Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Cutest eggs ever

The street food festival was amazing, and as it wound down, and the sky got darker, we were standing in line for some Thai spareribs and the booth next door started handing out little boxes of quail eggs. Quail eggs!

quail eggs!
{quail eggs}

They are so teeny tiny and perfect. I'm in love.

quail egg, ruler
{quail egg, ruler}

I have one dozen. What to do with them? Can such a tiny thing be poached (because I now poach eggs multiple times a week)? Scrambling them seems criminal. I'm torn - very excited to use them and already a little sad knowing that once I do they'll be gone and I won't be able to stare at them anymore. I mean, I can get more, obviously. But I'd hate to get jaded. Quail eggs that are gifted, out of the blue, seem more magical than ones that I track down online and then purchase at the farmer's market.

37 comments:

  1. you should blow out the yolk like you do with easter eggs! That way you can use what's inside without ruining the beautiful shell!

    xo,
    Sonia

    http://RunwayHippie.com

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  2. Tartare, lady. That's what I say.

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  3. one perfectly fried quail egg, over easy on top of a perfectly cut round crounton as the garnish for traditional french garlic soup, yum!
    i assisted the famous chef huber keller of fleur de lys in sf at a food conference at the cia in st helena, ca on this dish and it was mind blowingly good!

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  4. eee I love them! too cute! I cannot wait to see what you do with them!

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  5. kiwi and i had brunch at the ramos house in san juan capistrano and they used scotch quail eggs atop a crab claw as a garnish in their bloody marys! it was amazing and delicious!

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  6. They are absolutely precious and worthy of some extra effort, methinks. We had nests and nests of quail eggs and gimlet cups of lavender on the tables of our wedding brunch, and I thought my mom was quite clever- she pricked holes in the eggs (a la Easter eggs), blew out the yolks, rinsed the eggs in warm soapy water, and placed them in the nests for decoration. Or heck, just poach them and serve with chives and black pepper. YUM.

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  7. they seriously are just too cute (and easily the most random thing from the food festival). let me know what you end up whipping up!

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  8. Wow, so beautiful. Too cute to cook (but you must, you must)!

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  9. What a great gift! They're gorgeous! Well first I'd snap about a dozen (no pun intended) more pictures of them. Then I'd hit up epicurious.com because they have some mouth watering recipes for quail eggs. Truffled quail eggs anyone?


    brebeauty.com

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  10. We have this show on Food Network Canada called French Food at Home, and the host made this cute appetizer with quail eggs. It sounds kind of interesting!

    http://www.foodnetwork.ca/OnTV/shows/French-Food-at-Home/recipe.html?dishID=10326&titleid=105739

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  11. Tartare. Quail eggs are the perfect size.

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  12. most of the time i see them fried as part of an appetizer. but those shells are so beautiful. take lots of shots first and then enjoy them.

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  13. Um, hi, I have a dozen quail eggs too. We must have been standing right next to each other. And now I am going to take all these suggestions and use them too.

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  14. How about poached soft on a salad of frisee and bacon lardons with a light lemon vin? Or sunny side up on toasted baguette?

    Or here's a recipe for marbled quail eggs that sounds pretty insane...http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Marbled-Quail's-Eggs

    Let us know what you decide to do:)

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  15. Are those poop stains? *cringe*

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  16. You guys have the best ideas. Will you think less of me if I admit that I've never tried tartare and am still kind of freaked out by the whole idea? Very plebeian, I know. Maybe I will get up the courage.

    @ALAL - um, kind of hilarious. We must have been right next to each other because I don't think they were handing them out for all that long. Hi!

    @ Ann Ladson and @ The French - both of those ideas sound amazing. Perhaps I could try both.

    @ Arielle I. - Quail eggs are speckled, so I think it's mostly just that. They're actually fairly clean. But I have a pretty high tolerance for bird poop, because I am lucky enough to sometimes get fresh eggs from my sister in law. Fresh chicken eggs are always poopy. It's no big deal - you just scrub them carefully before you use them. Fresh eggs taste so much better that you get over it reeeaaaallly quickly.

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  17. you definitely have to hard-boil them, they are so delicious that way. we have them once a year for passover, yum yum yum!

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  18. LOVE quails eggs! I made miniature scotch eggs with them, probably a very English thing scotch eggs? Delicious nonetheless, I combined this recipe http://www.waitrose.com/recipe/Mini_Scotch_Eggs_with_Quail_Eggs.aspx with a couple of others and used lots of herbs in the sausage meat and took them to a posh picnic, everyone loved them!

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  19. Oooo! I love quail eggs. I once made stuffed ravioli and put egg yolks in them and used quail egg yolks since they're the perfect size (regular eggs are too big). They're super cute and only need to cook for about a minute or two (or until they float to the top). Paired with a brown butter sauce? Amazeballs! Oh and a mini eggs benedict would be awesome too.

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  20. so cute! i'd love to see one of those tiny things on a fried egg sandwich. maybe with a plum tomato slice. :)

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  21. those quail eggs look darling and perfect! i love mine in sushi. xo.

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  22. Those are so cute! What do they taste like?

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  23. I think poached would be good. I've seen them prepared that way.

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  24. You can get them anytime at Asian supermarkets! Ranch 99 has them - I used to go to the one in Van Nuys. I don't know how fresh they are there, but they are certainly readily available! We often eat them hard-boiled and then stir-fried into Chinese dishes. Try hard-boiling them and tossing them in with a curry dish with potatoes and yams, or even with some other veggies. I love quail eggs because they're so versatile and they have a unique and complex savoriness that you just don't get in regular chicken eggs. :)

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  25. why don't you soft boil them, crack the tops, and dip those very skinny asparagus spears into them. ROASTED asparagus spears.

    they are the most beautiful eggs i ever saw...

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  26. Fry one and put it on a burger. There's a burger place near my house in Fort Worth (Tim Love's Love Shack), and the "Dirty Love" burger has a fried quail egg on it. It is delicious.

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  27. You could make tea eggs with them! They are lovely in and of themselves so it might help cushion the blow of having to crack them open. :)

    http://justbento.com/handbook/johbisai/lazy-easy-tea-eggs

    Bonus: the recipe author lists specific instructions for using quail eggs a few lines down in the article! <3

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  28. never had quail eggs. save them--like easter eggs once you get the yolk out--or buy some and paint them.

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  29. Boiled quail eggs are so big in the Philippines (sold in buses with a little salt, sauteed with veggies, lined up on sticks, covered in batter, and fried) that I completely overlooked the fact that you can do other things with them. Haha. Have fun eating them!

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  30. Aren't quail eggs darling!? I live in Bangkok and they are so cheap and plentiful here. I love getting them at Easter and making a little nest for them with dried grass. Adorable! We love eating them hard boiled and whole on salad and they are good hard boiled and batter fried too. (they taste like perfectly normal chicken eggs to the person who asked). Candice

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  31. they are so cute! my favorite sushi place uses them raw on top of a spicy tuna roll. it's delish! in taiwan, my friends used to hard boil them and eat them as a snack.

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  32. haha I love your reply! My parents had chickens for several years and I always had to collect the eggs and I tried to do it right away but being homeschooled, I was always doing something (computer, or housework or homework, etc.) and haaaaaaaated when they got poopy. I usually scooped them up with a big RaceTrac cup and piled them all in there and then just rinsed them with the kitchen sink sprayer.

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  33. I would def try and hollow them out so you can save the shell. Maybe hot glue a little ribbon on the tops and hang them from something. So cute!

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