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Sometimes I want extra small eggs, not jumbo

They even seem to taste better, perhaps because they tend to be farmers' eggs. They make darling little hard-boiled or soft-boiled eggs.

But it's hard to find little ones, and I don't want to go as small as quail eggs.

A small egg can weigh as little as 1 ounce,
A jumbo egg can weigh 3 ounces or more.

So when a recipe calls for '4 eggs', does it mean 4 ounces or 12 ounces? (Most probably around 2 ounces each average X 4 = 8 ounces). Since eggs have gotten larger over the years, older recipes should be translated into ounces instead of number of eggs?

In supermarkets, even medium size is hard to find. Everyone is screaming large, extra large, jumbo. Extra value. Have you ever gone after little eggs?

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  1. Have you tried your local famer's market?

    Also, and I don't know if this is true, but isn't the difference in the size of an egg really just in the yolk? In other words, the amount of egg white is the same regardless of whether the egg is classified as medium, large, or extra large.

    1. I don't get to go to farmers' markets as often as I would like to. Also, it's hit or miss when I do make it there. I eat a lot of eggs, so I need a constant supply - I've started to get them at Trader Joe's for convenience.

      I like jumbo eggs for baking, etc, but extra small eggs look pretty in salads, etc.

      Only the yolk? That'd be really something if it were true. So there would be eggs with 2 ounce yolks? That doesn't sound right...

      1. the extra small eggs at my farmer's market (the Tellos stand in Brooklyn, GAP)
        are from immature hens that have just started laying...I think.
        My recollection is that they have more white than yolk.
        I'd have to ask the farmer about that, or buy some, to be sure.

        1. The smallest I have been able to find are mediums and after that quail eggs. I have looked for a long time because I dearly love scotch eggs and regular large sized eggs are just too big.

          Most cookbooks will tell you that the egg size called for in a recipe is just a standard large egg. In baking if you use extra large or jumbos you are going to be getting too much liquid in what you are making. The only currently published cookbooks calling for extra large that I have encountered recently are the Barefoot Contessa books.

          1. The best eggs I ever had were pullet eggs that I got at the Carborro Farmers' Market in NC. Yes, they were small, but so rich in flavor that I felt more satisfied having a smaller amount of something that tasted so good. ( I usually cook my eggs over easy).

            Personally, I don't taste a difference between free-range, vegetarian fed, and standard eggs in the supermarket. I wish I did. I'd been skeptical that farm-fresh eggs could really be all that different in taste. But those pullet eggs (which would probably classify in size as small, maybe even peewee) were phenomenal....