[Sca-cooks] Period Eggs

[Johnna Holloway]

I reached out to Master 
Johann von Metten. (Marcus Loidolt)

He messaged me back and said:

LOL! Okay, so about 20 years ago I started answering that question...and it got me a Laurel!! 
Answer is...as most things, it depends upon breed and time period, and to a degree, culture.

Mediterranean breeds, Leghorns, Minorcas, Andalusians lay the most quantity, but Cochins and Brahmas lay the biggest single eggs, but not nearly as often.
Northern European breeds, Dunghills, Moonies, Icelandics, Swartes, Appenzell and the like tend to lay what today would be a small to medium sized white egg. Mediterraneans lay white medium to large eggs by todays standards.
It is important to note that the great imports of Mediterranean and Asiatic livestock in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance greatly increased body size and egg production throughout western Europe. While it took a bit longer to effect England.

So, what time period is your recipe and what culture?

Hope this helps

Johnnae





> On Jan 8, 2023, at 8:17 PM, Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com> wrote:
> 
> There’s also this article:
> 
> Chicken Husbandry in Late-Medieval Eastern England: c. 1250-1400
> 
> https://sciencepress.mnhn.fr/sites/default/files/articles/pdf/az2009n2a2.pdf <https://sciencepress.mnhn.fr/sites/default/files/articles/pdf/az2009n2a2.pdf>
> 
> Johnna
> 
>> On Jan 8, 2023, at 2:06 PM, Terry Decker <t.d.decker at att.net> wrote:
>> 
>> 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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