Friday 30 August 2013

Pickled Quails Eggs


When I was a little girl, I was fascinated with quails eggs. To me, they were baby eggs and I was always delighted if I found them in any dish. They have a distinct taste and are very tasty.

When I bought the book Your Cooking Questions Answered, I was very curious when I saw this recipe. Pickled Quails Eggs was suggested as a Christmas gift. I looked at the pickling ingredients and some of them are not what I readily have in my pantry like mace and yellow mustards.

Pickling liquid.
I did a search on the internet and found other variation to the recipe. Some use whole allspice, bay leaves and tarragon. I did not want to go and get these ingredients as I may not use them again. For the sake of satisfying my curiosity about pickled eggs, I decided to improvise by adding whatever ingredients that I had on hand.


When I boiled the pickling liquid, it was quite fragrant initially due to the orange zest. But after a while, it smelled strange. Reminded me of dettol soap, yikes! I used 30 quails eggs and they fit perfectly into the bottle. After pouring in the pickling liquid, I still had some leftover. Not wanting to waste, I decided to boil 3 chicken eggs and pickle them too.


The pickled eggs looked rather attractive in the bottles. One week later, it was time to taste. I tried the quails eggs. The texture of the egg was rubbery. It was sour and salty with a strong and not so pleasant orangey aroma. I can't say that it was bad but at the same time I wasn't thrilled by the taste either. Perhaps, this is due to me substituting the ingredients or this pickle is an acquired taste. Pretty much like century eggs, some people find it disgusting while other like me have no problem gobbling them up.


I was thinking maybe the pickled eggs would go well in a salad or eaten with another dish. They might be nice as part of a sandwich. I did try them in my sandwich but unfortunately, that spoiled my sandwich :( I have kept the eggs in the fridge after opening the bottle. The recipe says it is best to use them within a month. But they have all gone into my compost bin. Try at your own risk.









Pickled Quails Eggs
Recipe source : Your Cooking Questions Answered (page 269)
(My notes and adaptations in red)

Ingredients :
- 1 teaspoon whole mixed peppercorns (I used black, white and Szechuan)
- 2 dried red chillies
- Small piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 blade mace (I replaced with a bay leaf)
- A pared strip of orange zest
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard (I used black mustard)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 600ml white wine vinegar (I used distilled vinegar)
- 24 fresh quails eggs (I used 30)

Method :
1. Put all pickling ingredients except eggs into a pan.
2. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and leave for at least 2 hours or until cold.
3. Hard boil the eggs for 3 minutes, plunge them into cold water and peel them when cool.
4. Pack the eggs into a sterilized jar.
5. Strain the spiced vinegar through muslin, then pour it over the eggs so that it covers them completely.
6. Seal with non-metallic vinegar-proof lids and store in a cool, dark place for a week before using.
7. It is best to use them within a month.




Photobucket

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out


This post is also linked to Cook-Your-Books #3 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.

47 comments:

  1. Wow! pandai mu ni boleh buat macham macham bagan.Never mind if not successful try again then you will know what went wrong same thing with me roti chanai didn't turn out I threw the whole dough into the bin yesterday

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    1. EE, I wasted my quail eggs. But at least now I know what the pickled eggs taste like. Bleagh!

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  2. rajin PH mencuba resepi baru walaupun tak pernah rasa sebelumnya. i pun tak pernah mkn juga.. biasanya telur puyuh i pernah masak acar je... takperlah kan.. mgkin org lain suka dgn rasanya.. atau lain kali boleh cuba lagi dgn bahan2 spt diarahkan.. yg penting kita rajin mencuba..

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    1. MaDiHaA, kalau tak cuba tak tahu, kan? Tapi kekadang dah cuba jadi kecewa kalau tak sedap. Kalau masak acar, yang tu garenti sedap!

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  3. I like your honest review! They certainly are pretty!

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    1. Lizzy, I wish they tasted pretty too :(

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  4. Hi Phong Hong, never come across this kind of pickled eggs. Have tried the Taiwanese Iron Eggs, the egg white was very rubbery and artificial. These are hard boiled eggs with flavours.

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    1. Kimmy, I haven't heard of Iron Eggs. This pickled eggs did not suit my tastebuds.

