Ducks and chickens have at least one thing in common: their eggs. While chicken eggs are the most popular human food, duck eggs are also quickly becoming a favorite. They are just as nutritious and sometimes even tastier.
Duck eggs are easy to boil and require only a heat source and water. Depending on how you want to serve the eggs, they should take anywhere between 4 and 7 minutes to boil.
Boiling eggs is done to prepare them for storage and lengthen their shelf life to keep them fresh. Boiled eggs are also delicious to eat on their own or as part of an egg salad. This article looks at how to boil duck eggs, how long it should take, and a few extra tips for amazing results.
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How to boil duck eggs
Boiling duck eggs is as straightforward as boiling chicken eggs. There are basically three types of boiled duck eggs, each with a unique procedure:
- Hard-boiled duck eggs.
- Soft-boiled duck eggs.
- Medium-boiled duck eggs.
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1. How to hard-boil duck eggs
- Put your duck eggs in a pan and fill them with enough water to cover the eggs. Bring the cold water to a full boil over medium heat. Let it continue boiling for one minute.
Some people salt their water, and there’s a good reason for this. Since salted water boils at a lower temperature than pure water, salting speeds up the process. However, this is entirely up to you.
- Turn off the heat. Cover the pan with a tightly fitting lid and leave it undisturbed for 20 minutes.
- Open the lid and drain the hot water when the time is up. Now fill the pan with cold water and add a few ice cubes. Leave the ice water bath for 20 minutes, too.
- The eggs are ready to serve!
However, there’s a technique for peeling hard-boiled duck eggs. You hold them with the small, pointy end up and give the fat end a firm tap down on the counter. Next, roll the egg on the counter, just firmly enough to crack the shell around. Finally, remove the peel from the fat end and peel like you would a clementine.
2. How to soft boil duck eggs
When you want them to e soft after boiling, here is how to do it:
- Place the eggs in a saucepan and add cold water.
- Salt the water and bring it to a boil.
- Cook the eggs for around 5 minutes for a very runny yolk or up to 7 minutes for a barely-set yolk. If you have more than 2 eggs on the pan, add a minute or two to your timing.
4. How to medium boil duck eggs
If you want it medium, here is what to do:
- Put your desired number of eggs in a saucepan.
- Add cold water to the pan, just enough to cover the eggs, but not too much more.
- Place the saucepan onto the stove-top on high.
- Bring the water to a boil.
- Once the water starts boiling, remove it from the heat and leave it undisturbed for 12 minutes.
- When the time is up, remove the eggs from the hot water and quickly add them into a new bowl under cold running water. Don’t skip this step; else, the eggs will overcook.
What to know about boiled duck Eggs
Duck eggs are not only safe but also nutritious to eat. However, out of precaution, make sure your duck eggs are cooked thoroughly before eating them. Dishes that incorporate duck eggs must also be cooked until they are ready all the way through.
Nevertheless, anything you can cook with a chicken egg can be cooked with a duck egg.
1. How do duck eggs compare to chicken eggs?
Duck eggs are generally bigger than chicken eggs. A typical duck egg is 50% larger than a big chicken egg. Just like chicken eggs, they come in a wide variety of colors depending on the duck’s breed.
The shell is thicker than a chicken egg’s shell, making it harder to crack. However, farmers and duck enthusiasts report that the thicker shell gives the eggs longer shelf life.
2. Are they delicious?
Duck eggs tend to taste more like chicken eggs. However, their flavors are mostly more intense than chicken eggs because of a duck’s diet. As a result, people with an option prefer duck eggs because they eat bugs, snails, and other high-protein critters all over plant matter. This diet enriches the eggs’ flavor significantly.
3. Are they nutritious?
Thanks to the larger yolk, duck eggs are actually higher in cholesterol and fat than chicken eggs. They are also higher in protein and omega-3 fatty acids. All in all, duck eggs have a nutritional profile similar to chicken eggs but are richer in some nutrients.
4. Are they expensive?
Duck eggs are slightly more expensive than chicken eggs. However, they’re still not prohibitively costly. While a dozen chicken eggs retail for an average of just over $2 around the country, duck eggs range from around $6 to $12 per dozen.
5. How long are fresh duck eggs good for?
You can keep duck eggs for up to 6 weeks. Thanks to their thicker shell, they stay fresh for longer than chicken eggs.
How do you know if a duck egg is bad?
The easiest way to know if a duck egg is bad is by smell and taste. If you crack it and it smells foul (rancid sulfur smell), it is bad and shouldn’t be consumed.
However, you should differentiate this smell from the naturally fishy smell of freshly laid duck eggs. Compared with eggs from other poultry, fresh duck eggs have an unpleasant fishy odor linked to trimethylamine (TMA). However, the smell is nothing to worry about and will go away once you cook the egg or just leave it in storage for some time.
Duck eggs are quickly becoming a popular delicacy. You can boil them and serve them on their own or incorporate them into another dish. Boiling duck eggs is easy and only requires water and a heat source.
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