Poorly chicken

[majorbloodnock]

This isn’t another thread asking for inspiration in the teeth of an egg glut. Rather, I’m just interested in your more intriguing stock in trade uses for the bulk of your eggs.

As for us, apart from the regular boiled and scrambled eggs, most of ours go on making fresh pasta, spanish tortillas and the weekend breakfast pancakes.

[mullethunter]

All of the above plus egg custard tarts and giving them to friends, neighbours and colleagues!

I’m constantly googling ‘recipes with lots of eggs’ at this time of year!

[Daphne]

I will keep a tab on this as friends texted they had 24 eggs at home yesterday, from 10 hens!  Not all in one day obvs.  I used to give quantities of eggs away as I don't much like eggs and I knew my neighbours did, that is how I got rid of most of them, with the odd delivery to friends further away.  Sometimes I'd get a cake back, or someone would do me a favour, or give me fruit/veg, but that isn't why I did it, I just wanted the eggs to go to a good home and be used.  I also used to take a dozen home to my Mum as well, she eats a couple for breakfast several days a week.  Otherwise, an omelette/frittata would take care of 6 at a time, a lunch a week would use another 4 for me and OH, plus some miscellaneous cooking would use up another 2.  So, I don't think we ever ate more than a dozen a week and often only half that!  The surplus would be given away.  They could also be taken as a little present if you went round to somebody for dinner or drinks or whatever, and they were used as raffle prizes on occasion I remember.  

[Patricia W]

I only have one laying regularly now, and the odd egg from my other elderly lady so eggs are precious commodities these days.   If I don’t  have a grandchild’s birthday cake to make, it is poached egg on toast or omelette.   Gone are the days I had 13 eggs a day from 17 hens! 

[Beantree]

We used to sell our eggs from a coolbox by the door with a sign on the footpath; that paid for the feed. We only had one case of theft and one of short payment, but it all stopped when someone complained that the sign was an obstruction. Fortunately that coincided with our move to France where we are not allowed to sell eggs without being a registered business. So we then used what we could, gave the rest away and also negotiated to supply eggs in exchange for sharing the satellite TV link with our neighbour.

[Minnie&Moose]

Used to sell the spares at work - now we're giving them away to friends and neighbours and exchanging them for things - so this week it's been bottles of homebrew (pretty good), rhubarb, a delicious fruit loaf from the local artisan breadmaker and a bottle of wine (our neighbours know us all too well it seems!). Aside from that, it's been frittata, pasta, ice cream, fried egg bagels, a cake and a quiche so far this week - some of that has gone in the freezer, we haven't eaten it all - though I'm a bit concerned that I shall be wobbling out of lockdown several stones heavier than I was at the beginning😱

[soapdragon]

Oh, I'd love a glut of eggs! Our girls were never daily layers at the best of times but we loved them dearly! I do love scrambled eggs on toast with the toast slathered in marmite! 

[The Dogmother]

4 minutes ago, soapdragon said:

Oh, I'd love a glut of eggs! Our girls were never daily layers at the best of times but we loved them dearly! I do love scrambled eggs on toast with the toast slathered in marmite! 

Me three

M&M we need to get out on some dog walks when lockdown eases!

[majorbloodnock]

11 hours ago, soapdragon said:

Oh, I'd love a glut of eggs! Our girls were never daily layers at the best of times but we loved them dearly! I do love scrambled eggs on toast with the toast slathered in marmite! 

No, I have to say I'm rather particular with scrambled eggs and marmite doesn't feature. Hot buttered toast and eggs that are still soft enough to approximately pour on, but that set as they're being carried to the table so they taste really creamy.

