Cooking with quails
EGGS
The first time I ever tasted quail eggs, they were boiled, halved, and topped with a dollop of caviar. I was an instant convert and promptly got my own birds.
Unfortunately, I couldn't source the caviar-laying variety. My favourite meal is the traditional devilled eggs, which make impressive, cute hors d'oeuvres.
Their small size makes them a foodie's delight. They're the perfect size to use in salads, on top of phyllo cups or mini pies, deep-fried on a skewer, in Asian-style soups, and stir-fries. The eggs also taste great when pickled.
While they're a lot smaller (10g) than a chicken egg (55g), they have a superior nutritional value by weight, with considerably higher levels of vitamins A, B1, B2, iron, phosphorous, and calcium.
The whites also contain unique proteins that help people avoid polleninduced seasonal rhinitis (sneezing, nasal congestion, itchy nose). Researchers are studying these proteins to see whether they can help with more serious issues such as asthma, and food allergies.
The trick to cracking quail eggs
Quail eggs can't be cracked open like a chicken egg as the shell is too brittle and the inside membranes too rubbery.
If you have a lot of eggs to process, a set of quail egg scissors does an incredibly neat, very fast job.
The alternative is to carefully saw off the pointed end of the egg using a sharp, serrated knife. Tip the egg's contents into a glass bowl so you can easily see any shell chips.
Boiled quail eggs are difficult and fiddly to shell.
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Old eggs release their shells more easily, so use your oldest eggs if you want to hard-boil them.
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Ladle your eggs into boiling water, cook for 2 minutes and 20 seconds, then cool down in ice-cold water. Leave to cool completely – even refrigerate overnight.
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Use a teaspoon to peel the shell.
This method supposedly makes boiled eggs easy to peel, although it never worked for me:
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gently stir the eggs during boiling to centre the yolk;
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once boiled, turn off the element but leave the pot sitting on it for 3 minutes;
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rinse the eggs in cold water;
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when the eggs are cold, place in a small container with a lid;
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gently (not roughly) shake the eggs – you want to slightly crack the surface of the eggs all over (20 cracks or so per egg); •
add water to the container and leave it to seep into the cracks;
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the shells should then slide off cleanly.
Tips for hard-boiling quail eggs