Eggs

Getting back to basics!

I prefer to buy my eggs in bulk if I can and Free Range.  I usually buy a tray of 20 to 30 eggs (depending on the size of the eggs themselves) as we use them a lot in general cooking and baking. However at this time of year I am looking to preserve them for use throughout the Winter and to provide yet another item for Christmas eating.  I do not like Pickled eggs, but I always make sure that there is a batch or two available for himself to eat or snack on.  

I also every so often make homemade Scotch Eggs and some of these will certainly be gracing the Christmas table this year.

G went to see the Egg Man this morning.  A local trader from one of the Laybys he also sells sacks of potatoes, Honey and Duck Eggs. I will in a few weeks buy in a fresh sack of potatoes for general use.  I prefer to have a big sack of potatoes as a security thing on the food front during the cooler months. I have done this for years. I store the sack of potatoes under the stairs where it is cool and where I store a lot of my bottled items.  The floor is really cold in here, although it will soon have new flooring over the top it will still be lovely and cool in there. On average a sack of potatoes will last us six to eight weeks.  I do buy in separate potatoes for homemade chips though and have a different variety.

I do not keep onions in the same room as potatoes though, as the onions give off a gas that accelerates the life of potatoes and makes them go off.  The onions are either kept in the Dry Pantry or in the Stone Shed.  I certainly do not keep eggs in the same room as Onions or Garlic as they can absorb the strong flavour.  The eggs are porous and any strong flavours can end up transferring to the egg itself if strong flavoured food is too close to the eggs.  

If you can afford Truffles and want Truffle Flavoured eggs simply store the eggs layered in a jar with a few pieces of Truffle, put on a lid and leave and you will have Truffle flavoured eggs.  I like Truffle.  Not a lot of it, but I do like it.  G has always been the one who likes Mushrooms of any sort, and we bought in a Truffle delicacy and he could not stand it, which is a bit of an anomaly bearing in mind that he is nuts about Mushrooms.  He cannot even bear the aroma of it.

G has come back this morning with a tray of Large general Eggs (20) and a tray of Free Range Eggs also large sized (20 again).  Works out to about £17 for the two trays.  However last week as we missed the Egg Man I ended up buying "Free Range" from the Supermarket 12 eggs for £3.50 large.  The yolks were insipid on them though; not the golden coloured yolks we are used to. The eggs cooked nicely though.  One batch of these eggs were white shelled which I have not seen available in supermarkets for years. No different to a brown egg or other coloured egg at the end of the day.  They also work out that little bit dearer compared to the Egg Man buying eggs in this way.  The eggs I do like buying are the small eggs, known as Pullet eggs which are from a Chicken's first few lays.  The eggs are smaller but still very rich and full of flavour.  Whenever we see these we will buy them. We go through a lot of eggs in any one week as part of a meal however I always use a few in baking as well.

I grew up with Chickens at my Nan and Pops home. As children we used to go and help with the evening feed and close up and to collect any eggs from the nest boxes. I was also taught as a youngster by my Pop to gently put my hand under a sitting Hen and gently remove an egg and also how to handle them.  The greatest respect being given to a Broody Hen who could and used to get very defensive and aggressive if you went anywhere near her clutch.  One day I would like a few of my own as they are such characters.

If you have eggs in the Pantry you can always bake something or they can be used as the main in a meal or used to create other dishes like quiche, flans etc.  Eggs are one of the few ingredients that I do not like to be without although I am aware of alternatives if for some reason I do not have eggs and would still be able to bring a meal together without them.

Lots of cooking planned for this week.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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