The Only Type Of Eggs Ina Garten Keeps In Her Fridge

One of the things that makes Ina Garten (aka the Barefoot Contessa) so endearing to her fans is her approachable style when it comes to cooking and entertaining. None of her recipes are too complicated for the home cook to pull off, so long as they remember to heed Garten's advice on using good ingredients. She is famously loyal to certain brands. She even lists them on her website. She's also particular when it comes to the kind of eggs she uses. When a fan inquired about which eggs she recommended for baking, Garten said, "I use extra large eggs in all my recipes."

She expanded on her egg philosophy to People, telling the publication, "Extra large eggs are more egg per dollar than other eggs. So when you're doing things in volume, it's a better value." She continued, "My assistant told me when she switched from large eggs to extra large eggs, her baking got better. So I just have always stuck with that." Most of the eggs sold at any given grocery store are large, but extra large eggs are usually available and labeled accordingly. If you buy your eggs at a farmer's market (or if you have your own laying chickens), it'll be a little more difficult to know how large they are. If the purveyor doesn't know the size, you can figure it out at home by weighing the eggs on a kitchen scale (one of Ina's favorite kitchen tools).

Egg sizes are determined by weight, not by the length, width, or circumference of the shell. Extra large eggs weigh about 2¼ ounces per egg, compared to large eggs, which weigh about 2 ounces. Other egg sizes you can find in the grocery store include medium, which weigh roughly 1¾ ounces, and jumbo size, weighing in at about 2½ ounces per egg. If you use a lot of Ina Garten's recipes (and if you don't), try to keep a supply of extra large eggs in stock. If all you have are medium or large eggs, you can convert the weight so the recipe turns out the way Garten would want it to.

Let's say you've got medium-sized eggs at home and the recipe calls for three extra large eggs. At 2¼ ounces each, Garten's recipe requires 6¾ ounces of egg. Just weigh the eggs you have until you reach that amount (or as close to it as you can). For reference, it should take roughly four medium eggs to equal three extra large eggs. 

If you're measuring by the dozen, 12 extra large eggs equals 27 ounces, while 12 large eggs equal 24 ounces. Of course, duck eggs offer a richer flavor than chicken eggs and are quite a bit larger than extra large eggs, in case you wanted to make the switch.