Gastroanthropology

The Incredible Edible Egg

  Egg and Soldiers 

When you know its going to be a long day an egg is just what you need for breakfast. It keeps you going all day long till dinner. My new favorite breakfast is dark rye nordic bread (working on perfecting my bread recipe, which hopefully I will be able to post soon) toasted and lightly buttered, topped with an egg over easy or poached, and wilted greens on the side. Everything sprinkled with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. It's been known to make an appearance at dinner too.

There is a huge demand for eggs and that is no surprise. Let's see...how many ways can you enjoy an egg? Boiled - soft, medium, or hard. Scrambled - wet or dry. Fried - sunnyside up, or over hard, medium, or easy. Poached. Omelet. Frittata. Egg Salad. It's the virtually silent, but necessary, ingredient in so many baked goods. It's the key ingredient in souffles and custards. It also makes a fabulously rich bread, like brioche. An egg is really a thing where you are only limited by your imagination. Most eggs commercially bought are laid by hens. We are all aware of chickens living horrible existences in factory farming. Remember that many commercially sold eggs come from caged hens. Many grocery stores in the United Kingdom have made the commitment to only sell eggs from free-range birds, but if you can, go further and buy organic eggs. In Europe, eggs are sold at room temperature. If you have fresh eggs and plan to use them within a few days it is safe to leave them in a cool room. Otherwise, they should be refrigerated and consumed within a few weeks. 

While fresh hen eggs are great, my new found love is the duck egg. These ducks (Muscovy, Mallard, Indian Runner and Khaki Campbell) are enjoying their daily swim at the pond at a local London farm. They spend daylight hours here and at night are brought inside.

It's still pretty cold out so egg production isn't very high. The warmer the weather, the more eggs are laid. Most duck egg shells are white with tinges of blue or green. Duck eggs are larger than chicken eggs. They are also tastier. Duck egg yolks are higher in fat which yields a super rich and more flavorful egg. Imagine a bit of melted butter mixed into the yolk. Duck eggs are also higher in protein. When baking with duck eggs, a richer, fluffier product is often created. It's great to substitute duck eggs for chicken eggs in cakes. As a general rule of thumb, substitute one for one (large chicken egg for duck egg), even if the duck eggs tend to be a bit larger.  

If you can, try a goose egg sometime. This is the first goose egg of the season at the farm (the large white one at the top). Geese only lay eggs from late winter to summer, and from 30 to 50 a year, depending on the breed and their age.

This Chinese Crested Goose laid that egg!

In the UK duck eggs are often found at farmers markets and sold at the Waitrose grocery chain.

Dingle Peninsula, Co. Kerry, Ireland

Thanksgiving is maybe one of the most difficult days to spend in a foreign country. Doing an entire Thanksgiving Dinner in two hours after work is a challenge. Going to work the day after the feast is no picnic either. Most American expats in London push the holiday to the Saturday, but we escaped London altogether and went to the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland.

It was actually a perfect trip for a Thanksgiving weekend away from the States. The weather was on our side, cold but sunny during the day, rainy at night when we were holed up in our B&B with our books. The people of Dingle were so genuinely friendly, you couldn't help but feel part of what was around. 

The trip was also a bit of a history lesson for me. In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue, but from Europe he wasn't the first to head west, as in 542 AD Saint Brendan of Ireland had already achieved the quest. Tradition and lore say that St. Brendan of Kerry, along with fourteen other monks, constructed a boat of wood tied together with leather strips. The start of the seven year journey was from this inlet (pictured below), now called Brandon Creek. His mission was to bring the Gospel to the West.

Legend says he traveled from here to the Isle of Sheep (The Hebrides), to the Paradise of Birds (The Faroes), to the Isle of Smiths (Iceland), to the Land of Crystal Pillars (Greenland), and through the Region of Fog (Newfoundland), to the Promised Land (America).

The Dingle Peninsula also had some interesting architecture. We saw many beehive huts made of stone and the Gallarus Oratory, a church built sometime between the 6th and 9th centuries. The huts and Oratory are built with stones, use no mortar, and slant slightly down to let rainwater run off.

It got dark pretty early, so what did we do when it got too dark for trolling around the Irish countryside? Head to the pubs for some Irish music, stout - Guinness and Murphy's, and Irish whiskey.

The Irish love their whisky - our host was shocked that I didn't want Jameson stirred into my breakfast porridge. Whisky before coffee? In Ireland, yes! I also discovered white pudding. White pudding is a sausage made of oats, suet, pork, onion, herbs, and spices. It's sliced and fried up on either side for Irish Breakfast. Irish Breakfasts are similar to English Breakfasts, but with the addition of this white pudding. Much more appealing to me than the black blood pudding.

