Dining on an emu egg

[ppfuf]

At the Mountain View farmer's market on Sunday, my favorite steak vendor had a box of emu eggs. With a little encouragement from my practically perfect apprentice, I bought one. The shells are very pretty.

Tonight, practically perfect apprentice drilled holes both ends and blew it out. Our egg had 21 ounces (2.5 cups) of meat in it. Too much for my souffle pan, so we made an enormous quiche for dinner. It was good, but not noticeably different from chicken eggs. I'm hoping someone will want the shell for an art project, it would make a really cool salt cellar.
 

Comments

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Neat!

[joycebre.livejournal.com]

I have an ostrich egg reticule! not suitable for SCA, but it's still cool

[kahnegabs.livejournal.com]

As soon as I saw the first picture, I thought how fun it would be to make an art project of it.
Is it the blue color originally, or were those dyed?

Did you open it on one end to conserve the shell? How thick is it?

[ppfuf.livejournal.com]

It's pretty thick (*way* thicker than my fingernails, for example), I'll try to measure it this evening. The pictures do show the variety of natual emu eggs, Mine looks like this one, http://foodrepublik.com/emu-egg-quiche/.
Gormflaith drilled holes in both ends, but they are fairly small holes, I think she used a 1/4 inch drill bit.

[kahnegabs.livejournal.com]

Gee, if there's no one else ahead of me, I'd really love to try my hand at it. It looks like a person could do something like cameo etching with one of them.

[ppfuf.livejournal.com]

I'll need to check with Gormflaith, but I'm pretty sure it can be yours. Will you be at March Crown or Mists Coronet?

If I had time in the project que...

[gormflaith.livejournal.com]

I might want it, but I don't and if the time frees up, I know where to get another one ;-)
Besides, I'm thinking this would be better suited to a steampunk project rather than a medieval one.
One end has a smaller hole than the other one, and it's really reqularly oval rather than chicken egg shaped, so cut long ways it could easily make two salt cellars of enormous size or cut in half the other way a pair of matched goblets of reasonable size, holding a little over a cup of liquid each.

[kahnegabs.livejournal.com]

I thought I'd manage to go to March crown. It's in Woodland, right? Not such an awful drive for me as some others.

It seems like a really interesting project to try. I've thought about hunting down an ostrich egg before, but this emu egg has more possibilities because of the lovely natural color, don't you think?

[xrian.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. Yes, that's gorgeous looking. ;)

[tafelspitz.livejournal.com]

About two-thirds down the linked page are photos of a 15th C. reliquary and a 16th C. cup or 'pokal. Both made in Nuremberg unless I miss my guess.

http://gallery.sjsu.edu/encounters/polynesia/polyn-Thumb.00003.html

The German National Museum in Nuremberg also has a couple of Ostrich Egg pokals as well.

[joycebre.livejournal.com]

how much do that cost?

[ppfuf.livejournal.com]

Curiosity got the better of my financial sense, I'm afraid. It was $10. A bit steep for the equivalent of 10-12 chicken eggs.
The shell is very pretty and has provided several days of amusement, so perhaps it was worth it. :)

[hunrvogt.livejournal.com]

That is very cool. I'll be excited to see what you (or someone)makes with the shell.

Not that any one but me cares, but if folks opt to go supply-acquiring with the primary purpose of doing period ratite shell art work...

Ostriches are South African.

Aepyornis/Muelleris or "Elephant Birds" were present on Madagscar until after the 16th Century (probably went extinct in or around the late 17th Century).

Rhea's are South American.

Emu's and Cassowaries are Australian.

Kiwi's are found in New Zealand. Moas were found in New Zealand but are now extinct.

[ppfuf.livejournal.com]

O, I've been trying to get GM to make an Ostrich egg or Coconut cup for ages, but he hasn't (yet). I think the extant examples are just the neatest things ever.