One of my friends is taking care of a couple acres with a small greenhouse and garden on it, so I went over and helped him out with some gardening stuff. He also has a chicken coup with the chickens laying an abundance of eggs, so he sent me off with a dozen fresh eggs!
He has three types of chickens which all have distinctly different eggs.
Here's a picture of the dozen:
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| Yum |
Conventional vs Free-range
Compared to conventional, pastured eggs have:
- 1.6 times the Vitamin A
- 6 times as much Vitamin D
- 8 times as much Beta-carotene
- 3 times as much omega-3
Keep in mind, all these wonderful vitamins and fatty acids are found in the yolk, so be sure to eat it.
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| Organic vs free-range |
This is evident by the vibrant color of the egg yolks. Here I have three organic eggs from the Co-Op and one free-range egg:
Can you guess which is from the free-range hen?
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| Organic vs free-range |
Here is another picture, the lighting is not great in the first...
So after eating a couple of the yolks raw, I decided to fry up some of the eggs with some bacon and sausage.
First I threw some bacon on a baking sheet, put it in the oven, turned it on to 400 degrees, and set the timer for 15 minutes. I have found this cooks the bacon perfectly, and leaves the stove open to cook other stuff.
When the bacon had about 5 minutes left, I threw some sausage in the pan to start cooking. When the bacon was done, I took it out of the oven and poured the rendered fat in to a pan and cooked the eggs in it.
Last, I seasoned the sausage and sprinkled salt, pepper, and a little paprika on the eggs.
I like my yolks runny, and although I don't have any direct evidence of this, I suspect that they retain more vitamins and minerals when not fully cooked.
Here's the result:
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| Paleo power breakfast |
For some more info on pastured eggs check out: Stephan Guyenet - Pastured Eggs
Even better, our chickens lay brown, white, speckled, and green eggs! They're so pretty in the carton (the Americauna chickens lay the green ones). And like you, we can instantly tell the difference in yolk color, firmness and quality between our free rangers and the storebought eggs. I hate having eggs at a restaurant now, we're so used to our deep orange yolks.
ReplyDeleteLooks delicious!! Bacon and eggs are one of my favorites. Out of guilt, I usually have to throw in some greens, usually in the form of broccoli or asparagus. Bacon in the oven is awesome - nice and crispy! I have never tried free range eggs, just the coop variety. Wish I could find someone who sells duck or goose eggs. I would love to try them. Thanks for the blog, I always learn something new.
ReplyDelete@Robin:
ReplyDeleteBack home in Alaska we get eggs from our neighbors that are speckled and green! Haven't had those in a couple months but they are deilcious, you're lucky to have those around. Going back to conventional eggs seems very unappetizing to me compared to these as well...
@Conon:
Thanks for the kind words, I really appreciate hearing that people are getting something out of this. Back in Alaska we would regularily get duck and goose eggs, which I found to be incredible. Take comfort in knowing the fat from the bacon is helping you absorb the vitamins from your veggies too. Are there any farmers markets in your area? Thats the best place to start talking to local farmers about getting some eggs. Sometimes Co-Op's will carry local eggs as well.
Really you have very strong breakfast. Eggs are really provide such energy which is helpful for us during whole day.
ReplyDeleteI eat 3-5 pastured eggs every single day and before when I used to log all my food intake they used to provide a substantial part of my nutrients.
ReplyDeleteThen our beloved nutritionists are telling us to ditch the yolks, which are probably among the most nutritious foods on the planet. It's crazy.
@Kris
ReplyDeleteSometimes I can't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all... people take the most nutritious part of an egg, that for many is the sole source of several crucial micronutrients, and throw it away.
I personally have the opposite problem.. I like to eat the yolks raw, and so I'm often left with a surplus of egg whites that I don't know what to do with.