Happy Eggs..? The Egg Test.

We are reaching the end of the stock of Burford Brown eggs that we brought from London. Eggs keep very well for a couple of weeks and the flavour doesn't deteriorate significantly but thereafter there is a risk. We brought 30 eggs from London and only 6 remain. So we need more eggs. But which eggs?

In a desperate move I bought a pack of 'Large Brown Organic Free Range Local' eggs in Morrisons in Kingsbridge. They were completely undistinguished and 5 remain...

Yesterday, after delivering the wife back to the station, we tried the larger Morrisons in Totnes in the vain hope that they might stock Clarence Court eggs of any variety. But no, they do not. I couldn't see anything that I though worth buying but the young men's eyes alighted on Happy Eggs.

"At the happy egg co. we believe that happy hens lay tasty eggs."

"bah! marketing types..." I told the young men. But they insisted. With such bright and yellow packaging and with such simplistic hen cartoons I thought they had been completely suckered. But we bought a pack anyway.

Then we went to Country Cheese...They've taken over Robin Congdon's Ticklemore cheese shop extending their north Devon franchise to the South Hams. I wanted some Harbourne Blue and some Ticklemore goat (now made by Sharpham). Country Cheese specialise in English cheese and I was seduced into buying a 'heart' of Sloe Tavy on which I'll report later. This is what Country Cheese say:

"- Cheesy Pete makes this beauty exclusively for Country Cheeses. Made with goats' milk, he washes these heart shape stinkers in Plymouth Sloe Gin as they mature. Wow.

The young man's friend then notices eggs. Lots of eggs. We discuss eggs and find that there is a local flock of Maran chickens at the Greenway farm. These dark brown eggs are large and look too good to resist. I buy 18 looking forward to great structure and depth of flavour. Now we have the basis for an egg test. Happy Eggs v. Totnes Marans.

Round 1. - Packaging and exterior

Both eggs are packed in recycled cardboard. Happy Eggs is dyed bright yellow with printing on both sides. Greenway has a stuck on address label. The young men think the happy eggs win hands down..

Greenway eggs are larger and browner. Both eggs have a producer number. Happy eggs have a useby date and a Lion mark.


Round 2 - the uncooked egg

The Greenway eggs are clearly the more resilient egg. The white is much firmer and the yolk is larger, brighter and more orangey. We all agree on this.


Round 3 - Cooking

The happy egg spreads immediately and almost fills my 20cm pan... the larger Greenway egg maintains consistency and cooks from the outside towards the centre.


Round 4 - Taste and texture

The young men believe the happy egg tastes better. I am surprised...I do think the Greenway egg is better, but the happy egg yolk also tastes delicious but it's white tastes much less. The texture of the Green way egg is clearly superior with more structure to both the yolk (cooked runny) and the white. The young men don't think this matters.

Round 5 - Welfare

Both eggs claim to be free range. However the happy eggs are also provided with swings, sandpits and other toys according to their web site. The young men think this does matter.

The verdict

The young men prefer happy eggs. We'll buy more. I prefer the Marans and I already bought 18. Just goes to show though, taste is in the mouth of the taster.

El huevo frito soñado (A dream of fried egg)

Saturday and Sunday breakfast is rarely complete, for at the young man and I at least, without fried egg. Now that eggs are healthy again I don't need to have guilt about this.

We like our eggs the Spanish way - taught by our Catalan friend Joan. He produced this late one afternoon as a tapas with Pa amb Tomaquet, (recipe in a later post), but it is just as good for breakfast or indeed lunch. Wikipedia Spain explains:

'El huevo frito ideal es aquel que mantiene líquida la yema y los extremos de la clara cuajada empiezan a estar quemados (o 'crujientes' según los expertos) en este caso se denomina su punto como "puntillas".'

Roughly translated this says that the yolk is still runny but the edges of the white are burned ('according to experts'). The egg is then 'on tiptoes' or en puntillas. To make it this way you need hot oil and plenty of it.

It was Ferran Adrià, chef/patron of El Bulli restaurant, who dreamed of fried egg. In "70 recetas muy personales", (not available in the UK), he recounts how he uses two whites for every yolk in order to maximise the puntillas. We do not go this far!

Huevo Frito

Start with a great egg. For two or three years now Burford Brown eggs from Clarence Court have been the eggs to beat for us. These sumptuous eggs are very dark brown, have a resilient white and exceptional yolk colour and taste delicious. They are often better than some of the farm eggs we can buy in Devon. Choose a 20cm frying pan and pour in light olive oil to a depth of 4-5mm. Heat this on your stove until you can just see little wisps of smoke coming off the oil.

Don't try to break the egg into the pan. Break it into a shallow dish. (Burford doubles are rare...but this is one egg and not two). Slide the eggs into the pan so that the white fills out before the yolk goes in. Immediately begin to spoon hot oil over the middle of the egg so that it is cooked in the centre. The puntillas will form within 15 or 20 seconds and by 25 seconds you should be lifting out the egg on a spatula. Drain the oil off for a few seconds over the pan.
Eat immediately! (The young man likes his with Hovis. I usually prefer a more rustic bread or focaccia)

Vieja friendo huevos, by Velázquez (1618). (public domain image)

Go to Work on an Egg - the movie

Before eggs were unhealthy, for almost a decade Tony Hancock exhorted us to 'Go to Work on an Egg'. The wife reminds me that it was Fay Weldon who wrote the strap.

Copyright British Egg Industry Council,

'how is that scary woman going to help you market an egg?' asks the young man...
He prefers this piece of Korean advertising



If you enjoyed this all the other films are here