[Sca-cooks] Period Eggs

[Terry Decker]

I haven't encountered any reference as to the size of period eggs.  I do have some info on chickens in general that might help your guesstimates.

Gallus gallus domesticus is a direct descendant of Gallus gallus (Red Jungle Fowl).  Modernly farmed G. gallus produces a medium sized egg (no weight est. provided).  A clutch of wild G. gallus eggs averaged 28g each (1 oz., from a single point of reference).  Given a more domestic diet, the eggs would likely be heavier.   We are also talking about several thousand years of domestication before the recipe in question.

Small modern hens eggs are roughly 42g while medium are roughly 49g.  Some references suggest that the yolk size will be roughly the same, about 18g.  I haven't personally tested this although I can say a large egg added to a weighed mix adds about 60g.

There is a study of the DNA of Medieval and Modern chickens I encountered which sets the development of the modern chicken as beginning about 500 years ago.  Establishing the validity of domestication genes using DNA from ancient chickens (pnas.org) [https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.1308939110] .  Interesting, but not necessarily answering your question.

Bear

On 1/8/2023 9:30:45 AM, David Friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com> wrote:
Has anyone researched the size of period eggs? I can think of a number
of possible approaches. Best would be if there was some record giving
the weight of an egg or the number of eggs in a pound, but I can think
of a variety of less direct approaches.

I have a recipe I want to try that gives flour in pounds, egg yolks by
number.

--
David Friedman (Cariadoc)
www.daviddfriedman.com
http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/

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