An Overload of Eggs

[kayb]

Pound cakes freeze wonderfully. Think Christmas gift baskets. You can also freeze cookie dough. 

 

Quiche freezes well, as does my favorite sausage-egg muffin (browned sausage, egg, whatever veggies you have, a little flour and oil to bind it. Bake them, freeze them, then vacuum seal once they're frozen hard. 

 

Definitely the eggnog.Come on, now, 'fess up. How long has it been since you bought Everclear? Oh, the days of wastebasket punch....

 

 If you get enough pumpkin crisps made, you can always go to meringue cookies. That's another good one for the Christmas baskets (they're quite festive with red and green dusting sugar). I would think they should freeze.

 

I've been pickling quail eggs in a combo of Shaoxing vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil and sriracha. Great in noodle soups, or just as a quick snack. I would think they should last about forever. Should work with regular eggs. You can pickle them in a non-Asian, vinegar based brine with pre-cooked brats or knackwurst (or small bologna) for old-fashioned "baloney and eggs." Be sure to use LOTS of hot sauce in the brine.

 

Do you, by chance, have African violets? They LOVE eggshells crumbled and applied to their soil. My grandmother used to do that.

 

Check and see if there's a food pantry in your area. They'd LOVE to have eggs, I'm sure. Put your farmers in touch with them. Check, also, with the local school cafeteria; their budgets suck, so fresh eggs would be marvelous for them.

 

Sure wish I was there! My egg lady's chickens are currently on strike, and I have been reduced to grocery store eggs. 

[ChocoMom]

Early on when my "girls" were laying 2 eggs a day, I was deluged with eggs.  Ended up cracking them and putting them in ice cube trays, then into a gallon ziplock until they were frozen. Once they were egg-cubes, I'd put them in either tupperware or snack-size ziplocs, to use for cookies, muffins, cakes, etc. Worked great, and preserved them until I could use them up. =) 

[Jacksoup]

Our pullets recently started laying.  We have 12 new girls and 5 more mature ladies.  Getting 12 small and 5 large eggs a day.  These are great ideas and I'm going to try to squeeze a few breakfast casseroles in the freezer before the holidays.  Freezer space is limited as I have juice from  about 100 Meyer lemons and pesto from a dozen basil plants from this summer.  Will probably turn a lot of the lemon juice into IP lemon curd to make room - and use up some eggs!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Last night I attended a presentation by a pastry instructor from the ICC.  Since the subject of egg storage came up, he stores his eggs unwashed at room temperature.  He does not wash them even before cracking and separating for making pastry.

 

If you need to store the eggs for a really long time, my advice would be to wash and pasteurize them.  Then store the pasteurized eggs in the refrigerator.  I keep eggs this way for months.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Wow! That is a LOT of eggs!

 

Souffles will use a lot of eggs and you can make plain cheese, spinach, broccoli, mushroom, chocolate ...

 

Spanish tortillas use a bunch of eggs too, and recycle well from dinner to breakfast and lunch. 

 

The advice from @Soupcon to sell the eggs for baking is very good, but more for your farmers than for what you can do with your bounty. Our government, unfortunately, frowns very hard on cottage industries that involve any processing of food, even that minimal.

 

Even the producers will probably have to find a commercial egg processor who can use these pullet eggs too small for marketing in the shell. It would be easier for the the farmers, probably, than trying to locate enough individual bakeries or restaurants willing to buy the small eggs still in the shell. This 10,000 egg per day thing is not going to resolve itself overnight. At least they might be able to recoup some of their investment now, and it would be very hard to even give away that kind of surplus of eggs which will just keep coming every single day. Disposing of them in that quantity is a stinky and unsanitary proposition too. Sheesh! They need to look into finding a licensed processor ASAP, or get set up to do it themselves. You do not want half a ton or more of egg waste per day disposed of on your land.

 

Such a shame, too, pullet eggs are great!

 

They might find a way to sell some of them to farmers markets and give some to food banks, but you are not exactly in a high density population area, and I'm not even sure unwashed eggs are legal to give to food banks. Our benevolent and all-wise government hates that centuries-old practice as well, and insists eggs be washed and then need refrigeration. 

 

And Shelby, you really do not need to refrigerate eggs that have not been washed. There is a protective barrier deposited, that if you leave it alone, you can store them for weeks at room temp. I'm writing to you tonight after having consumed thousands of these eggs produced and stored this way on my grandparents' small free range farm. This was way before free range was a "thing" or cool. Grandfolks also ate these eggs all of their long lives and died of old age, and nothing related to eggs. Grandpa would often eat half a dozen pullet eggs for breakfast, and he lived to 78. 

