Duck eggs vs. chicken eggs

[Jenise]

So I found a new local supplier for fresh farm eggs, and am delighted. His name is Joe. He's an older man with a face-framing Amish-style white beard who wears a flat topped hat and blue overalls, and ambles down the lane from the house up the hill when you pull up next to the egg house and honk. The egg house is a small one-room wood cabin that's probably 100 years old, almost black now from age and sporting a white lace curtain in the single window. Ducks and chickens amble all over the large property and look pretty content. A 60's model Chevelle is parked off to one side near the barn. It's not souped up though it's a popular model and vintage for restoration, it's just gently used. Joe is probably the original owner. It might be the only car he's ever bought.

So when I was picking up eggs this weekend he seemed disappointed--again--that I didn't want both duck and chicken. So I caved. "Okay, I'll try them," I said and asked for a dozen of the beautifully pale pearlescent pink eggs. But he handed me not one dozen but two, designating the extra a present, shaking his head in a manner that implied he was overwelmed and yet telling me with an almost involuntary pride that his birds are laying six dozen a day and he can't keep up.

I have not eaten one. Nor have I ever knowingly had one in anything. But I did make one over easy for Bob yesterday morning--his first ever duck egg, and where I expected him to comment on how rich it was he instead used the words "very strong". The former would be a compliment, where the latter means he would not look forward to a second experience.

Does anyone here love them or prefer them? I believe Lee Short once described here liking them quite a bit, but IIRC he used them in making fresh pasta. For breakfast, he possibly preferred chicken eggs.

I like them, and I have posted here about them -- but the ones I get are from the Asian grocery, and they vary in size, actually overlapping with the size of the larger hen's eggs. And the flavor is not what I would describe as "strong." The flavor of these eggs are pretty much identical to hen eggs, but the texture is thicker and richer, the yolk particularly has a kind of clingy pudding texture in the soft boiled (7 minute) egg. I got fixated on them after reading a recipe for a salad by Kylie Kwong, an Australian chef. She wanted this salad to contain her favorite luxury textures and flavors so it has a soft boiled duck egg, some foie gras, and lobster, decorated with greens and string beans. I could Google it, it's probably still online.

The variation I have developed is to cook a 7 minute duck egg and serve it over a bowl of cheesy grits. Sometimes with sliced sauteed mushrooms, or baby bok choy, or other side ingredients. It is good with a strip of crispy bacon and some toast.

I posted here about making "eggs in hell" with duck, hen, and quail eggs. The size differences are amusing and the flavors are good.

I think you are getting a special "farm" flavor that depends on what those birds are eating. And it is probably something that a person could get hooked on like strong cheese. Meanwhile I think maybe disguising the eggs by putting a few into a highly flavored frittata might be a good strategy.

Before you give up entirely -- if you do like soft boiled eggs try a 7 minute duck egg, and dip toast into the molten yolk. I always open the egg before serving, tear it so you can see the oozy golden yolk between the 2 halves of the fully cooked white. To me that's luxury, perfection. But I haven't smelled your duck egg and that's probably where I wouldn't know that I would like it as much as the Chinese eggs I have been buying. Are these white Peking Ducks?? Not Muscovy or Mallard?

F

It has been many years but as i recall they are great to use in recipes with the exception of meringue. The whites don't give you the height . I prefer chicken when I eat them solo but otherwise they work well.

[Jenise]

I like them, and I have posted here about them -- but the ones I get are from the Asian grocery, and they vary in size, actually overlapping with the size of the larger hen's eggs. And the flavor is not what I would describe as "strong." The flavor of these eggs are pretty much identical to hen eggs, but the texture is thicker and richer, the yolk particularly has a kind of clingy pudding texture in the soft boiled (7 minute) egg. I got fixated on them after reading a recipe for a salad by Kylie Kwong, an Australian chef. She wanted this salad to contain her favorite luxury textures and flavors so it has a soft boiled duck egg, some foie gras, and lobster, decorated with greens and string beans. I could Google it, it's probably still online.

The variation I have developed is to cook a 7 minute duck egg and serve it over a bowl of cheesy grits. Sometimes with sliced sauteed mushrooms, or baby bok choy, or other side ingredients. It is good with a strip of crispy bacon and some toast.

I posted here about making "eggs in hell" with duck, hen, and quail eggs. The size differences are amusing and the flavors are good.

