Sunday, March 22, 2009

Goose eggs vs Chicken eggs - taste and texture

I was loading the goose eggs into the incubator and accidently cracked one. Cracked eggs don't ever hatch for me, so I decided to cook and eat it to see what a goose egg tastes like.
Here's the goose egg, and a chicken egg I used for comparison.

I scrambled the eggs in seperate bowls, and then coated a teflon pan with a little bit of butter. On medium heat I cooked the eggs seperately until they were just a little raw, and then onto a plate. My experience is that you take the egg out of the pan before it looks "done" and it finishes cooking on your plate.

The shell on a goose egg is quite a bit thicker and stronger than a chicken egg. I'm a little surprised i could break it by accident. The yolk of a goose egg was very firm, almost custard-like. When raw, the yolk had a similar texture to crisco shortening. Much firmer than the chicken yolk.
The lighting really doesn't show the color very well. The chicken egg was a sunny yellow color, the goose egg paler. One goose egg is about 4 chicken eggs by weight.

The goose egg scrambled had a firmer texture, definitely firmer than the chicken egg. The taste was eggy, mild, and a little "dryer" than the chicken egg. It was yummy. If I had an equal supply, I'd probably switch to goose eggs for scrambling. Chicken eggs are so available and the difference wasn't that great, so I probably won't eat the goose eggs in the future, preferring to have more geese.



22 comments:

Anonymous said...

They make fantastic cakes and sweet style eggy breads!

Heather Bartlett said...

Cool post - thanks. I found this info about the B12 content of Goose eggs:

http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/foods-high-in-vitamin-B12.php

When it comes to chicken eggs the raw yellow has most of the vitamin B-12 with 1.95μg per 100g serving (33%), however, this equates to 0.33μg per yolk or just 6% of the RDA. The eggs of other animals are higher with a goose egg providing 7.34μg (122% RDA) of vitamin B-12 per 100g serving, and a duck egg providing 3.78μg (63% RDA).

***
I need to boost my B12 and when I read that about goose eggs I started to wonder how they would taste. I think it would take a little getting used to - but first I'd have to find where to even get goose eggs!

Thanks for the post!

Anonymous said...

I'd like to try a goose egg, it sounds delicious and nutritious! Bruce, you mentioned the goose egg was on its way to the incubator, are fertilized eggs safe to eat? Doesn't being fertilized change the flavor?

Anonymous said...

How do you hard boil a goose egg? What is the time frame?
charlene from california

Bruce King said...

Fertilized eggs taste the same as non fertlized. If you have a rooster with your flock you can bet all of your eggs are fertilized

I don't have a time for hard boiling a goose egg, I scramble mine. 15 minute boil?

Anonymous said...

how long can you keep goose eggs to use for eating [days/weeks] should you put them in the fridge to keep longer thanks

Bruce King said...

I don't know how long they'll keep. I usually eat mine within a week or so of when they're layed.

With chicken eggs to tell if they're still edible, you can put them in water. If they sink to the bottom, they're good. If they float, they're not. Chicken eggs are fine for two to three weeks without refrigeration.

Anonymous said...

Goose eggs float like chicken eggs if they are bad, they also explode just like chicken eggs as well. I store my goose eggs like I store chicken eggs with no drama, just keep them in the fridge and their use by date is extended compared to unrefrigerated.

Anonymous said...

thank you this was very useful for a paper im doing

Polly said...

A friend gave me a goose egg and i fried it up in olive oil. It was absolutely delicious. The yolk was like hollandaise very rich and creamy. Thicker than a chicken. Try it if the opportunity rises.

Anonymous said...

a recent study in Ireland said that duck eggs compared to hen eggs have an increased risk of salmonella x4.best advise is to clean the shell well before using as its the cross contamination that increases risk.i assume it is the same for goose eggs. im looking forward to trying mine.

Anonymous said...

I am eating a goose-egg salad sandwich as I type. It is the first I have tried. I wasn't totally sure about the cooking time, so I let it boil for 17 minutes and it was slightly over-done (the yolk had a slight tinge of green).
Mashing it up, the white was slightly more translucent than a chicken egg. When combined with the mayonnaise, the yolk didn't seem to blend as well as a chicken egg's does.
Taste-wise there is a definite difference in flavor, much more pronounced than when I scrambled one. I would say the goose egg has a somewhat stronger sulphur flavor, almost a faintly bitter aftertaste, but that hasn't stopped me from finishing the sandwich.
I think I'll have another.

Bruce King said...

I've found that the sulfur flavor is less if they're not cooked quite as much. If you have access to one, a sous vide machine is a very useful tool for soft boiling or precisely cooking eggs without overcooking them.

Thank you for the report!

italianhandful said...

Thanks for this information. A city girl I bought a 1/2 dozen goose eggs at the Farmer's Market and thought it would be fun to use as a centerpiece in the middle of deviled eggs for an appetizer. I cooked one and found it very hard to peel and am looking for suggestions.

Bruce King said...

Fresh eggs of any sort are hard to peel. The fresher the egg the harder the shell sticks to it when cooked.

So let them age a week or two before boiling to make peeling easier.

Anonymous said...

I want to know if goose eggs are good for you ? And can you eat duck eggs like a chicken egg ? I here there good for bakeing, is that true? So if 1 goose egg equals 4 chicken eggs, how does the duck egg compare?

Anonymous said...

Little tip for hard boiling fresh eggs and peeling ease is to add vinegar to the boiling water and peel away

Anonymous said...

It is almost winter and our goose started laying eggs again. We dont need no more baby geese, plus the mother doesnt even sit on the egg anyways. I ran out of chicken eggs and made frensh toast and later baked a cake both with geese eggs. It was delicious. So far she laid another 3 eggs. I blow them out so I am able to use the nice large eggs for easter decoration next year. Thanks for the nice post, now I really like eating those eggs. In the sping we will have much more since we do have 2 female geese now. The mommy goose laid 14 eggs in spring but never sad on them until her last few eggs. Only one of the eggs hatched and the other 13 we had to toss. Thanks again. I will enjoy my geese eggs for sure now, and I hope mommy goose will lay a few more before winter starts. I also hope that I get those empty geese eggs nice painted, it will look wonderful those big eggs outside as a decoration.

Vicky Lynn Burkhalter said...

15 Min Cooked one Yesterday...My Son Has Geese An Has Lots, Farm In SW OKLA.

Vicky Lynn Burkhalter said...

15 Min Cooked one Yesterday...My Son Has Geese An Has Lots, Farm In SW OKLA.

Unknown said...

I agree, to peel farm fresh eggs without issue, use vinegar in the water boil. Then immediately ice bath when done. Never have a problem with peeling here.

Unknown said...

I have two Canada geese eggs the bird just left them so I grabbed them befor the crows did should I eat them