River Cottage A-Z

If you have eggs in the house, you have a meal. Boiled, fried, poached… an egg is probably the shortest cut there is to a sustaining plateful. Egg dishes – the simple and the more complex – are some of the best-loved in our repertoire and you’ll find many in this book, including poached, scrambled and boiled eggs, omelettes, custards (sweet and savoury), soufflés and meringues.

This familiar, everyday ingredient is a highly nutritious food too. A valuable source of protein, an egg contains every one of the amino acids our bodies require. The white has slightly more protein than the yolk and is rich in selenium and other minerals including zinc and iron. Egg white also gives us B12, an often-deficient vitamin which helps reduce the risk of stroke and heart attack. While an egg is around 10 per cent fat, most of this is unsaturated. The yolk contains most of the calories and fat, and is rich in vitamins A, D, E and K, as well as lecithin, a superb emulsifier, which is the secret behind mayonnaise and hollandaise.

Egg yolks are also rich in cholesterol, but don’t be put off by that. It is a substance our bodies require for cell structure and repair, and to manufacture vitamin D. Contrary to the accepted wisdom of previous decades, for most people cholesterol in the diet doesn’t significantly raise cholesterol levels in the blood.

Hen’s eggs come in a variety of sizes, and as they give moisture and volume to recipes, it’s worth being precise about how much you are adding. If you don’t know what size your eggs are, weigh them: hen’s eggs in the shops are graded as small (under 53g), medium (53–63g), large (63–73g) or very large (over 73g). Unless stated otherwise, most recipes use medium eggs. I prefer these anyway. The hen only produces a certain amount of shell, so a larger egg has a thinner shell, upping the risk of breakages, and in any case I find shop-bought large eggs a touch bland, as if their flavour is diluted. Also, a demand for large or extra-large eggs isn’t helpful to hens: it puts farmers under pressure to feed them with more protein (i.e. soya), and it stands to reason that a smaller egg is easier to lay!

Eggs from other birds taste relatively similar to hen’s eggs, with some variation in richness and texture. The most obvious difference is in size. Duck eggs, for example, are up to twice the size of a hen’s egg and richer in flavour; they are good fried or poached, and excellent for cakes and other baking. Turkey eggs, on average, are about 50 per cent larger than hen’s eggs, with more yolk than white, and very rich and creamy; they are superb for baking, but not widely available. Goose eggs are really big, very rich and eggy; try them fried, or use in cake batters.

Guinea fowl eggs are around 30 per cent smaller and stronger in flavour than hen’s eggs with tougher shells, though they can be cooked in the same way. Pheasant eggs are about half the size of a hen’s egg, flavoursome and rich; they are best served whole – in salads or as Scotch eggs. Quail’s eggs are just a quarter of the size of a hen’s egg and have delicate shells that break easily. They are good hard- or soft-boiled for use in salads and canapés. Regrettably, the vast majority of quail’s eggs are produced by caged birds (see Quail).

Eggs will keep for around a month if stored in the fridge – or for a couple of weeks somewhere cool and out of direct sunlight. They gradually lose flavour and nutritional value during this time, but will still be perfectly edible. They should be stored away from pungent ingredients, such as cheese, as they can absorb other flavours, and they prefer not to be moved – shaking them about can cause the white to thin. Ideally, allow eggs to come up to room temperature before using.

The codes explained in the following box are the only meaningful indicators of welfare. Ignore all other distractions. The colour of the shell does not affect the flavour or reflect the hen’s living conditions (in fact it’s a function of the breed of chicken). Bucolic scenes on the packaging mean nothing; ‘farm fresh’ means nothing, the presence of tractors (including the Red Tractor) does not indicate that any of the hen’s life has been spent outside. The British Lion symbol indicates that the eggs are British, but implies no welfare standards. Trust the first digit of the code on the egg only. Likewise, in processed foods (sandwiches, tarts etc.), assume the eggs were laid by caged hens unless the packaging specifically states the eggs are free-range or organic.

In order to minimise feather-pecking injuries, most British laying hens have part of their beak removed without anaesthetic, using an infra-red burner. Buying Soil Association certified organic eggs or Waitrose free-range British Blacktail eggs is the only way to be sure that the eggs come from hens that have not been beak-trimmed.

Apart from contributing to the chickens’ quality of life, buying good eggs gives you a superior ingredient. Crack one open: the colour of the yolk from a happy chicken is likely to be deeper in colour – often almost orange – thanks to their green-heavy diet. Less obviously, the eggs from free-range hens are likely to be higher in omega-3 fatty acids and possess a healthier ratio of unsaturated to saturated fats, so it’s not only the hen who gets a better deal when we buy free-range eggs.

If you have even a small space in your garden and the inclination, why not keep a few hens of your own? The eggs will be the finest you ever eat, and the hens will keep you entertained. Depending on the breed, you can expect something like an egg a day per hen for all but the darkest months of the year, when hens naturally stop laying (we have an all-year supply in the shops because some hens are kept in conditions that mimic the longest days of the year).

EGGS AND WELFARE

The ink stamp you’ll find on most eggs is required by law and the first digit tells you how the egg has been produced.

0 = ORGANIC Birds laying these eggs have access to the outdoors and freedom to express natural behaviours. They are fed an organic, GM-free diet. There is an upper limit of 2,000 birds per flock. No pesticides, herbicides or routine medicines are used in their rearing.

1 = FREE-RANGE These chickens have unlimited daylight access to the outdoors (but that is not to say they go outside, as they aren’t forced to). Some free-range flocks are very large as there is no upper limit on overall numbers. There is an outdoor stocking rate of 4 birds per square metre, and an overnight indoor stocking rate of 9 birds per square metre.

2 = BARN-REARED These birds live their entire lives indoors but not in cages, and can usually express some natural behaviours, such as dust bathing.

3 = CAGED These birds are kept indoors in cages. Battery cages were banned in 2012, but the supposedly ‘enriched’ replacements are, in reality, little better. There are 13 hens or more living in every square metre, which leaves no freedom for them to exhibit their key behaviours. Shockingly, the typical chicken lifespan of around 7 years is likely to be shortened by this highly stressed life to around 18 months. Thankfully, the sales of eggs from caged hens have fallen dramatically to about 50 per cent of the total, and a number of major supermarkets no longer sell eggs from birds kept in these conditions.