Prepare and Enjoy Balut - An Asian Delicacy

STEP 1 - Selecting The Best Eggs - Select eggs less than five days old, with thick shells, and without cracks. Preheat the eggs under the sun for three to five hours.

STEP 2 - Simple Incubator (optional methods are available) - Use a wooden box and line it with heated rice hulls about 6-inches deep. Cover the box to prevent loss of heat. Periodically check to maintain about 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

STEP 3 - Incubate - Remove the cover from the box, and carefully place the eggs huddled together on top of the heated rice hulls. Replace the cover, and allow the eggs to incubate from 16 to 17 days. Turn the eggs at least two or three times a day. Do not forget to check the temperature of the rice hulls as mentioned in Step 2.

STEP 4 - Candle The Eggs - On the 7th, 14th, 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th day, candle the eggs to find any infertile eggs. Remove any infertile eggs (non fertile eggs are clear colored). Infertile eggs can be hard-boiled and eaten. Eggs containing a normal embryo candled on the 17th to 19th day should be hard-boiled and eaten as balut.

STEP 5 - Cook - Hard-boil the fertilized duck eggs with the partially developed embryos.

STEP 6 - Eat and Enjoy - Crack the egg by using a spoon to gently tap around the shell near the top [small end] of the egg. Carefully remove the top piece of the shell and discard. Enjoy your balut while still warm with or without salt. Sip the broth from the egg before eating the embryo.

Tips:

1) Regarding "Things You'll Need - Beer (optional)" above, for some this is part of the preparation "ritual" before eating Balut.

2) While visiting places around the world and interacting with various cultures, it is always an honor to enjoy the traditional foods in these foreign places.

Photo Credits: Flickr and Wikimedia Commons.