Salted Chicken Eggs

[Barnyard Dawg]

In Asia salted duck eggs are widely served on the table and they are used as an important ingredient in producing of Chinese traditional Mid Autumn mooncakes. The yolk is prized and is used in Chinese mooncakes to symbolize the moon.

We mostly use salted duck eggs in rice congee. My wife told me she will be salting chicken eggs, has anyone ever tried this? She was telling me they can last for up to 6 months but I have also heard that they can be edible for years? I was told they taste similar to quail eggs but are larger.

 

[Wynette]

I have never heard of salted chicken eggs...would love more info.!

 

[Frozen Feathers]

Interesting. What do you mean by salting...like ham??

 

[homecatmom]

I am no expert, but my mother in law (Chinese) served these eggs at my daughters 1 month old party. They are 100 year or 1000 year old eggs depending on who you ask. To me they are NASTY! I won't eat them. My husband eats them, and my girls will if Grandma says they should. To me, it's a waste of a good egg, be it duck or chicken.

Cathy

 

[MissPrissy]

I have seen these eaten and I cannot eat them.

 

[Zenbirder]

I was raised eating the traditional "American" diet, for the most part bland and without using the wide array of asian ingredients. I could get on a soapbox now and tell you how much obesity in this country is related to our traditional "American" diet, but I bet you either don't want to hear or already know...

Here is a recipe I pulled from the net, I have never eaten them but am willing to try. Pickling has a huge history because it was a way to keep foods before refrigeration.
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Brined Eggs
The recipe is simple, and it’s the sort of thing that just about every culture developed in one form or another to preserve foods gathered in times of plenty so that they would keep safely for times of dearth while still maintaining some amount of nutrition. Salting and brining are common in many cultures, so here I present a Chinese version.

Ingredients:

Eggs. Hmmm? How many eggs? Well, get yourelf a glass jar with a mouth wide enough to accept an egg. Put as many whole eggs (in the shell) into the jar as the jar will hold. Leave enough room to make sure that the eggs are covered with brine. That’s how many eggs.

Salt. Kosher salt. Sea salt. Just so it doesn’t have additives to make it flow easily. Those substances can cause the brine to be cloudy.

Water. The stuff that comes out of your tap will work just fine, thank you. I don’t think that the traditional Chinese cook had access to Evian.

The procedure:

Dump a jarful of water into a non-reactive pot. That means enamelled or non-stick coated. Bring the water to a boil and add salt and stir as it dissolves. Return to a boil. Add more salt. You’re making a saturated brine. When the water will dissolve no more salt, let it cool.

Put your eggs in the jar. If they’re yard eggs, wipe them down with a washcloth to make sure they’re clean first. No, don’t boil them. Put them in the jar uncooked.

After the eggs are in the jar, pour the cooled brine over the eggs, covering them entirely. put the lid on and slide them back out of the way, because the next step involves time.

Let the eggs sit in the brine for thirty days. After thirty days, they’re done. Ready to use. Six months later. Still ready to use. I have a feeling that as long as the brine covers the eggs, they’ll last until you lose interest… However, I won’t be responsible if your eggs are more than six months old. That’s the longest I kept any.
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So what does one do with a thirty-day salt-pickled egg? Well, you boil it, and the white sets, but the yolk stays kind of oozy, although cooked. Yes. It’s salty, but not unpleasantly so. I’ve broken them into a bowl of ramen noodle soup for a little enhancement to a quick meal. Kind of an egg-drop ramen. I’ve boiled them and peeled them and dropped them into a simmering gumbo.

 

[wegotchickens]

I saw some eggs that had been pickled in a tea/soy sauce/ something else blend, but they had been hardboiled first and then crackled, and then soaked in the briny stuff. Can't remember for how long she soaked them. They were pretty when shelled. Kind of a brown tie-dyed effect. Some folks at the party loved them, but they weren't my idea of tasty.

I'd seen something similar done in purple, by soaking boiled crackled eggs in leftover pickled beet juice...

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

Quote:
Great information Zenbirder. I was also raised on an American diet but being married to a Chinese woman I have found myself eating mostly a traditional Chinese diet. My wife is a fabulous cook having owned a couple of major restaurants in China. She just mentioned salting some chicken eggs a couple of days ago, which is common in China and Asia. I will let everyone know how they turn out. We eat duck eggs like I had mention in a rice congee with some sliced dried duck liver; pork and some green onions and I like to add some Uncle Chen (White Pepper).

 

[ksmama97]

I was re-reading some Little House on the Prairie books with my older DD and they mentioned storing eggs in brine. I don't believe they were cooked either.

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

My wife over the weekend salted some chicken eggs. She got a bowl and added salt and water then place the eggs inside. The water was not heated. She put them in a cool place and covered the bowl with paper. I will let you know how they turn out later, she said they need to sit for around 3 weeks.