Thinking about it, I'll eat almost anything so am definitely not a fussy eater, but I'm pretty particular about all sorts of breakfast. Fried eggs should have intact runny yolks and should be served at least two at a time, bacon should not be cooked so long as to become crispy, egg yolks are the only sauce a fry-up needs, yes to black pudding but no to white pudding, boiled eggs must be accompanied by toast soldiers, kippers should be grilled until the spine lifts out of the flesh and should be served with two slices of fresh buttered bread and a cup of tea, cereal is not breakfast but kedgeree most certainly is and so on and so on. I have come to the conclusion that I'd be a nightmare to cook breakfast for if I didn't cook it myself.

[Minnie&Moose]

To add to the list of things to do with eggs - made some grapefruit curd for a change at the weekend which was surprisingly good - not quite as tangy as the lemon version, but definitely worth another go.  And once the gooseberries arrive then I'll be making gooseberry curd which is yum

 

 

[The Dogmother]

9 minutes ago, Minnie&Moose said:

To add to the list of things to do with eggs - made some grapefruit curd for a change at the weekend which was surprisingly good - not quite as tangy as the lemon version, but definitely worth another go.  And once the gooseberries arrive then I'll be making gooseberry curd which is yum

 

 

Both my favourites, so let me know if you can't manage to eat it all! 😂 I daren't make any as it doesn't keep long and I just end up eating it all.

[Grandmashazzie]

Our eggs are used mainly for baking, I made a very passable rainbow cake for an afternoon zoom tea on Saturday. Other favourites here are brownies, especially nice if using a Terrys dark chocolate orange. When you melt that chocolate it is quite oily so makes a delicious gooey brownie.

Any left over I love poached on top of sourdough and avocado....yummy.

[Daphne]

There was something on the radio recently about an ideal cooked breakfast and it seems there are as many variations as there are people!  Mine might feature a fried egg, but I'd only eat the yolk, 2 slices of crispy bacon, as much fried bread as I think I can get away with, and possibly half a sausage with brown sauce (only Branston).  Its a very good job I don't actually like a cooked breakfast more than about once a year, otherwise I'd be dead pretty quickly!

 

 

Edited May 26, 2020 by Daphne

[majorbloodnock]

Agreed. For me, the ideal is not so much "ideal" as a list of prerequisites, and I'll feel disappointed if the prerequisites aren't met.

• Two fried eggs, yolks runny and unpopped, and not put on top of anything else for fear of the yolk popping later.
• Two rashers of bacon, cooked but not crisp, back bacon strongly preferred.
• Two sausages, not cumberland, decent quality. NOT chipolatas.
• Plenty of fried mushrooms
• Baked beans or grilled tomatoes

Assuming those are done right, I'm happy to then add

• Black pudding (as long as it isn't just black-looking sausage meat; it has to taste "proper")
• Some form of potatoes - hash browns, rosti, saute potatoes, bubble and squeak, potato farls are all good alternatives.
• Adventurous stuff if it's available (e.g. kidneys)

Told you I was a pain. I have even been known to send breakfast back if the eggs have popped, although I don't mind more eggs as long as I get my two unpopped yolks at the end of the meal.

Edited May 26, 2020 by majorbloodnock
Fat fingers

[mullethunter]

All cooked in one big frying pan - 3 rashers of smoked streaky bacon cooked first to put fat in the pan alongside 2 chipolata’s. Then loads of fried mushrooms done until they’re turning black, a fresh tomato cut in half and fried until softening and warm all the way through, 2 fried bantam eggs with runny yolks. Then a buttered piece of bread fried in all the bits left in the pan when everything else has come out. Oh and a few baked beans.

Must be happy pigs and chickens.

[The Dogmother]

38 minutes ago, mullethunter said:

Must be happy pigs and chickens.

I agree

Ok, so mine is.... Maple cured smoked back bacon, nice thick slices, well done but not burned. Teeny cherry tomatoes from my plants. Homemade bread - malted granary with seeds, toasted, spread with real butter and topped with mashed avocado. Mill a little dried chilli and garlic flakes on top, then pop the bacon on. Poach 2 bantam eggs and add those.