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  5. ivy sew http://simplybeautifulhealthyliving.blogspot.com30 August 2013 at 11:02

    Phong Hong,
    I had the intention of doing this pickled eggs sometimes last year when I chanced upon it on the internet. However, I had second thought whenever I wanted to do it. Had been wondering how it would taste like and the recipes that I came across also used natural colouring eg. beets for red coloured eggs. Besides, others had pickled devilled eggs too! It looks weird to me and so I have been putting it on hold. If I would try it one day, I won't use 20 quail eggs! The most I would use is probably 2 or 3 chicken eggs. Thanks for being the guinea pig, hahaha...
    Have a nice day and cheers, Phong Hong!

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    1. Ivy, this recipe did not turn out well at all. I did not like the taste. Maybe if other ingredients were used, they could be better.

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  6. Hi Phong Hong,
    Your post reminds me of a pickled egg recipe that I wanted to make for LTU, months ago! I have completely forgotten about it, as was busy with Nigella event! The recipe I've seen, the eggs are pink, stained from the beets that are used. And now I cannot recall from where I've seen it!!! Getting old!
    The eggs are rubbery? Interesting, must be the vinegar! At least, you now know how pickled eggs tastes like. I'm still curious!

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    1. Joyce, there is another recipe I tried and it is a lot better but needs tweaking. I will come up with something one of these days - my own original recipe hah! hah!

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  7. Hi Phong Hong, interesting recipe. The pickled eggs look nice in the bottle. But I don't take century egg, guess I'll pass this.

    Have a nice day.

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    1. Amelia, I don't recommend this recipe. Maybe because I did not use the exact ingredients that's why it did not taste good.

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  8. Oh no, I'm sorry the eggs didn't turn out very well! But thank you so much for sharing your experience with us!

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    1. Jasline, that's OK because at least now I know what it taste like. Tak sedap....

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  9. Ok now I know that pickled eggs taste bad! I won't be trying it.

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    1. Yeah, Mich! No need to try because this one does not taste good.

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  10. Phong hong, you are so brave and dare to try and cook something strange. ha.... sorry, i not dare for this.

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    1. xing hui, sometimes those things I try turn out not very good. But now I know this one tak sedap.

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  11. Ehh... This is interesting. Pickled quail eggs! Don't know whether can use quail eggs to do salted egg or not :)

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    1. Li Shuan, I think can, wor. But won't be as good as duck egg because someone has tried salting chicken eggs and said that it is not very good.

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  12. Never had this before. My house got ular. Sure will sapu habis if given a chance . Lol.

    See u tmr

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    1. Oh, jangan! This particular recipe your ular also won't makan. Tak sedap. Sadly, I can't make it for the dinner. I injured my back. 4 days already, sakit lah.

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  13. This pickled is new to me, but at least you tried , if for me , I don't think I am going to try out, hehehe.

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    1. Sonia, no need to try because I already found out it is tak sedap hee..hee...

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  14. Oh, this is something totally new to me. At least I learn this something new from you Phong Hong. Quail eggs.....oooo.....very high cholesterol, you know.

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    1. Mel, that;s what they tell me - high cholesterol. But I like quail eggs but not this pickled one :(

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  15. Hi Phong Hong,
    Most unusual recipe. I like your very frank and honest review. Keep it up !

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    1. Hi Doris, I think it is important to let you all know what's good and what's not. These pickled eggs did not turn out well.

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  16. I will give this a pass but i do admire the courage to give it a try :)

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  17. They do look pretty in the bottles, but too bad they don't taste that great. Well, you never know until you try them, right?

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    1. Yen, that's right. I tried another recipe and it was an improvement.

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  18. Phong Hong, I never come across of pickled quails eggs. By looking at the name...mm... I think I won't dare to try. Anyway thank you for sharing your honest review.

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    1. Veronica, they were a disappointment but I think there is still hope with other recipes.

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  19. Interesting. Never seen this before - I've seen century quail eggs but never tried those either. Wonder what these taste like...

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    1. Arthur, this particular batch did not taste good at all.

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  20. Wow! This is totally new to me & they look lovely in the bottle. honestly I've never heard of pickle eggs before!! I love eating hard boiled quail eggs with salad though

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    1. Kit, stick with ordinary hard boiled eggs. The taste of the pickled eggs was a disappointment to me.

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  21. never mind..at least you tried..and the soil benefits :D

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    1. Lena, last time I checked, the eggs were eaten by the bugs in the soil.

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  22. Try at your own risk??!! That sounds scary! LOL!

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    1. Alvin, that simply means, better don't try!

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