Wednesday 27 August 2014

Pickling quail eggs



We had a very large number of quail eggs laid in June to use up. We couldn't sell or exchange them as they were too old. I tested a few of them however and they were fine. Time therefore to pickle them. That's them in the preserving pan I used to boil them. There were over 200 eggs in total.



Generally, quail eggs should be boiled for 2 minutes. With over 200 to shell, I spent a bit of time on this task. Watch out for the membrane under the shell. If you don't break open the membrane, you will be on for ages plucking bits of shell from each egg. Break through the membrane and it's like peeling a satsuma.



You will need 300ml of white wine vinegar and 150ml of white wine. Put them in the pan with a tsp each of mustard seeds, peppercorns, ground cloves, paprika and salt and 2 star anise. Boil the contents for 2 minutes.



I wanted to add some fresh ingredients from the allotment so into the storage jar with the eggs went a handful of shallots, 4 bay leaves, a stick of celery (chopped) and fennel seeds (still on the stalks). The fennel came straight from the herb garden - we have a good quantity of it growing there.



Finally, pour the spiced vinegar whilst still hot into the jar, covering all the contents.



We shall start eating the pickled eggs in about 10 days' time.

I did not pickle all the eggs I boiled. Some will be used in salads for lunches and some will be made into mini scotch eggs.

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