In continuing with my quest to become some kind of quasi egg aficionado, I prepared some Mallard duck eggs. Above, is a shot of a soft fried duck egg in the foreground and a Natural Meadows chicken egg in the background. The white of the duck egg is much whiter.
Here's a duck egg, a chicken egg and duck egg in a row to give a sense of scale. It's the same size as a chicken egg. But there is a big difference: the feel of the actual egg. The exterior of the shell is a lovely satiny texture as if a chicken egg was sanded down.
The duck eggs are either a very light creamy brown or a very light greenish color with splotches of white throughout like in the egg above.
Side by side, the cracked eggs are the same size. The duck egg's yolk is just slightly bigger, but not by much in this case. I think it's just a slightly smaller egg and not proportionately bigger than the chicken egg. But the white is very clear, just like with goose eggs.
I fried it up just as I would a chicken egg: in a cast iron skillet with butter, salt and pepper. They taste exactly the same to me. I had two duck eggs in the last 2 weeks and I can't taste a significant difference in them to the über awesome Natural Meadows chicken eggs I've been eating for the last year and change, but those are some super eggs. I've had other people tell me they think duck eggs are the strongest out of chicken, duck and goose; not me. But the shells themselves are the prettiest by far. The mottled color, the silky finish…
Mallard duck eggs are available at Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal Market for $6.50 a dozen.
Very cool…I want to try one. Thanks for these kinds of posts…I'm learning a lot.
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