Advertisement

Unusual, seasonal and rare-breed eggs

Don't just reach for a hen's egg for your boiled egg and soldiers. Take a look at the weird and wonderful world of seasonal, heritage and rare-breed eggs.

Heritage and rare breed hens

Certain breeds of hen produce eggs with different coloured shells. Araucana hens produce eggs with blue-green coloured shells. A species called the White Star lay eggs with white shells, while breeds such as the Columbian Blacktail and Burford Brown lay rich-coloured, brown-shelled eggs. And even more colours can be achieved by crossing breeds. Cross a blue egg laying species with a brown layer and you could end up with pink-shelled eggs. Eggs from all these hens are similar in size, but some have richer yolks, and can be easily substituted for your average hen's egg in recipes.

[Related feature: More bizarre egg oddities]

[Related feature: How to perfectly boil an egg]

Quail, bantam and pheasant eggs

Small, fragile and speckled, quail's eggs aren't great for omelettes or baking (you'd need too many of them to fill a frying pan) but they are perfect for poaching, frying individually or boiling. Gordon Ramsay's Maze serves them as a starter with Hereford steak tartar and toast, while at Gidleigh Park, they're poached and served with white and green asparagus. Bantam eggs are a little larger than quail eggs, and have pale blue shells. With an equal ratio of yolk and white, the people at Clarence Court suggest using bantam eggs for quiches, scrambling and frying. A pheasant's egg is also smaller than a hen's egg and can be boiled, fried or poached. At The Dorchester in Mayfair, they serve a coddled pheasant's egg with crispy pork belly, king prawn and shellfish cream.

Goose, rhea and ostrich eggs

Egg and soldiers for one is all very well. But what if you're looking for something bigger? A boiled goose egg will feed 2, while the egg from a rhea (a small type of ostrich) will feed 10 people. They're also great for omelettes or scrambling. But even that's not the biggest egg that could grace your breakfast table. An ostrich egg takes an hour and a half to hard-boil, and can feed a whopping 15 people. And don't just think you can break it with the back of a spoon; it's recommended that you bore into it using a domestic drill.

Duck and turkey eggs

A duck egg is larger and richer in flavour than a hen's egg, and has a delicate, almost see-through shell. At the Hix Oyster and Chop House you can enjoy a fried Braddock White duck egg on bubble and squeak. They're rich in flavour and great for frying, poaching or boiling. They also make fantastic desserts, cakes and meringues, as do turkey eggs. But while duck eggs are available all year round, turkeys don't lay so regularly so look out for them from April to August each year.

Gull's eggs

At the Hix Restaurant and Champagne Bar at Selfridges, gull's eggs are served soft-boiled with celery salt and mayonnaise and they've also graced the menus at other swanky restaurants, including Boisdale, Le Gavroche and The Boundary. In 2010, the Boisdale announced that they had created the world's most expensive omelette using gull's eggs, lobster and truffle. It cost £90. Their expense is down to the fact that they can only be eaten for a few weeks each year, around April-May time. But no climbing cliff tops to try and bag a few yourself — unless you're one of the 25 people in the UK licensed to collect these rare eggs.

Have you tried any of these eggs? Which are your favourites?