Cooking by weight
 

Ok, a few months ago I bought a huge, nice, cookbook put out by the Culinary Institute of America. It's incredibly handy for techniques and recipes...but not baking so far. The ingredients are done by weight, which I like, however the eggs are as well. There is no explanation as to whether this means shells on or off. So any ideas or answers from my favorite culinary crowd?

I'd experiment, but I'm scared of destroying too much foodstuff in the process.

I'd go with shells off. Were talking about food here, an eggshell is not food. As the thickness of the shells may vary and the CIA is extremely precise in their measurements I'd say that almost certainly it's shells off it reduce the level of uncertainty.

The best bread recipe I've ever used, came from a cookbook years ago, that measured flour in poundage, because on any given day, given the amount of moisture in the air, 1 cup of flour could yield different amounts - whereas 1 pound is always one pound...

For the eggs, it is the out of the shell weight -- somewhere I've seen exactly how much an egg weights (Jumbo, Extra Large, Large, etc) - I am having trouble finding it though....

Your average large egg is about 2 oz and a Jumbo is 2.5 oz. You can measure eggs, milk and water by volume in recipes that go by weight because one pint of eggs weighs one pound (and a liter also weighs one kilogram)