What We Learned by Deviling Eggs from Seven Different Birds

Easter is the time for deviled eggs. While chicken eggs are the traditional choice for this delicious preparation, there are a number of other eggs that you should consider deviling.

Our test kitchen recently deviled seven different types of eggs, ranging from ostrich to quail, and Associate Test Kitchen Editor Paige McCurdy-Flynn was kind enough to share some of her observations from the eggs-perience with us.

Hard boiling seven types of eggs requires multiple techniques.

Our eggs came from an ostrich, an emu, a turkey, a goose, a duck, a chicken and a quail. We hard cooked all of them, but the larger eggs required an unorthodox approach. "The ostrich and emu eggs were steamed to get a more even cook time and because it made them easier to peel," says McCurdy-Flynn. "The fresher the eggs are, the harder they are to peel and most of the eggs we worked with were really fresh."

Different types of eggs require different cooking times

Since the eggs differed in size and shell thickness, each required a different cooking time. "The emu egg, which equals about 16 chicken egg yolks, took an hour and a half to cook," she explains. "It was followed by the duck, goose and chicken eggs, each of which cooked for 15 to 18 minutes, and the quail, which only took about five minutes."

It takes a while to cook an ostrich egg

"The ostrich egg took two hours to cook," says McCurdy-Flynn. "Each ostrich egg equals about 24 chicken eggs, so they definitely take a while. Then, to make sure everything settled inside the egg after the two hours of cooking, I put the ostrich egg into an ice bath and refrigerated it over night."

Despite size differences,chicken and ostrich eggs are quite similar

Even though female ostriches can grow as tall as 6'6", their eggs, which are super-high in nutrients and very low in cholesterol, are still very similar to chickens'. "When you cut into an ostrich egg, the yolk-to-white ratio is very similar to a chicken's," she explains. "The emu egg, though, was predominantly yolk while the white around it was super thin."

Same recipe + different eggs = different flavors

"The deviled egg recipe itself just consists of mayonnaise, mustard, salt, pepper and then some paprika on top," says McCurdy-Flynn. "Each egg tasted really different though. The emu egg, for example, had a very sulfury, bitter taste. The ostrich was really gamey, which definitely wasn’t my favorite either. I think the best was the turkey egg, it was super creamy."