I think you are getting a special "farm" flavor that depends on what those birds are eating. And it is probably something that a person could get hooked on like strong cheese. Meanwhile I think maybe disguising the eggs by putting a few into a highly flavored frittata might be a good strategy.

Before you give up entirely -- if you do like soft boiled eggs try a 7 minute duck egg, and dip toast into the molten yolk. I always open the egg before serving, tear it so you can see the oozy golden yolk between the 2 halves of the fully cooked white. To me that's luxury, perfection. But I haven't smelled your duck egg and that's probably where I wouldn't know that I would like it as much as the Chinese eggs I have been buying. Are these white Peking Ducks?? Not Muscovy or Mallard?

F

No idea what kind of ducks they were. Lounging about were some fairly standard looking white ducks but also some black ones of a breed I've never seen before. From a distance they seemed to have a pink patch on each side but up close those might have turned out to be white + red. But I wasn't paying close attention except to appreciate the overall scene that couldn't have been a much more idyllic set up for 'free range' anything, right down to the blue overalls on Farmer Joe.

But no, I don't eat soft boiled eggs. No soft yolk of any kind, and I'm just learning to like hard boiled eggs which I haven't eaten since Fifth grade sex ed.

As someone who raises ducks, I will never go back to chicken eggs. Duck eggs have superior baking properties, larger yolk and wonderful texture. I haven't tried making a meringue with them, but I have used them for cocktails, and have no problem getting the right lift in the foam.

There is nothing like pulling a just-laid egg from the duck house and frying it up while it is still warm to the touch. A bit like pulling a tomato from the garden and diving right in. You should not notice a stronger flavor than chicken eggs, unless the ducks have been eating minnows or strongly flavored food. If they eat fish, it can make the eggs taste fishy. They yolk is where they really shine - too bad you don't eat soft cooked eggs, Jenise. You are really missing out!

Khaki Campbell ducks lay as many eggs as most chickens.

[Jenise]

Joy, good to know re the 'lift'. I had wondered about using the whites for a raft with which to clarify a consomme, but wasn't sure. Held back, concerned about Bob's "strong". I didn't want them to leave behind a flavor.

And egg white does have a flavor, even though a certain chef once upon a time denied that. I'd ordered a spinach salad in a restaurant, and explained to the waitress that I don't eat eggs so please do not include the hard boiled egg topping promised. They did but the dressing, which was too heavily applied anyway, had a raw egg white flavor. So I flagged down the waitress and asked if the dressing was indeed made with raw egg. She said oh I don't think so, I'll go ask the chef. She came back and announced, "He said yes the dressing does have raw egg white in it, but you can't taste it." Nevermind that I just did.

Odd that your dressing would have egg white in it, rather than egg yolk, which is a common emulsifier in vinaigrettes.

[Jenise]

Odd that your dressing would have egg white in it, rather than egg yolk, which is a common emulsifier in vinaigrettes.

Thought it strange, too. Mentally I flipped it into that bin I think of as "salad made by people who don't like salad", which I unfortunately run into quite a bit of. People who don't actually like lettuce and don't understand how anyone else can, so there's an attempt to bury the greens in candyish distractive ingredients and thick, heavy dressings--and that salad seemed one of those.

"salad made by people who don't like salad"

Very funny, and very apt.

[Jenise]

Joy, I made Bob a fried egg sandwich a few days ago and used the duck egg there. He didn't notice the substitution at first, but did ask midway through among all the yum-yums; he noticed the richness and the sheer quantity of that yolk, but this time it wasn't 'strong'/objectionable. So we're getting somewhere.

I'll usually splurge on duck eggs when I'm making gougeres. I think it adds a little more richness and depth.

One thing about any egg is that it can take in flavors from what the fowl is being feed. When I was in my "back to nature kick" and raising chickens I used to finish them of the last month with windfall apples from my mother-in-law's orchard. You could taste the apples in the eggs as well as in the meat. One of the main reasons for the creation of prebasted turkeys was that the broth injected and absorbed can mask any unwanted flavor and smells. To raise the protein percentage in poultry rations needed to raise the "rapid grow" birds the usual options are soy meal(expensive), meat byproducts, fish meal, and ground up turkey feathers. Many times a mixture is used.

[Jenise]

So true! I remember when I lived in England for a year that one of the first things other expats warned me about were to be careful where I bought my chickens. Many were bred on fish meal and would carry that taste--very weird if you're not used to that.