Homemade Salted Duck or Chicken Eggs (Brine Solution or Salt-Cured)
Servings: 12 eggs
Learn how to make salted duck or chicken eggs using a brine solution or the quick way by using the salt-cured egg yolks method in the refrigerator. I'm sharing how to smoke the salted egg yolk too.
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Ingredients
For the brine: For both 30-day or 10-day
- 300 g kosher salt or coarse salt. See notes 1
- 1200 g water
- 12 duck/chicken whole eggs
Optional spices:
- 2 star anise
- 2 Tbsp black peppercorns
- 1 cinnamon stick
Vinegar solution (for 10-day brining method):
- 300 g white vinegar
- 600 g water
Quick Salt-cured Method:
- 6 duck/chicken egg yolks
- Table salt or any fine-grain salt
- Cheesecloth or coffee filter
- Water to rinse off salt
For smoking the salted egg yolks:
- Wood chips or tea leaves I used tea leaves
Instructions
Prepare the brine:
- Place the salt and water in a large pot and bring to a boil and cook until the salt dissolves. Let it cool down completely. Some salt crystals may form after cooling, not a problem
To brine for 30 days:
- Wash the eggs with clean water and then pat them dry with an absorbent paper towel
- Check each egg to make sure there's no cracks (Cracked one will get rotten inside the brine). Very gingerly place each egg in a glass jar big enough to harbor 10-12 eggs. When the brine solution has cooled down, gently pour it into the jar. If there are salt crystals, scoop those into the jar too. Add the spices if you plan to use. The eggs will float. I crumpled up a parchment paper and put it on top to gently push the eggs down so they are all submerged in the brine solution. Place this jar at a cool place, away from sunlight, at room-temperature.
- Update: for chicken egg, 30 days are usually sufficient to brine the eggs. If you use duck eggs and you want the yolk to be "oiler", brine it for 6-8 weeks if you have the time, otherwise, 30 days are okay too for duck eggs
- At the end of 30 days, take one egg out and you can boil it and give it a try to see if it's salty enough. Usually the white part is very salty, but the yolk isn't. The yolk will harden and can be held with your fingers. If you are happy with the result, carefully drain off some of the brine and take each egg out and place them in the fridge and use them as you need. I would say keep them for max 2 weeks in the fridge. If you want to keep them longer, you need to boil them.
To brine for 10 days:
- You need to prepare a vinegar solution to soak the eggs first before you can brine them
- Mix the vinegar and water in a large bowl, enough for 10-12 eggs. Soak the eggs in there, make sure they are completely submerged. If not enough, you can make more of the vinegar and water solution. The ratio we are using here is 2 parts water and 1 part vinegar
- Soak the eggs in vinegar solution for 3-4 hours. There will be lots of bubbles inside the jar. After that, remove from the vinegar solution and rinse them with water and carefully pat each egg dry with clean towel
- Very gingerly place each egg in a glass jar big enough to harbor 10-12 eggs. When the brine solution has cooled down, gently pour it into the jar. The eggs will float. I crumpled up a parchment paper and put it on top to gently push the eggs down so they are all submerged in the brine solution. Let them sit in the brine for the next 10 days. Label it on the jar and mark your calendar or set a reminder. Place this jar at a cool place, away from sunlight, at room-temperature.
- At the end of 10 days, take one egg out and you can boil it and give it a try to see if it's salty enough. Usually the white part is very salty, but the yolk isn't. The yolk will harden and can be held with your fingers. If it's not salty enough for your tastse, you can brine for another week and see. If you are happy with the result, carefully drain off some of the brine and take each egg out and place them in the fridge and use them as you need. I would say keep them for max 2 weeks (no longer than that). If you want to keep them longer, you need to boil them.
To boil the salted eggs:
- If you want to boil the salted eggs after brining, place them in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil over medium heat and start the timer once the water starts to boil and cook for 9-10 minutes. Then remove from the boiling water and submerge in cold running water to stop the cooking process. Let them cool down completely and then store in the fridge for up to one month
For making mooncakes:
- If you plan to use the salted yolks for mooncake from brining method (either 30-day or 10-day method), you can spray the salted egg yolks with 1 Tbsp of rose cooking wine (or any cooking wine) to remove unpleasant smell from salted egg yolks. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 F (180 C) for 10 minutes and let them cool off completely before using
Quick Method (not suitable for mooncakes):
- In a clean small baking sheet or platter (or anything you wish to use), place about 1-inch layer of salt. Separate the egg yolk from the white (keep the whites for other use) and very gently place the yolks on the salt (as shown in photos). The yolks should be intact (I have one that was "broken" and I tried to cure it anyway to see how it went, the result was still good, just not as pretty). Cover with more salt on top of the egg yolks. Wrap with a plastic wrap and place this inside the refrigerator and let them cured for at least 4 hours to no more than 12 hours. The longer you cured them, the firmer the texture and saltier they will be
- Gently dust off most of the salt with your clean hands or use a clean brush. You can see that the yolks have somewhat hardened at this point with some creaminess on the outside. Gently submerge each yolk in a clean bowl of water and gently rub with your fingers. Dump the water out and refill with fresh water and do this again for another 3 more rounds to get rid of excess salt
Drying the cured yolks :
- If you want to grate it like a block of cheese as topping on your pasta, etc, place a clean cheesecloth on a tray. Lay these yolks down on the cheesecloth and put them back into the refrigerator without any wrapping to let them dry out for 3-4 days
- You can also dry them in a dehydrator or in your oven. Set the temperature to 300 F (150 C). Place the salted egg yolks on a rack/cooling rack if using oven (sprayed with non-stick spray) for about 3 hours.
Smoking the salted egg yolks:
- I use tea leaves to smoke the egg yolks. You are welcome to use wood chips to do that.
- I place about 1 cup of tea leaves on top of a medium pan and heat them until they started to smoke. Then I lower the heat and place a heat-proof rack on top of it and set the egg yolks on top of the rack along with the cheesecloth. Keep them smoking on this low heat for about 30 minutes. The yolks will have that smoky flavor
- Remove and store in an air-tight container. Some said these can be stored at room temperature. But I'm a little nervous about storing them at room temperature. I stored them in the refrigerator. Should be good for about a month
How to store (for both methods):
- The cured yolks (not-dried) can be kept in the fridge in a clean container for about 2 weeks. If you dried them, you can keep them in an air-tight container for about 1 month or could be longer
Video
Notes
- You can use table salt too. If you use table salt, reduce the amount to 225g(3/4 cup). Both kosher salt and table salt have an anti-caking agent and table salt collects at the bottom of the jar and makes the brine cloudy but won't affect the result.
