What should I do with duck eggs?

I ordered duck eggs from our local co-op and I’m picking them up tomorrow. I’ve never cooked duck eggs before, but I love chicken eggs. I especially like them poached or sunny-side up. How different are duck eggs from chicken eggs? Can I cook them the same way I cook chicken eggs? Is the flavor different?

You can do anything you can do with chicken eggs with duck eggs, though I’ve heard it’s difficult to hard-boil them because they’re just big enough that it’s hard to get the perfect balance between white & yolk. Have not tried it myself.

You can fry 'em, scramble 'em, whatever. They make excellent quiches and are good in baked goods. The main difference between them and chicken eggs is the size, and the yolk:white ratio - duck eggs have much larger yolks. Taste-wise, very similar. Duck eggs are slightly richer but not crazily so.

Do what athena tells you and enjoy the eggs :slight_smile:

All I could think of was to throw a couple at somebody and yell “Duck! Eggs!”

But seriously, if they are similar to chicken eggs, why order them? Are they not more expensive?

They’re similar to chicken eggs, but better. Richer. And typically fresher, so they don’t really compare to store-bought chicken eggs. If you’re comparing them to farmer’s chicken eggs, then they compare a little bit more, but they’re still a bit richer. Around here, a dozen farmer’s chicken eggs are around $3.50. A dozen duck eggs are around $5. Considering the duck eggs are larger, I don’t think the price difference is that huge.

Are the eggs fertilized? In which case you could make Balut.
I admit I’ve tried it in the Philippines. If you can get over the initial gag reflex on the thought of eating a duck embryo it doesn’t taste half bad. It’s great with beer. Needs some salt though.

We have chickens, ducks, and geese. A neighbor has “pet” turkeys. We usually use our chicken eggs and give any duck/goose eggs we collect to our dogs.

Just for fun, I made a huge frittata (sp?) with one each chicken, duck, goose, and turkey eggs. IME eggs is eggs.:smiley:

All this begs the question, are there any fowl whose eggs are unfit to eat? Something on the scale of robin eggs would be too impractical, but are goose, duck, and turkey really of similar taste? How about swan? Owl? Ostrich?

Some variation in taste occurs due to diet. Our chickens free range, and I can taste thew difference between them and store bought eggs. Yolks are a richer yellow color as well. But if the egg is scrambled and cooked, I cannot tell the difference between chicken/duck/goose/turkey. Friends have eaten ostrich eggs and tell me that although huge, it is very similar to chicken egg in taste.

Emu and ostrich eggs are eaten in areas where those particular birds are common. I’d imagine, however, that birds of prey (eagles, hawks) and birds who eat a fish-based diet (seagulls, albatrosses) would probably have some funky-tasting eggs.

I hear duck eggs are terrific for baking. Can’t wait to try them myself.

Sit on them! after fertilizing, of course. Then sell the movie rights from the resulting destruction caused by the manduck. Duckman. Dan. Muck?

Quack them open and scoop onto toast. After soft boiling, of course.

Duck eggs are quite tasty, and as others have said, quite similar in flavor to chicken eggs, though richer because of the higher ratio of yolk. I’ve had them fried (over medium) and scrambled. If you typically use three chicken eggs, for an egg scramble or an omelet, say, you will only need two duck eggs.

I’d be wary of using them in baking because one duck egg doesn’t really equal two chicken eggs, but two duck eggs will give you more egg than two chicken eggs, y’know? So the measurements would be off. But if you’re a good baker (I’m not), you may very well be able to figure it out.

If we had ducks now, I wouldn’t hesitate to use the eggs for a frittatta or quiche.

In most recipes, it won’t make enough of a difference to matter. In general, adding an extra egg to something only makes it better, so the largeness of duck eggs are usually OK. Use 'em 1:1 up until about 3 eggs, then I’d start using them 2 duck eggs to 3 chicken eggs.

But really, given how nice they are on their own, I’d just use 'em to make fried eggs or custards or quiches. Same deal as when I spend the extra bucks to buy farm eggs as opposed to supermarket eggs - why spend the extra $$ to just throw 'em in a cake where you’ll barely notice?

Thousand year old eggs!

Had fried duck egg sandwich for dinner. It was really good! The yolks were amazing- I’m thinking that these suckers will make great hollandaise sauce.

Mmmmm. I bet they would! How about home-made mayonnaise, too?

I’ve done duck egg mayo. Nice & rich & luscious!

Plant one and grow a duck.