To me, duck eggs were never one of those trendy ingredients – people have been eating them for years. In my childhood days, my Uncle Jack used to bring them to the house as a treat for use every now and again.Uncle Jack was a true original –a working class man from near the Woodstock Road, he would dress himself in the style of an aristocrat, albeit with second hand clothes picked up somewhere locally. He liked nothing better than to go foraging in the markets in Bangor and Newtownards -and then drop into relatives’ houses to share all the weird and wonderful things he’d managed to find on his travels – including of course, fantastic duck eggs from the lowlands of County Down. Duck eggs are different from hens’ eggs, because they have a much creamier taste and texture. For this reason, I like to use them in dressings – just the runny yolk on its own works perfectly as a simple but tasty dressing for, say, an asparagus starter. They’re great in some main courses as well – for example,chopped through a fish pie to add extra richness to the flavour.
Jeffers / Breakfast County Down Boiled Duck Eggs with Toasted Soldiers
Ingredients
4 large duck eggs
4 slices of thick bread (cut into thin even sized strips with no crusts.)
100g Irish salted butter
Method Fill a small pot of water, place in duck eggs and gently bring to boil. Set timer for 3 minutes for soft or 5 minutes for hard and cook. When timer is finished drain off the water. Toast soldiers (bread) on both sides and butter, then cut into thin even sized strips with no crusts, and serve with Maldon salt.
Source: Chef Stephen Jeffers.
