Hot and Spicy Pickled Eggs
Adapted from The Joy of Pickling4 hard cooked eggs, peeled (pour boiling water over raw eggs and allow to sit, covered, for 14 minutes, then peel)
2/3 T. pickling salt (any non-iodized salt will do, i.e. sea salt)
2 fresh green chile peppers (serrano, jalepeno)
1/2 c. cider vinegar
3 T. water
1 t. minced fresh ginger
1 t. black mustard seeds
1 t. crushed black pepper
1 garlic clove, coarsely choppedSpecial Equipment: 1 pint jar with lid
With a fork, pierce each egg through the white to the yolk about 6 times. Put the eggs into a 1 pint jar. In a nonreactive saucepan, combine the remaining ingredients. Bring them to a boil, reduce heat, and cover. Simmer 15 minutes.
Let the liquid cool a bit, then pour over the eggs. Cap the jar, and refrigerate for at least 1 week to allow the eggs to absorb the flavor. Refrigerated, the eggs will keep for several weeks.
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Pickles, pickles, pickles of every kind… that’s how the last few months have been going — pickled kohlrabi, pickled lemons, pickled cabbage, pickled onions, and now pickled eggs! Pickled peppers, pickled cucumber, and pickled okra are yet to come, and you can expect recipes for these once summer is in full swing.
Pickled eggs in particular hold a special place in my heart. One of my old hang-outs in Cambridge/Boston was a lounge called The B-Side; whereas most bars serve some array of nuts, chips, and pretzels as bar snacks, The B-Side served — you guessed it — pickled eggs. I have very fond memories of sitting with my good friend Jordan, talking music, sipping cocktails, and eating pickled eggs…
When I started perusing Linda Zeidrich’s, The Joy of Pickling (one of my favorite cookbooks), I was immediately attracted to the recipes for pickled eggs. I knew it would be one of the first things that I tried. Whereas The B-Side served classic pickled eggs, I decided to take a little more adventurous route and make these Indian-style hot and spicy pickled eggs. These pickles are relatively quick too — they’re ready in a week rather than a month or even… a thousand years.
Anyhow, the pickles turned out great — a little spicy, vinegary, a bit salty — and with a wonderful texture! Some ideas to serve these are:
- plain, as an appetizer with cocktails
- sliced into rounds, served on crackers/toasts
- crumbled over rice with cilantro or parsley
- crumbled and mixed with cottage cheese as a dip
Do you pickle? If so, do you have it posted on your blog? Leave a comment with a link, and I’ll collect everything I receive for a future post in the next few weeks and post a digest — I’m so curious as to what everyone else is doing!
Still Hungry? Try one of these:
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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 12th, 2008 at 8:56 pm and is filed under Delectable Dairy, Farming, Gardening, & Food Preservation, Garlic, Ginger, Honorable Herbs, Peppers (Spicy & Sweet), Succulent Spices, Veritable Vegetables. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Yay you are back. I do pickle vegetable medley, peppers, asparagas and cukes but never tried eggs. Looking forward to the digest.
jen,
I’ve never heard pickled eggs before, this is interesting. I know that in Indonesia they have this salted eggs and normally you eat them with rice.
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In my mind, pickled eggs are inextricably associated with old men in dive bars! I may have to try to get beyond this, though — the recipe sounds intriguing.
valereee — HA! well, your association seems somewhat fitting, as the first time I tasted pickled eggs was at a semi-sketchy dive bar….
i’m very intrigued by pickles too. i just made some lovely pickled carrots. love your recipe. i’ve never eaten a pickled egg, but it seems like something i’d like. i might try it with quail eggs… off to explore more of your fun site!
denise — you should check out ‘The Joy of Pickling’ if you’re interested in pickles — the author has 200+ recipes for various pickles. I’ve made 10 or so different pickles since I got the book, each of which has been delicious!
thank you. i’m all over it! i just requested “The Joy of Pickling” from the Marin Free Library. Good times to come woo-hoo!
thanks for your post on my blog. i’m still working out the kinks and didn’t even know that you had posted. must fix that up so i am aware of posts being made. i did respond to you beneath the carrot post on my blog. also, i am currently reading the joy of pickling and loving it! thanks and take care! btw - i’m totally in the mood for deviled eggs now…
So…anyone know how to make hot pickled sausages? Something like Tijuana mamas or firecrackers?
Matt — I’ve never heard of pickled sausage, but now I’m quite intrigued… I checked my pickling books and there was nothing, but I looked around online and found this basic recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pickled-Sausage/Detail.aspx
Perhaps you could add some spices (hot pepper flakes, mustard seeds, garlic, jalapeno, etc) for heat. If you do this, I would suggest bringing the brine to a boil, adding spices, then letting it cool to room temperature before pouring it over the sausages. Infusing the brine with the spices causes the flavors to be more pronounced
Is this recipe correct? four eggs, and a half cup of vinegar don’t seem to add up to a pint. Maybe the jar size is wrong? I added vinegar to fill the jar. Should the peppers be left whole?
Gene — You may need to adjust the amounts of vinegar and water based on the size of your eggs. You definitely want to use a pint jar. When I last made this, I used large eggs (not extra large); four eggs plus the 1/2 c. vinegar and almost 1/4 c. water fit perfectly into the 2c. jar. The peppers should be sliced, but the garlic can be left whole (though it ought to be crushed at least)
Hi Jen, I just found some piquillo and cherry peppers at the Tuesday market. I think I’ll roast piquillos and pickle the cherry peppers. Did you ever try making pickled peppers? I want to make some that are sweet & spicy and I’m doing that thing where I look at a bunch of recipes, pull what I like best, and create my own recipe. Any suggestions? Thanks!
denise — pickled peppers sound great. I haven’t ever tried making them, but it’s on my to-pickle list… The Joy of Pickling has an interesting looking recipe for Honeyed Jalepeno Pepper Rings, which could provide some inspiration for you. It calls for garlic, peppercorns, honey, salt, pickling spice, olive oil, and cider vinegar for the flavoring. Let me know if you want me to email you the whole recipe
Thanks! No need to send specifics. I’ll go with the basics you’ve noted here as inspiration and figure out a balance. Wish me luck…
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog. :) Cheers! Sandra. R.
I love your site. :) Love design!!! I just came across your blog and wanted to say that I
Have you tried pickling cheese? Roped mozzarella in a brine is scruntch-your-face amazing.
Craig — pickled cheese?! sound unique :) do you have a recipe?
Jen,
Great recipe. I was searching online for pickled egg recipes but hadn’t seen spicy pickled eggs. I’m going to give this one a go. I’m using a gallon jar though, will the recipe scale 8:1 or will there be different ratio’s with the spices?
Hi Frank,
Thanks for commenting! The spices, salt, and garlic should scale just fine. I originally adapted this from a recipe that called for 12 eggs and 5 chiles, so if you want to use 32 eggs, I would consider using something like 12-14 chiles rather than 16, though honestly I don’t think a few extra chiles would make a huge difference (especially if you like spicy foods, which I assume you do since you’re making a BIG batch of spicy pickled eggs :)!
Giggity! Thanks Jen.
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