Edited November 3, 2016 by Thanks for the Crepes (log)

[Shelby]

14 hours ago, cakewalk said:

Boy, I hope you like egg salad! I'm sure it will taste great on all the egg-rich brioches you can bake. Gougeres are egg-rich, and can be frozen. I think freezer space is key here. Do you have a lot? 

I don't have a ton because deer season is coming soon.  But I'll make it all work somehow.

13 hours ago, kayb said:

Pound cakes freeze wonderfully. Think Christmas gift baskets. You can also freeze cookie dough. 

 

Quiche freezes well, as does my favorite sausage-egg muffin (browned sausage, egg, whatever veggies you have, a little flour and oil to bind it. Bake them, freeze them, then vacuum seal once they're frozen hard. 

 

Definitely the eggnog.Come on, now, 'fess up. How long has it been since you bought Everclear? Oh, the days of wastebasket punch....

 

 If you get enough pumpkin crisps made, you can always go to meringue cookies. That's another good one for the Christmas baskets (they're quite festive with red and green dusting sugar). I would think they should freeze.

 

I've been pickling quail eggs in a combo of Shaoxing vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil and sriracha. Great in noodle soups, or just as a quick snack. I would think they should last about forever. Should work with regular eggs. You can pickle them in a non-Asian, vinegar based brine with pre-cooked brats or knackwurst (or small bologna) for old-fashioned "baloney and eggs." Be sure to use LOTS of hot sauce in the brine.

 

Do you, by chance, have African violets? They LOVE eggshells crumbled and applied to their soil. My grandmother used to do that.

 

Check and see if there's a food pantry in your area. They'd LOVE to have eggs, I'm sure. Put your farmers in touch with them. Check, also, with the local school cafeteria; their budgets suck, so fresh eggs would be marvelous for them.

 

Sure wish I was there! My egg lady's chickens are currently on strike, and I have been reduced to grocery store eggs. 

Oh, African Violets.  My Grammy had those.  I think she gave some to me which I promptly killed.  Love those things but can't keep houseplants alive for some reason.

13 hours ago, ChocoMom said:

Early on when my "girls" were laying 2 eggs a day, I was deluged with eggs.  Ended up cracking them and putting them in ice cube trays, then into a gallon ziplock until they were frozen. Once they were egg-cubes, I'd put them in either tupperware or snack-size ziplocs, to use for cookies, muffins, cakes, etc. Worked great, and preserved them until I could use them up. =) 

Ok, thanks for the freezing advice.  I need to get some ice cube trays asap.

5 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

Wow! That is a LOT of eggs!

 

Souffles will use a lot of eggs and you can make plain cheese, spinach, broccoli, mushroom, chocolate ...

 

Spanish tortillas use a bunch of eggs too, and recycle well from dinner to breakfast and lunch. 

 

The advice from @Soupcon to sell the eggs for baking is very good, but more for your farmers than for what you can do with your bounty. Our government, unfortunately, frowns very hard on cottage industries that involve any processing of food, even that minimal.

 

Even the producers will probably have to find a commercial egg processor who can use these pullet eggs too small for marketing in the shell. It would be easier for the the farmers, probably, than trying to locate enough individual bakeries or restaurants willing to buy the small eggs still in the shell. This 10,000 egg per day thing is not going to resolve itself overnight. At least they might be able to recoup some of their investment now, and it would be very hard to even give away that kind of surplus of eggs which will just keep coming every single day. Disposing of them in that quantity is a stinky and unsanitary proposition too. Sheesh! They need to look into finding a licensed processor ASAP, or get set up to do it themselves. You do not want half a ton or more of egg waste per day disposed of on your land.

 

Such a shame, too, pullet eggs are great!

 

They might find a way to sell some of them to farmers markets and give some to food banks, but you are not exactly in a high density population area, and I'm not even sure unwashed eggs are legal to give to food banks. Our benevolent and all-wise government hates that centuries-old practice as well, and insists eggs be washed and then need refrigeration. 

 

And Shelby, you really do not need to refrigerate eggs that have not been washed. There is a protective barrier deposited, that if you leave it alone, you can store them for weeks at room temp. I'm writing to you tonight after having consumed thousands of these eggs produced and stored this way on my grandparents' small free range farm. This was way before free range was a "thing" or cool. Grandfolks also ate these eggs all of their long lives and died of old age, and nothing related to eggs. Grandpa would often eat half a dozen pullet eggs for breakfast, and he lived to 78. 

 

Yeah, I think all of the government red tape is what my farmers ran in to.  Thankfully this weekend begins the time when the buyer will take all of the eggs (I think).