Oh, and KETCHUP!

[majorbloodnock]

9 hours ago, mullethunter said:

Must be happy pigs and chickens.

I wholeheartedly agree too.

Part of the reason we use a local butcher is so as to have the relationship that allows us to ask questions and know the source of whatever we buy. And, in fact, the only way the local butcher can compete with the supermarkets is by clubbing together with a few other similar butchers and buying whole farms' produce. In other words, cutting out the middle man, with the added benefit of guaranteeing a market for local produce. Win-win.

And @The Dogmother whilst we're on the subject of maple cured bacon, our butcher cures their own. It's the only bacon I can find which still has the rind on, and it's a real treat to fry the rind separately to make crispies whilst rendering the fat for cooking the rest of the breakfast. Yum.

[soapdragon]

My breakfast is a cup of tea! Whilst all the above sound really delicious I could no more face a plate first thing than fly! I'm never ready for food before 11.00am at the earliest so I guess it's brunch for me!

[The Dogmother]

1 hour ago, majorbloodnock said:

And @The Dogmother whilst we're on the subject of maple cured bacon, our butcher cures their own. It's the only bacon I can find which still has the rind on, and it's a real treat to fry the rind separately to make crispies whilst rendering the fat for cooking the rest of the breakfast. Yum.

One of my favourite things. Delicious

There's a local farm which produces black bacon - it's been cured in molasses; one of my treats when I can get there.

[Daphne]

Interesting range, you are obviously up for some strong flavours first thing DM, perhaps you have some Spanish blood alongside the Italian! Although you wouldn't be having your breakfast until 11am, you might be eating chorizo/presunto, garlic and tomatoes with a bit of bread and olive oil just over the border from here.  

I am with you Soapdragon.  My normal breakfast is a banana milk/yogurt smoothie with blitzed porridge oats in because I can't face the chewing of proper food, but I do need something to keep me going, hence the oats.  When I was younger we would have a proper cooked breakfast if we had over-indulged the night before, but that happens rarely now because the hangover is just not worth it from any perspective!

Going back to the egg theme, I have saved the tastiest egg from my friend (he/I can tell by the shell colour) for my lunch. Boiled with toast soldiers, possibly with bovril on.  Does anyone know why we call them soldiers? I don't. Its interesting how I/we don't appear to have grown up at all!

[mullethunter]

Oh Daphne ALWAYS have soldiers with my egg. Can’t have a boiled egg at MILs house because she doesn’t do soldiers or egg cups ☹️

[majorbloodnock]

2 hours ago, Daphne said:

Does anyone know why we call them soldiers? I don't.

Looks like it’s a relatively recent term

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldiers_(food)

 

2 hours ago, mullethunter said:

Can’t have a boiled egg at MILs house because she doesn’t do soldiers or egg cups ☹️

The heathen! How can there be such people? Please say she has other redeeming qualities.

[soapdragon]

Years ago I used to Nanny for an RAF family. The children dipped airmen in their eggs!

 

[The Dogmother]

1 hour ago, majorbloodnock said:

The heathen! How can there be such people? Please say she has other redeeming qualities.

Agreed - dippy eggs are a well used tradition in this house with freshly ground salt on the side; I even had to find special egg cups to take bantam eggs!

Daphne, the other part is Scottish, so no spicy food there! 

When I lived in north African, I learned a lovely (spicy) baked egg dish called Shakshuka... basically eggs baked in a spicy tomato sauce. they don't do soldiers there though.

[majorbloodnock]

32 minutes ago, The Dogmother said:

Agreed - dippy eggs are a well used tradition in this house with freshly ground salt on the side; I even had to find special egg cups to take bantam eggs!

I used to have an egg cup that was perfect for boiled goose eggs, but unsurprisingly was a bit too big for hens’ eggs. I found the little measuring cups provided at the time in cough syrup packaging worked perfectly as an insert to convert to the smaller egg size. Result!