Duck Duck Duck Eggs
My friend Josh brought a dozen fresh eggs from his ducks. How could I be this old and never have tasted duck eggs? Never mind. I scrambled one immediately so he could share my first taste. I thought, “rich, not as egg-y (by which I guess I meant chicken egg-y) tasting as chicken eggs, hmmm”. Some people think they taste cheesy according to Josh. I didn’t and still don’t taste cheese, but the rich texture is somewhat reminiscent of scrambled eggs with cheese. And that extra richness does have its own flavor, which mutes what I would ordinarily consider to be an “egg-y” flavor. But I was hooked by the time I had finished my half of that first egg, which I had cooked hot and fast (but very soft) in brown butter and eaten with whole grain toast.
Over the next few days I ate a scrambled duck egg (often cooked in peppery extra virgin olive oil) everyday for breakfast. These have been so delicious I haven’t been able to make myself branch out and poach, fry sunny-side-up, or make custard with even one of them.
Last night, my cousins came to dinner. Duck egg virgins! What to do? I made a little appetizer: scrambled duck eggs with crunchy toasted baguette slices and chopped parsley on the side (a good call as it turned out), so we could each assemble our own little tastes. We had flakey Maldon salt and a pepper grinder at hand. Interestingly, the pepper overwhelmed the good duck egg-y flavor and the parsley was completely distracting. All that was wanted was a little salt after all.
This morning I was at it again. I scrambled my solitary egg in extra virgin olive oil, on low heat instead of high, and stirring constantly so the eggs came out very moist and creamy, very oeufs brouilles (someone please tell me how to get an accent egu over that last “e” please). I ate them with toast and salt. They were the best yet.
There are only a couple duck eggs left now. Tomorrow I might finally be able to poach one. Or maybe not.
and i’m officially intrigued. my parents have “pet” ducks and geese… and i suppose i could sneak one… but i’m quite sure it would be an adventure involving some sort of putting someone into “pecking” order.
oh duck eggs are my favorite. there is a place by us in Brooklyn that used to serve the most amazing duck hash with duck bacon and a little green salad with a poached duck egg on top. it was just amazing! amazing! and then, just like that, without any real reason (they told us) they stopped making it. it was their singular winning dish and we’ve not been back since, but you just reminded me that I should maybe attempt my own hand at this – and go out for some duck eggs. so glad you love them!
My favourite are quail eggs, which I was delighted to find in the Japanese market here. I always boil them and put them on top of my biriyani with toasted cashews and caramelized onions- they are so tiny and cute!
Hi Alice, I thought I’d give you the quick tip for making “un accent égu”. All you need to do is hold down the ALT key while pressing “1”, then “3” then “0” and the “é” will magically appear. (ALT + 130 = é), (ALT + 136 = ê), (ALT + 138 = è). These are international ASCII codes and should work on almost all keyboards in any program. There are more for all the accents for all vowels, just play around with the codes and you’ll find yourself looking for ways to use words with accents…
Hope that helps!
Suzanne
Duck eggs are my favourite too. In fact all eggs are – chicken, duck, quail. Yet to try an ostrich egg.
I sell my jams and jellies at the local farmer’s market and one of the other vendors has duck eggs so I just tried scrambling-wow, very yummy! I have a neighbor with geese-will let you know how the eggs taste.
Barbara
I love soft-boiled duck eggs. I tried making a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with them but the cookies went a bit flat and gooey – perhaps because the eggs are a bit larger than standard large chicken eggs?
I heard that duck eggs make a stabler whole egg foam, and hence better genoise!