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It’s Easter. Where are those eggs? And not just the boring chicken ones. Give us the kooky ones please. It’s San Francisco. We like diversity.
Balut
Balut is duck fetus, 18-20 days into a 28-day gestation period. As common in the Philippines as a dirty-water hot dog in New York, it’s a love-it-or-hate-it delicacy with a bad reputation. If you’ve ever had one, you can understand why: to eat it, you first make a pinhole puncture at the top of the egg, where you suck out all the juices. Then, you crack the egg and get into the nitty-gritty, exposing a fully-recognizable little form, including head, beak, perhaps a few feathers, and two little eyes. The flavor is truly agreeable for those who enjoy duck, the texture is not far from that of a well-cooked egg, but the concept can be off-putting. You’ll be hard pressed to find balut in a restaurant, but they can be found at both the Alemany and Heart of the City (Civic Center/TL) farmers’ markets. Both Starco Mart in SOMA and New May Wah Supermarket in the Richmond District usually have them in stock.
Duck
Duck eggs (without fetus) are an interesting deviation from the chicken egg, being slightly larger, and many times richer. They’re surprisingly hard to find on restaurant menus, but they often reside on the antipasti menu at Locanda in the Mission. Sometimes they poach them, fry them with pancetta, or served them over salad. They are currently being served with asparagus, bottarga (dried, cured silver mullet roe), and breadcrumbs, making a simple, delicious, and universally pleasing dish for our list.
Ostrich
Every spring, ostrich eggs come into season. They taste very similar to chicken eggs, but they are, of course, enormous, and at $40/egg, are roughly 160 times more expensive. They used to be available at Whole Foods every spring, but rumors has it that they’ve stopped stocking them due to quality control issues. Polarica, the animal meats and products wholesaler in Bayview/Hunters Point, doesn’t stock ostrich eggs, but can usually special order them for interested parties. Once you have your egg, the next step is cracking it open. Be warned: ostrich eggshells are notoriously thick and you’ll definitely need something along the lines of a hammer. Anyone who’s seen the Food Network’s “Chefs Vs. City,” knows that cooking one of these suckers sunny side up is also a task. Test your skills and see how well you do!
Preserved Eggs
Known as a century egg, pidan, 100-year egg, 1000-year egg, 1000-year-old egg, or a millennium egg, these are unlike anything else you’ve ever (or never) had. The history behind it is that 600 years ago, during the Ming Dynasty in Hunan, China, a farmer found an egg that had been sitting in excess clay-like mortar from the construction of his house a couple months prior. Clearly a curious fellow, the farmer tasted the egg, realizing that with a little salt, he was onto something. He figured he could preserve eggs and save them for later, and the idea caught on. If you’ve ever seen one of these things, you’ll realize that this guy was fairly brave. Through the process, the white of the egg turns gelatinous, translucent, and brown, while the yolk becomes dark green and creamy. Traditionally, they’re made over a series of months, with a mask of clay, wood ash, quicklime, and salt. Nowadays, with the help of modern technology, preserved eggs can also be made by a 10-day brine soak in salt, calcium hydroxide, and sodium carbonate, followed by a few weeks wrapped in plastic. They can be consumed as soon as this process is over. Some Chinese people eat them with pickled ginger root, while others eat them with tofu, but the most popular every-day preserved egg dish is in rice congee, or porridge, often with pork. Jook Time, in the Outer Richmond, has a very basic duck egg and pork congee. The “small” is under $2, and the “large” is less than $3.
Quail
Quail eggs are not particularly uncommon. Most sushi spots have them on top of rolls, and they can be found at farmers’ markets and in specialty grocery stores with reasonable ease. But a quail egg with a little spirit? The Alembic has them pickled in beet juice, sitting in a little pool of olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt. They are brilliantly colored, quite delicious, and at $2 for 3 eggs, they’re cheap.
Scotch
On the dinner menu at Wexler’s resides a delectable treat, a British picnic food all dolled up and transformed into a gourmet item. The standard recipe calls for a hard-boiled egg, wrapped in sausage meat, breadcrumbs, and deep-fried, but at Wexler’s, the eggs are poached, coated in smoked beef short rib “burnt ends,” breaded, and deep-fried. The outer shell is crisp and flavorful, the yolk is runny, and the flavors come together with their homemade hot sauce and sweet tea gastrique, although we’d expect nothing less than gourmet bar food at a hip San Fran eatery. At $14 for two eggs, we can’t call it inexpensive, but these are the Scotch eggs to end all Scotch eggs.
Note: A wide variety of eggs, from balut to preserved eggs, as well as eggs from different types of fowl, can also be found at the farmers’ market.
Photo Credit: geishaboy500