Scrambled eggs - cooking with duck eggs

[UtahWelshie]

Just tried boiled duck eggs. OH YUMMY! The directions are a little different than for chicken eggs, but the technique might work for both:
put duck eggs in a pot, cover with COLD water, til about 1 inch over the eggs. Put on stove over medium high heat. Bring water to a boil. Heres where it is different... don't continue to boil the eggs once the water is heated...Remove from heat and let the eggs sit and cook in the hot water for 12 minutes. Drain and refill with COLD ice water. Let cool. Drain. Peel and enjoy. Salt, pepper if you like it... a new way to love duck eggs.

 

[OldGuy43]

Just tried boiled duck eggs. OH YUMMY! The directions are a little different than for chicken eggs, but the technique might work for both:
put duck eggs in a pot, cover with COLD water, til about 1 inch over the eggs. Put on stove over medium high heat. Bring water to a boil. Heres where it is different... don't continue to boil the eggs once the water is heated...Remove from heat and let the eggs sit and cook in the hot water for 12 minutes. Drain and refill with COLD ice water. Let cool. Drain. Peel and enjoy. Salt, pepper if you like it... a new way to love duck eggs.

Hmmmm. Thank you. I'll try that.

 

[rubberduckies]

Were they hard boiled or still a little runny in the middle?

 

[buggymuffin]

You can whip duck eggs with a fork, they just take FOREVER. I whip mine until they are a consistent yellow (something I never did with chicken eggs) then cook as normal. I have found that not pushing them around in the pan makes them fluffier, so I usually just go the omelette route. You can also add a little bit of milk to make them fluffier.

 

[Nyssa03]

Just tried boiled duck eggs. OH YUMMY! The directions are a little different than for chicken eggs, but the technique might work for both:
put duck eggs in a pot, cover with COLD water, til about 1 inch over the eggs. Put on stove over medium high heat. Bring water to a boil. Heres where it is different... don't continue to boil the eggs once the water is heated...Remove from heat and let the eggs sit and cook in the hot water for 12 minutes. Drain and refill with COLD ice water. Let cool. Drain. Peel and enjoy. Salt, pepper if you like it... a new way to love duck eggs.

if you add about a teaspoon of baking soda to the water it makes the hard boiled eggs much easier to peal -- love our duck eggs

 

[UtahWelshie]

All but the largest were cooked through. A couple of the largest had a soft spot in the middle. If you like them runny you would probably not want to cook them as long.

 

[mrmambo]

Here's some great info from Cook's Illustrated. They mention how extra protein (albumen) makes them tougher when scrambled--since you add cream of tartar (acid) to whipped whites to stabilize egg proteins, I'm wondering if baking soda (alkaline) would keep them untangled.

"We purchased duck eggs ($4.49 per half-dozen) and eyeballed them next to large chicken eggs. In the carton, the eggs looked similar, but when we cracked open a few, we noticed that the yolks of the duck eggs were proportionally larger than those of the chicken eggs. In fact, when we separated the duck egg yolks from the whites and weighed each component, we found that the yolks contributed 42 percent of the total weight. When we ran the corresponding numbers for chicken eggs, we found that the yolks made up only 32 percent of the total weight.

Next, we made scrambled eggs and found more differences. The duck egg scramble was decidedly richer, with earthy, grassy flavors that weren’t present in the chicken eggs. These traits can probably be attributed to the facts that the birds have different diets and that duck eggs have a higher fat content than chicken eggs do.

But the scrambled duck eggs also had a dense, resilient texture that some tasters objected to. That’s because the duck egg whites contain more of the structure-building protein albumen than the whites of chicken eggs do. Because of this difference in composition, we don’t recommend swapping duck eggs for chicken eggs in recipes. But if you’re fond of yolks, duck eggs make a great breakfast."

 

[LadyIsadora]

Here's some great info from Cook's Illustrated. They mention how extra protein (albumen) makes them tougher when scrambled--since you add cream of tartar (acid) to whipped whites to stabilize egg proteins, I'm wondering if baking soda (alkaline) would keep them untangled.

"We purchased duck eggs ($4.49 per half-dozen) and eyeballed them next to large chicken eggs. In the carton, the eggs looked similar, but when we cracked open a few, we noticed that the yolks of the duck eggs were proportionally larger than those of the chicken eggs. In fact, when we separated the duck egg yolks from the whites and weighed each component, we found that the yolks contributed 42 percent of the total weight. When we ran the corresponding numbers for chicken eggs, we found that the yolks made up only 32 percent of the total weight.

Next, we made scrambled eggs and found more differences. The duck egg scramble was decidedly richer, with earthy, grassy flavors that weren’t present in the chicken eggs. These traits can probably be attributed to the facts that the birds have different diets and that duck eggs have a higher fat content than chicken eggs do.

But the scrambled duck eggs also had a dense, resilient texture that some tasters objected to. That’s because the duck egg whites contain more of the structure-building protein albumen than the whites of chicken eggs do. Because of this difference in composition, we don’t recommend swapping duck eggs for chicken eggs in recipes. But if you’re fond of yolks, duck eggs make a great breakfast."

Can you give me a link to this if it was on-line or tell me what issue it was in? I LOVE LOVE LOVE Cooks Illustrated!

 

[mrmambo]

It was in the January, 2013 issue in their How To section. That's all they had to say; I quoted the whole article.

 

[LadyIsadora]

Thanks. Im surprised that was all there was to it. Cooks is usually really good about experimenting & explaining things, and then taking them to another level. This article seems a bit incomplete in its experimentation as well as explanation and didnt take anything to another level . I must research & find great ways to use these eggs to impress DH. I want him to think the (what has become a surprisingly large) investment (both in time & money) and the (again surprising amount) work, is worth it. They bring me such joy.