 

I have 60 of the eggs just sitting out here.  So they aren't taking up fridge space

 

Thanks so much for all of the wonderful ideas.  Keep 'em coming if something pops into your mind.  I'll be doing a lot with eggs  

[rotuts]

separarte and freeze the components of what you don't eat, in airtight thick plastic bags.

 

HB some in the IP and keep cold in the refirg.

[Kerry Beal]

You could store them in water glass.

[ninagluck]

@Kerry Beal I remember my grandma doing that, never saw it ever since

[Anna N]

Make some lemon curd. You don't even need lemons if you make it the Modernist Cuisine way.

[djyee100]

Wish I had those eggs myself. I'd make lots of cookie doughs, like Toll House cookie dough or icebox cookie doughs. I'd roll the dough up in parchment paper, like slice 'n' bake cookies, freeze 'em, then bake cookies over the holidays. Since the eggs are not standard size, you'll have to weigh them. One large-size egg, the standard egg size for baking recipes, weighs 50 grams or 1.75 oz without the shell.

 

Also you can make Popovers. Brioche if you want to get fancy. Pasta carbonara for dinner.

 

I like to make frittata for a quick dinner, 10-12 eggs in one frittata. I make mine in a (greased) nonstick 10" skillet, and I never flip it over (too messy and nervewracking). I put the pan under the broiler to finish cooking the top. The leftovers are good in sandwiches the next day.

[Dejah]

I'd put them in brine and use the yolks a month later for joongzi!

Or use the salted egg yolks for Golden Sand Shrimp - a favourite dish that I have yet to make at home. I think eGulleteer Prawcracker posted a recipe / method for them a long time ago in the China forum.

[Lisa Shock]

Both biscotti and fekkas use a sizeable number of eggs and the end product keeps for up to a month if stored in a low humidity environment.

 

I should also point out that I belong to a FaceBook group that meets a couple times a month and people trade excess produce from their gardens, as well as milk, honey, eggs, and homemade baked goods, soaps, etc. you might be able to trade for some other good food.

[liuzhou]

Cover them in horse urine* and bury them in mud and straw for a hundred years** to make Chinese preserved eggs.

 

* Note this is a myth!

** and so is this.

Edited November 4, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

40 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Cover them in horse urine* and bury them in mud and straw for a hundred years** to make Chinese preserved eggs.

 

* Note this is a myth!

** and so is this.

 

 

So liuzhou,

 

Are you able to enlighten us as to how these preserved eggs are actually made? I have seen "century" eggs at S-Mart, but been afraid of them. If you've tried them, how do they taste?

 

I'm sure it's possible to preserve eggs. After all, it's common here to pickle them in vinegar. They won't keep for a hundred years, though. The "century" name is off-putting to us Westerners.

[liuzhou]

2 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

 

So liuzhou,

 

Are you able to enlighten us as to how these preserved eggs are actually made? I have seen "century" eggs at S-Mart, but been afraid of them. If you've tried them, how do they taste?

 

I'm sure it's possible to preserve eggs. After all, it's common here to pickle them in vinegar. They won't keep for a hundred years, though. The "century" name is off-putting to us Westerners.

 

Hey! I'm a westerner, too!

Let's remember that "century eggs" is a western name, too. None of the Chinese names for these resemble "century eggs" in the slightest. The two most common names are 皮蛋 (pí dàn) and  松花 (sōng huā). Sometimes, the two are combined to give 皮蛋松花 (pí dàn sōng huā).

 

As to how they are really made, let me quote my blog.

"They are usually duck eggs, but can be made from chicken or quail eggs. There are two main types.
 

The more traditional type are made by taking the unshelled eggs and coating them in clay-like mixture of quicklime, salt and rice husks. After about two to three weeks they are ready to eat. The mud is washed off, the eggs are shelled and they are eaten, usually with a vinegar, soy sauce and ginger dressing. Here in Liuzhou, chilli is also usually added to the dressing. They also turn up in soups or are served with rice porridge. These ones are around ¥1.50 each.
 

A more modern method involves soaking the eggs in a brine of salt, calcium hydroxide, and sodium carbonate for ten days followed by several weeks of ageing. They are then eaten in the same way. They are slightly cheaper at ¥1.20 each.
 

Both types are widely available in markets and supermarkets."

 

¥1= 15 cents USD

 

I've tried them often. I like them a lot. I know many people are put off by the appearance and expect something foul and rancid, at best.

