they are, the fresher the egg.

Related:

• Archive: “Food Features”
• Articles by Robin Raisfeld | Rob Patronite
• Table of Contents: April 9, 2007 issue of New York | Subscribe!