Turkey Eggs
Martin Peyruc
Reckless Gastronome, Life News Today
Greetings friends and readers, today I’m going to do a slightly different kind of review. Now you may be saying “but your Excellency, the wise and powerful Reckless Gastronome, this isn’t a store-bought junk food, can you truly judge a natural product?” Yes, of course, my little doubting Thomases, I am at all times judging and evaluating the world around me. I judge every sunrise and sunset (I will admit most of them get really good scores unless it’s a rainy day or the sun has been swallowed by a wolf). We all live in the world; it only makes sense to have opinions on it.
In any event, I was at my local farmers market (no, I don’t eat only prepackaged food, I actually like to cook with fresh ingredients), and I spotted something I’ve heard about, but never tried: turkey eggs. I’ll go ahead and admit I’m a big fan of eggs of all types, fancy caviar, earthy duck eggs, delicate quail eggs (have you tried using quail eggs as a pizza topping? Just crack a few strategically placed eggs before baking and viola), and of course regular chicken eggs which I eat nearly every day (I still haven’t managed to get ahold of an ostrich egg, but someday). I’m old enough to remember when eggs were once pilloried as being bad for you, but current research (which I know is subject to change) views eggs as nutritious, high in vitamins, high in protein, helps promote good cholesterol (HDL) and probably does other helpful things (like improve your credit score … maybe). Let’s see an eggplant do all that (they might actually, but I’m not going to look it up).
So why don’t people eat turkey eggs more frequently? As is my wont, I’m going to answer in a roundabout way (and possibly forget my initial question). Let’s start with the domestication of turkeys. Turkeys are indigenous to the North American continent (and are convinced they are still dinosaurs and thus a menace to be around), and were domesticated twice independently, once in Central Mexico (over 2,000 years ago) and then later again in what we call the American Southwest (roughly 1,100 years ago). Then in the 16th century, Spanish Conquistadors took the Mexican domesticated turkeys back to Europe, where they were bred into several different varieties. From there, the English then sent back domesticated turkeys with their colonists that then crossbred with the wild turkeys (not to be confused with Wild Turkey, the bourbon that I got blotto on when I was 15 and still can’t drink to this day). These are the turkey’s we frequently eat today, although most are now bred to have white feathers to make their carcasses more pleasant (meaning that the dark feathered ones even when plucked look like massive stubbly goiters). Which brings me back to my earlier question (see I didn’t forget), even though 200 million turkeys are raised each year in the U.S. (mostly for meat), each female turkey only lays 70-100 eggs per year, roughly averaging 1 everyday and a half, compared to the 9 billion chickens (330 million just for eggs), with each layer (that’s what they are called) laying 200-300 eggs per year. Turkeys are also much bigger, thus requiring more food and space, so most of their eggs are kept for raising into the next generation. Economics strikes again. Still, one shouldn’t count their turkeys before they hatch, so some farmers will sell them at farmer’s markets, thus giving me the opportunity to try them out.
I realize now I should have taken some measurements on just how big the eggs were before preparing, but I was hungry and breakfast couldn’t wait, so whoops. I also should have gotten more than two, but at $2.50 an egg (chicken eggs are anywhere between $3-8 for a dozen where I live; as an aside to my aside, why aren’t they sold in 10 packs in metric countries?) I also didn’t want to break the bank (didn’t some politician promise to lower the price of eggs? I guess that never happened. I tried going back another week for more, but they weren’t available. So, first of all, the eggs are bigger, speckled (although I’m not sure if that’s universal or just the breed I got ahold of), the shells are thicker, and there is more yolk to albumen (the white part of egg) as compared to a chicken egg. Since I had two eggs, I decided to try them two different ways.
I started with a classic fried egg, served sunny side up. “Chicken on a Raft” is my most common breakfast (let’s see if my hyperlink works, but if it doesn’t, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssex0Mk8uRc), but I will occasionally have Tamago Kake Gohan (I’m not going to explain it, you’ll just have to look it up) if I’m feeling fancy. A lightly oiled pan, medium low heat, a sprinkle of flaky sea salt, and then cover until the white sets, it’s pretty simple, but it makes for a good baseline. The first thing I noticed was just how thick the albumen is. I didn’t take a side photo, but the white is relatively tall. To be fair that could be that the egg was extremely (eggstremely?) fresh or it could be a feature of being a turkey egg. In case you didn’t know, the albumen starts to get watery the older an egg is, but it can also be affected by the age of the hen (both chicken and turkey adult females are called hens although a young female turkey is called a jenny), or other environmental factors. Don’t worry though, it’s not a sign of spoilage unless there is also a foul (fowl?) odor or discoloration. Still, this is the thickest white I’ve ever seen. Taste-wise though, it really wasn’t much different than a chicken egg, maybe a little creamier but that easily could have been placebo effect. The texture was different though, very dense, which made for a good eating experience.
I had planned to make a scrambled egg with the second one, but actually beating the egg proved to be much more labor intensive than I was expecting (eggspecting? Sorry I’ll stop). I actually got tired with using a fork and had to dig out a proper whisk from the Drawer of Mystery (after a small prayer to Anoia, Goddess of Things That Get Stuck in Drawers). I also added salt which normally loosens the protein structure and makes the egg more homogeneous. By the time I got the egg where I wanted it, it felt more like I was making a custard than scrambled egg. When I finally got the egg into the pan, it refused to spread out very much, so it became an omelette, which is precisely backwards from how it normally turns out. The egg decided it’s shape, and I no longer had the will to refuse it. Maybe it was because it took more time and effort to mix, but it turned into one of the best omelettes I’ve ever made. Fluffy, with the right amount of chew, balanced seasoning, and this time I’m nearly certain it was creamier. I can only hope that I’ll be able to recreate this with a chicken egg eventually.
Our time together is drawing to a close, so I better give my summary. As much as I dislike eating turkey meat (see my Thanksgiving Pizza Review), I really like their eggs, and I’m kicking myself for not picking up more when I had the chance. Now I’m going to be stuck prowling the local farmers markets like some sort of dramatically oversized heavy-set marten hunting for eggs. I even have plans for when I find them again, I’m going to make Mayak Gyeran (Korean drug eggs and no, they don’t actually have drugs in them). If you do find them, I would suggest using them in dishes where the egg is the star, and not in baking (although a turkey egg souffle might be something to see). The size and texture make for a great showcase. Don’t be a jive turkey, if you see them, get them, you never know when you’ll get the opportunity again.
Found at my local farmer’s market from Happy Morning Farm
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