 

Cinnamon Coffeecake Muffins

I've become quite a coffee snob lately. Antipodean coffee shops seem to be popping up all over London, and I'm loving their flat whites. For those not familiar with the flat white think a smaller (so stronger) and smoother latte. For me a good coffee starts with a lovely shot of espresso (Monmouth or Climpson's espresso beans are my favorites in London) and perfectly steamed milk - teeny tiny bubbles for microfoamed milk.

Usually I just drink it alone. But, occasionally, I need an accompaniment. I'm not a huge fan of super sweet for breakfast so these wholewheat cinnamon coffeecake muffins are perfect when eggs and bacon is too much for my stomach to handle.

CINNAMON COFFEECAKE MUFFINS

• 3 c wholewheat flour
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 5 oz butter
• 1 c sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 3/4 c sour cream

Filling/Topping

• 2/3 c dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 Tbs whole wheat flour
• 1 c chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts are my favorite for this)

METHOD

Combine together and mix all ingredients for the filling/topping. Combine all dry ingredients for the muffin recipe. Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing in each time. Alternate adding dry ingredients and sour cream until just combined. Fill muffin cups about 1/4 of the way up. Sprinkle a bit of the nut mixture. Add more batter till muffin cup is about 2/3rds of the way full. Sprinkle more of the nut mixture over top. Bake at 350F until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. Large muffins take about 20 minutes to bake and this recipe makes 10-12 large muffins.

These are best straight from the oven, so I often just make a half batch (in which case I use two eggs and a scant 3/4 c of sour cream).

Well it is approaching noon, my favorite time of day for a flat white, so I'm off to get my fix.

Muesli + Greek Yogurt

One of our staple cereals is Raisin Bran. Not because I like it, but because Nate likes it. When its on sale at Safeway, I've been known to buy an entire case. I hate having more than one box of cereal open because it goes stale, so when a box of Raisin Bran is open, that's the cereal I have to eat too. But I despise raisins. I can't think of one thing that I find is enhanced by adding raisins. So, before I pour the milk over my Raisin Bran I take the time to pick out every single raisin. Meanwhile, I'm cursing those two scoops - if they skimped on the raisins I would have less work to do. 

The particular brand that has two scoops of Raisin Bran is not easily found here in Europe. And when we first moved to Europe, Switzerland was home, where we discovered how much we loved muesli. I think of muesli as an uncooked, healthier version of granola. But, like my usual quips about cereals and trail mixes, no brand has just what I want. Its always too much of this and not enough of that. Solution? Make my own.

My muesli has a little bit of oats, spelt, and bran flakes, lots of almonds, pecans, and hazelnuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, and dried cherries, cranberries, and pineapple. 

Rather than drown all these delicious bits with milk, I add greek (strained) yogurt on top, with a drizzle of honey, and freshly grated apple. It's my new favorite thing to eat.

Fig + Orange + Cinnamon Jam

Remember when you got a goodie bag for attending a friend's birthday party? Now that we are older you bring the host a gift, but rarely do you get a goodie to take home. Not when you come to my parties. Guests must always leave with something. Packaged home-baked cookies, candied nuts, baby loaves of quick breads are often my goodies to give.

With these gorgeous figs I saw in the market, and holiday season just around the corner, I thought jars of jam would be perfect to give this time of year.

I wanted a jam that echoed winter time, so I added orange and cinnamon to the mix. I cut way back on the sugar in my jams now because when I eat jam I want to taste the fruit, not have it be sickly sweet. This recipe makes about three 6 oz. jars of jam.

FIG + ORANGE + CINNAMON JAM 

• Juice and zest of 1 large orange, or 2 small
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1 pound figs (10-12), cut into eights or quartered if small
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 vanilla bean

METHOD

I cook my jams on very low heat and try to avoid to much bubbling of the fruit. I've even started to make my berry jams in a bain-marie because I like the fruit to stay chunky and retain some of its original shape. For this fig jam start with the juice and zest of 1 orange in a pan. Add sugar and dissolve. Add cut figs, cinnamon and vanilla bean. Cook with the pod and then remove before canning. Let the jam simmer on the stove for at least 1 hour, till fruit begins to break down. There is not much liquid and the fruit should remain thick and chunky so there is no need to worry about runny jam. Click here for method for canning. Feel free to add more sugar if you like your jams a bit sweet!

Serve with grilled bread and butter and a healthy serving of not-too-sweet, super fig-y jam.