I was in Whole Foods the other day and needed to buy eggs. While perusing the egg display, I noticed several feet of cold shelf space were filled with dozens of duck eggs.
For a moment I considered buying them instead of chicken eggs, but then decided that I should do at least a little research before making an executive decision about household baking ingredients.
Internet research turns up a few sites written by duck egg fans. The cooking differences appear minimal, but they do exist.
I may decide to buy a dozen one of these days, so I’m curious: have you used duck eggs? What did you do with them? How’d you like them? Any particularly good recipes?
My family always salts in brine them for a few weeks and uses them as a condiment cut up into small wedges - it’s a Chinese thing. For the love of Mike, don’t eat them like a hard boiled egg!
We had ducks when I was growing up. Duck eggs aren’t very good by themselves but they are excellent for baking. I seem to remember that cakes would rise a bit more with duck eggs. Can’t recall if we ever made an angel food cake with them. It’s been a few decades since I’ve held a duck egg…
Turkey eggs, on the other hand, are simply inedible in any form.
Not too long ago, I had a duck egg cooked in an interesting manner. It was very lightly poached, then dredged in seasoned bread crumbs and deep-fried. It ended up crispy on the outside, with a perfectly done white and a liquid yolk. It was fantastic. (In case you’re wondering, it was one of the accompaniments for a serving of slow-roasted pork belly.)
We also had ducks at times during my childhood. My mother used duck eggs for baking, and they do make richer-tasting cakes. I doubt they’d be any good for angel food cake, though. And my mother also did not cook them for breakfast (or other breakfast-type meal).
Caution: If you buy them for baking, you will need to find equivalents, as you certainly would not use the same number of eggs that you would of chicken eggs.
So did I. While in Hanoi, I had a hard-boiled duck embryo. It tasted like a really hard boiled egg - too sulfur-y. That was actually the worst part, even worse than the loops of intestine and the cartilaginous bill.
An uncle of mine used to run a chick hatchery. He said that on a fairly regular basis he’d get Filipino folks coming in looking to buy incubated duck eggs for balut, but he wasn’t allowed to sell them due to health code regulations. Apparently fertilized and incubated eggs were also once popular in baking (after some number of days of incubation, chemical changes in the yolk and white meant the eggs yielded better results in baked goods). The bakers were annoyed when health code regs prevented the sale of incubated eggs. He said that one old Italian baker in Philadelphia grumbled “You can’t make a damn cream puff wit’ a fresh egg!”
Twice, and both times were pretty dismal. They’re the embyronic equivalent of game meat, only much less harder to fiddle with. Unless, of course, you really enjoy unadultered strong taste. YMMV.
Unless you have a very clear idea of how to use them, pass 'em by. There’s really no way to tame the gamy taste, and it’d probably be very tricky to adapt their properties to baking or routine cooking.
Eons ago my grandparents kept ducks and chickens. My grandfather would cook up a mess of duck eggs sunny side up (that is what you call it when the yolk is still liquidy yes?) every day for lunch. Perfect for dipping the homemade honeywheat bread. Chicken eggs were usually reserved for baking. I say go for it! You’ll never know until you try.
I’ve had those hard boiled red eggs from the Chinese market. Chop up some raw onion, cucumber and tomato, sprinkle with white vinegar and salt and mix the diced egg in at the last minute. Very tasty.
A friend of mine has ducks and regularly gives me a half dozen eggs, I cook them in the microwave, and mash them up for sandwiches. To tell the truth, if I didn’t know they were duck eggs, I’d never know the difference between them and hen’s eggs …