There’s a famous chef in the Hudson Valley region named Dan Barber. Have you heard of him?
Among his many accomplishments, Dan’s written extensively about how the farming methods used to raise things like fish and livestock affect the flavor and the nutritional value of the food we eat.
I won’t delve too far into the weeds here. But, I wanted to share about something really interesting he did with eggs.
Years ago, Dan connected with a Cornell-based plant breeder who developed a pepper that’s bright red and super rich in capsaicin. Thinking outside of the box, they had an idea.
They introduced this new pepper to the laying hens living on the farm connected to one of his restaurants. And it turned out, the yolks from the chickens that ate the peppers were bright red (like, crayon red!).
Much to Dan’s delight, they’ve been serving the novel Red Egg at his 2 Michelin star restaurant, Blue Hill, ever since. Now here’s where it gets really interesting….
His guests apparently rave about the Red Egg and always assume it’s the redness of the yolks that makes the egg taste so good. But it turns out, chickens don’t even have the receptors to absorb the flavor from the peppers. In other words, the redness doesn’t change the flavor at all!
As Dan and his team love to point out, it’s the farming practices – the rich pastures, the carefully and locally grown organic grains, the rotational grazing practiced by the farmers at the Blue Hill Farm – that’s actually enriching the flavor of the eggs.
Essentially, Dan and his crew designed a clever way to not just tell, but to show how different farming practices can affect the food we eat. And despite never having had the pleasure of eating at his restaurants, I’m a total believer that when it comes to flavor, farming practices really do matter.