About Duck Eggs

1. Eat them. 2. Definitely eat them. 3. *words muffled because duck eggs are so delicious*

You cook duck eggs just like chicken eggs except that two of them take up an entire frying pan, which usually fits four chicken eggs perfectly. To cook them, use butter in the frying pan, crack them in and steam them right away with a lid. They will take a while to cook and the whites are definitely a different texture than chicken egg whites. The protein content is higher and they contain twice the amount of iron, three times the healthy Omega-3s, and five times the amount of Vitamin B-12.

Kids also seem to especially love scrambled duck eggs. I'm not sure why, but they are fluffy and delicious!

Make sure to keep these duck eggs in the fridge; our ducks make mud out of the smallest amount of water and we wash the eggs so that you won't be shocked. They are healthy and safe to eat; we don't have a natural pond, just kiddie pools, so the eggs never taste muddy or fishy as duck eggs from wild ducks sometimes do. Duck egg shells can range from white to concrete gray to greenish, these colors are all normal and are not a reflection of the egg inside, just one of the varied ducks we have among our flock of 28!

If you are allergic to chicken eggs, you can cautiously try duck eggs - the protein structure of the albumen is different and many people are not allergic to both kinds of eggs. If you can eat duck eggs, you can eat goose eggs too, their proteins are similar!

Important: let the duck eggs come to room temperature before cooking them or baking with them, for best results.

Frying Duck Eggs

Up to jumbo size (2.5 ounces) will fry just fine. I prefer mine fried in bacon fat, but butter is fine. No margarine, please: our girls worked too hard laying these eggs to yuck them up with chemicals!

Many people recommend steam-frying duck eggs, frying them briefly then adding a bit of water to the pan and covering it until they are cooked through. This will give more tender whites. 

Scrambling Duck Eggs

Go for it! It's easy! The trick is to add some cream or milk. Gordon Ramsay would yell, but I also whisk in some salt and pepper (he thinks you should add those right at the end, but I can't tell the difference and I like my eggs more homogenized from the whisking). My brother swears that the diner-delicious scrambled egg "secret sauce" is whisking in some paprika too, and I can't fault him, it tastes good. Cook the eggs until they are as done as you like. I like mine scrambled "dry" but Gordon says they should still be creamy and wet. Make your eggs the way you like them!

And if you really want to commit a foodie crime, spray a Pyrex measuring cup with non-stick spray, whisk the egg in there with some salt and pepper, cover it about 3/4 with plastic wrap (vent a corner), and then stick in the microwave for a minute. Pull it out, let it sit 30 seconds, and if they're not done enough, give them another 30 seconds in the microwave. OMG, but this is many kids' first "I can do it myself!" real breakfast and honestly, with a duck egg, it tastes pretty damn good and they will be proud.

Baking with Duck Eggs

"Duck eggs are renowned for making a lighter, more yellow sponge cake than hen's eggs, and are, as such, much sought after," noted cookbook author Dana Velden in The Kitchn. Meanwhile, foodie blog Chocolate + Marrow's salted caramel creme brûlée recipe calls for duck eggs to ensure the dessert has the proper richness.

Because the whites of duck eggs have more protein than those of chicken eggs, they will whip up higher when beaten and create more loft in cakes. This means lighter, higher cakes. But since the yolks are so rich, your cakes may also be richer with duck eggs. Most people who have baked with them prefer duck eggs for those reasons.

A few words on beating egg whites: it takes a bit more work to break the gel when beating whites of duck eggs. Once you get them frothy, however, they beat up fairly easily. (I have had really fresh duck eggs completely fail to make stiff whipped peaks! I usually use chicken eggs for merengues now.)

If your eggs vary in size, you’ll need to adjust your recipes accordingly. Recipes assume large eggs, and you can substitute a large duck egg (two ounces or so) for a large chicken egg. If you only need two or three eggs, just estimate: use one that’s a bit larger and one that’s a bit smaller. For larger recipes, weigh the eggs after cracking. Chicken eggs are 56-62 grams for a large, 63-69 grams for extra large, and 70+ grams for a jumbo. Our duck eggs are usually 70-110 grams each. At our altitude, the extra volume is "appreciated" by most recipes, and I go one for one on the eggs in a recipe, with the knowledge that the baking might take a little longer. The toothpick test is still valid up here!

Blue Ribbon Pound Cake with Duck Eggs