The egg is one of the best food containers in nature. It contains valuable protein, vital vitamins and minerals, and other useful substances. You can eat eggs of almost all birds, including hummingbirds, eagles and peacocks, but historically, in everyday life, people eat eggs of domestic birds - chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys. Quail eggs are also popular, and more recently ostrich eggs. Sometimes housewives even get stumped by this culinary abundance, not understanding how they differ and how best to use them.
Chicken eggs
Chicken eggs, available almost everywhere, are almost a universal product. They are put in salads, minced meat, filling for pies, they are the basis of custards, soufflés and sauces, a rare baking recipe does without chicken eggs. There are dozens of ways to prepare eggs for breakfast, from simple scrambled eggs to classic Benedict eggs.
The shell of chicken eggs is porous, so it is not recommended to wash them before storage, so as not to open access to various odors to the yolk and whites. The nutritional value of one chicken egg with an average weight of 50 grams is 70 kcal, of which 5 are fats.
Duck eggs
Duck eggs are similar to very large chicken eggs, with a smooth, coffee-beige shell. It is thicker than chicken, so breaking a duck egg is much more difficult. These eggs have more fat, but the texture of the cooked food is creamier. The protein of such eggs is richer in color, larger, the protein contains less water and because of this it is easier to digest.
Culinary experts say that the dough mixed with duck eggs turns out to be more tender, and the cream is silky. These eggs taste like very fresh chicken eggs. In addition to the usual dishes, duck eggs are used to make exotic delicacies such as Chinese salted eggs or Philippine balu eggs, with an embryo inside.
The weight of an average duck egg is 70 grams, nutritional value is 130 kilocalories. Fat in such an egg is 10 grams.
Goose eggs
Goose eggs are the largest poultry eggs. One medium goose egg is equivalent to three chicken eggs. They have a brighter taste and more intense aroma, but also contain the most cholesterol. Their yolk, on the contrary, is lighter than chicken, very thick and sticky. They have more protein. They are also difficult to break, and have white or ivory shells.
Turkey eggs
Of the poultry eggs, turkey are the most expensive. Turkeys rarely lay, so it is more economical to use their eggs for hatching than for eating. Turkey eggs are somewhat larger than chicken eggs, they have a hard shell covered with specks. The intense taste of eggs is also due to the presence of a large amount of cholesterol, four times more than chicken eggs.
Quail eggs
The smallest, but at the same time the most useful, quail eggs weigh no more than 9-10 grams each. They have the highest ratio of yolk to protein, they have the least cholesterol and calories - about 14 kcal per egg. Their elastic membrane does not allow microbes to pass through, so these are the only eggs that can be safely eaten raw. They are so tiny that they are ideal for various gourmet dishes, they are stuffed with caviar and truffles, they are put whole in salads and rolls.
Ostrich eggs
Ostrich eggs are the largest of those that are more or less regularly eaten. Their shell is so thick that in order to get the contents out of them, it has to be punched with a chisel or drilled. Most often, an ostrich egg is not used all at once, because its contents weigh up to 2 kilograms. The egg white and yolk are drained from the shell and stored in the refrigerator or even frozen.