 

 

However, I remain convinced that, in a true blind tasting, few people would know that they were eating anything other than a hard boiled egg. They may notice that they are slightly firmer, but without being rubbery and that the taste is a bit more intense than a regular egg, but not ridiculously so. I have described them in the past as "exaggerated eggs".

 

Mud cured preserved eggs

 

 

Edited November 4, 2016 by liuzhou
typo (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

@liuzhou,

 

I'm well aware you were born a Westerner, but you are very well assimilated where you are now, and as usual, a font of valuable information about the food and customs in China.

 

Thank you for the information.

 

I may never make these eggs, because the ingredients for the cure are not accessible to me either for the olden or modern version. I might not even buy the preserved chix eggs I can buy at S-Mart after hearing they are not a lot different from regular boiled eggs, but it is somehow inexplicably comforting that people are not eating hundred year old eggs. 

 

One further question from pesky me: Is the quicklime in your recipe for the traditional eggs the same stuff one would use on a lawn or in the stables? The cure depends on a base? Are the eggs cured in the shell from a raw state? Okay, three questions, sorry.

 

How long will these eggs remain good to eat after the preservation treatment? FOUR 

[liuzhou]

17 minutes ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

I may never make these eggs, because the ingredients for the cure are not accessible to me either for the olden or modern version.

 

I don't know anyone here who makes them either. We buy them from the local market/supermarket.

 

 

17 minutes ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

One further question from pesky me: Is the quicklime in your recipe for the traditional eggs the same stuff one would use on a lawn or in the stables? The cure depends on a base? Are the eggs cured in the shell from a raw state? Okay, three questions, sorry.

 

How long will these eggs remain good to eat after the preservation treatment? FOUR 

 

Q1 Quicklime. I don't know. I suppose so. Are there different kinds of quicklime?

Q2 Depends on a base. Don't know what you mean.

Q3 Yes

 

Q4 I've never tested but at least months.

Edited November 4, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

1 minute ago, liuzhou said:

Q2 Depends on a base. Don't know what you mean.

 

I mean basic vs. acid. Here we cure eggs with an acidic vinegar pickle. 

[liuzhou]

5 minutes ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

 

I mean basic vs. acid. Here we cure eggs with an acidic vinegar pickle. 

 

As we do in the UK.

 

Still not sure what you mean by "basic" though. In my head things are either acidic, alkaline or, rarely.neutral. I'm trying to remember my chemistry classes from high school, but they didn't make sense to me decades ago and I doubt they will now, but I don't remember anything called "basic" until Microsoft came along.

 

The "century egg" cure is alkaline.

Edited November 4, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

3 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

As we do in the UK.

 

Still not sure what you mean by "basic" though. In my head things are either acidic, alkaline or, rarely.neutral. I'm trying to remember my chemistry classes from high school, but they didn't make sense to me decades ago and I doubt they will now, but I don't remember anything called "basic" until Microsoft came along.

 

basic = alkaline

[liuzhou]

1 minute ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

 

basic = alkaline

 

Quote

Two countries divided by a common language.  George Bernard Shaw

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

@liuzhou,

 

Thanks for the information.

 

It could be very valuable to someone who is willing to seek out the ingredients for the cure and make them or for someone who is curious and wants to purchase them at their Asian market or just runs across them in a restaurant. We even have restaurants here in our growing burgh that offer them. That would be where I would start.

 

I'm going to assume that this cure is alkaline/basic. Perhaps we Westerners nicknamed them "century eggs" because they keep so long?

 

I have to weigh in at this point with the fact that I don't like our vinegar pickled eggs. They are ubiquitous in dive bars, often fished out of their cloudy brine with tongs that are not washed or even rinsed after doing that. I have never seen a woman partake, but I have witnessed them groaning when their men did. I can only guess that's due to the flatulence effect afterwards mentioned upthread. Gross! I have seen some specimens here on eG that were turned a delightful pink with beets and onions in clear brine that I would probably love. They would be so pretty sliced over salad as a garish.

 

Of course, my little snowflake self did not live in a time without refrigeration or electricity and become accustomed to welcome protein in the winter when the hens weren't laying as usual under artificial light. If I had, I'm sure my view would be very different.

 

[liuzhou]

46 minutes ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

I'm going to assume that this cure is alkaline/basic.

 

I already said it is.

 

I was also exposed to vinegar pickled eggs as a child. Every chip shop in England had them. Foul things.

 

Eggs are also salted here. And then there are tea eggs.

 

But time to give Shelby her topic back again, I think.

[naguere]

Deleated as now i know L dont like pickled eggs.

Edited November 4, 2016 by naguere
I wanted to delete, the original poster don't like pickled eggs (log)