FlavBlog

Selection of fresh local chicken and pheasant eggs

Do you ever wonder where to get eggs? Most people purchase them in the refrigerator section of their grocery store. However, if you get a chance to get fresh farm eggs, grab them quick. A friend of mine lives on a small acreage on Whidbey Island. She has some feathered friends: turkeys, pheasants, a variety of chickens, and geese. Last winter I asked her for goose eggs because I had never had them and wondered how they would taste compared to a standard chicken egg.  By spring though, the geese went broody and stopped laying, but she managed to gather and share 3 varieties of chickens and a few pheasant eggs for our consumption.

The three variety of chicken eggs included: buff Orpington, silver-grey Dorking, and buff brahm Bantam with the addition of a ring necked pheasant egg (photo presents this order). The size and color of the egg shells clearly separate the difference between the eggs.  The buff Orpington (large brown) and the silver-grey Dorking (large white) have standard shells that cracked like any other egg I previously purchased. However, the ring necked pheasant (small dark brown/olive) and the buff brahm Bantam (small brown) had thick dense shells. I was actually concerned about breaking the yolk, but successfully I kept them all intact. I have never made so many eggs before, so thankfully I had my mom and Michael to help taste.

The base I prepared combined slices of yellow onions and coined Yukon gold potatoes with a little sea salt and pepper, which is a standard brunch base for us on the weekends. First, I sauteed the onions just until they were soft and then set them aside from the heat,while the potatoes boiled in salted water. After 8-10 minutes, I could pierce the potatoes with a knife. I drained the potatoes and once they cooled cut them into round circular disks. Because I wanted to taste the subtle differences between the eggs, I poached all the eggs. In my opinion, it allows for the best egg tasting experience; you get the delicate fluffiness of the egg white and the richness of creamy yolk. While the eggs were poaching, I sauteed the onions and potatoes in a little butter and extra virgin olive oil and kept them on warm until the eggs were done. After plating the onion and potato hash first, I added a pheasant and Bantam egg to each plate topped with some chopped flat-leaf parsley. The Dorking and Oprington, I plated separately.

The tasting results: We all more or less agreed with the outcome. The pheasant egg had a lighter softer yolk with a delicate gamier flavor. The Bantam yolk was the largest in proportion to egg white and only had a little more flavor than the pheasant egg. It tasted like any other egg (from the grocery store). The best would be a combination of the Dorking and Orpington. While the Dorking’s egg white was airy, fluffy, and full of texture, the Orpington’s yolk had a rich silkiness that surpassed the other eggs.  As the yolk spilled over the sweet onions and salty potatoes, it created an excellent balance. Get out of the grocery store and go to a local farm/market to see if you can get your hands on any Dorking or Orpington chicken eggs.

We usually make several different types of burgers during the summertime.  I like being outside during the warmer sunny evenings at the grill with a brew in hand and it is easy to prep with fresh ingredients and a salad on the side especially after a long day of work, or weekend day out and about.  After hearing via Twitter (follow Kristin Thompson on Twitter here) that SeaBreeze Farm was going to be offering up some of their beef at the Wallingford Farmer’s Market we were both pretty excited.  We’ve been eating and enjoying a variety of things from SeaBreeze farm for a few years now including  their milk, whole chickens, toulous sausages, terrines and smoked meats (Jamon Fume this past weekend was awesome!).  Knowing that their beef supply was likely to be limited Robin headed over on Wednesday evening (the Market is open from 3-7pm) to pick up some beef along with a few other items to make some fresh burgers.

As I’ve mentioned previously we usually make our burger’s using a variation of Jamie Oliver’s Botham Burger, which we think rivals pretty much any burger recipe out there since the recipe still preserves the natural meat flavors that make a grilled burger so delicious yet it adds a nice kick with the coriander and cumin.  We usually grind the meat fresh, although this time SeaBreeze did that for us. During the patty-making we noticed a few interesting things regarding the ground beef.  One, the deep dark color of the meat.  This meat had no trace of the red color you are accustomed to using, this ground beef was a milk chocolate color with flecks of white fat textured evenly throughout.  [Unfortunately we didn’t get the name of cut of meat that was used to prep this 1lb slab of ground beef, but its was beautifully different than the any of the organic or grass fed beef shoulder we buy from A and J, Whole Foods, or other sources].  Also I should note the texture of meat was quite dense, almost like ground buffalo meat (which we also tend to really enjoy).  We mixed the burger ingredients (2 chopped red onions, 1 tsp dijon, handful of bread crumbs,  1 tbsp crushed coriander, a pinch of crushed cumin seed, salt and fresh black pepper), with some chopped up chunks of Seabreeze bacon to add a bit of smokey saltiness to the burger.  I noted, we did NOT add any egg, something we usually do, and forgot for some reason.  Nevertheless the patties held together perfectly on the grill!

I grilled them to Medium-Medium Rare (anything longer is disrespectful to both the farmer and the cow, in my view)…and we served them on grilled buns from Macrina, with a a slice of heirloom tomato, lettuce, and some shavings of smoked provolone from Estrella Family Creamery.  Robin made some purple potato salad (c/o Olson Farm’s potatoes), and I prepared a cheesy onion gratin using some local (the stand’s name passes my memory) red spring onions.  This LOCAL burger was right up my alley.  It contained all the flavors that I love about grilled food, but in a focused intense manner.  First of all, the addition of SeaBreeze bacon to the burger mix added a great saltiness and potent smokiness that complimented the earthy, herbal, rustic meat  flavor perfectly.  In spite of the fact that we added to and enhanced the burger recipe by adding other spices/flavors we were absolutely shocked at how different the flavor and texture of the burger was as compared to other burger’s we’ve made recently.  This meat is pure, in that it has the land pressed right into it, and you can honestly taste and feel that difference.  We’ll definitely be buying more beef from SeaBreeze in the near future, as it is available.  I’d love to try some other cuts of meat, as I’d imagine one would get an even more organic flavor profile from a grilled steak from this farm that continues to deliver the goods.

SeaBreeze Farm

Vashon Island, WA, USA

206.567.GOAT (4628)

boucherie@seabreezefarm.net

Twitter:@seabreezefarm