You Too can Easily Pickle Quail Eggs

First, Are Those Tiny Eggs Worth Eating?

Quail Eggs may be tiny, but they pack delicious flavor in every bite. Whether you are choosing to sample them boiled, fried, scrambled, pickled, or any other way an egg can be prepared, you’ll savor each mouthful. Yes its true, each egg is about one mouthful. Think approximately 3 quail eggs in substitution for one chicken egg. I can recall as a child being forced to eat the white of my fried chicken eggs, because I didn’t care for the tastelessness of it. With a quail egg, you get delicious yolk in every bite!

Boiled Quail Eggs: Quick, Easy.

It could hardly be simpler to have soft and hardboiled quail eggs on hand for quick snacks. In order to pickle them you’ll need to do this step first. Bring enough water to a boil that will cover your eggs. After the water has come to a rolling boil, gently drop or lower your eggs into the water. Set a timer for three minutes sharp for a perfect soft boil. If you prefer your yolks hard boiled, four to five minutes will do the trick.

How To Peel Quail Eggs:

Peeling the tiny eggs can be a minor challenge. It’s essential for an easy-peel quail egg, for it to be plunged immediately into ice water. One minute in the ice bath is all you need. Take out the egg, crack on the counter, around the perimeter of the egg. I find that if you can use your finger nails to grab the shell in such a way that you can feel the mebrane and get ahold of it, the shell typically peels away pretty easily. The membrane of the quail egg seems to be typically a little tougher than a chicken egg. I find that if I think of it as peeling the membrane rather than peeling the shell, the process is much easier.

There are a few options available for automatic quail egg peelers. I am considering that as an option for peeling large batches.

What’s Your Recipe?

Rather than commit to a specific recipe, I went with just the basic concept. First, I combined a cup of vinegar and a cup of water. I brought it to a bubbling boil, and then added some spices. You can add whatever you like in the way of favorite savory spices that complement each other well, or pick some traditional pickling spice. When I think of pickles, I think of dill, and I am personally not a big fan of dill’s pervasive flavor. I chose a more subtly simple mix: ground cloves, black pepper, and a couple tablespoons of squeeze yellow mustard (since I had no mustard seed on hand). I sliced half an onion and split a few generously large garlic cloves and added those to the boiling mix. I let that simmer for about 15 minutes. In the final step, I filled a couple of quart jars with quail eggs, and I poured the hot vinegar mixture in to cover the eggs. Don’t worry if your vinegar/spice mix has cooked down. Divide it evenly between your jars, and top off with white vinegar, straight from the bottle. I let the eggs chill in the refrigerator for 10 days to allow the flavors to penetrate the little eggs.

My small batch of pickled eggs vanished very quickly. If you have kids in the house, you may even find, like me, them being sampled and your supply diminishing even before the ten days of brining has concluded! I found a simple solution, my children aren’t huge fans of hot sauce. So I kicked it up a notch with an alternate recipe!

I decided on a hot sauce pickling formula using half vinegar and half my favorite hot sauce, Huey Fong’s Sriracha! I also made a second batch combining Huy Fong Sriracha sauce with some good old fashioned Frank’s Hot Sauce. I finished my recipe with a handful of split, fresh garlic cloves to really take it up a garlicky, zesty notch. I’ll echo Melissa McCarthy here: “It’s a Huy Fong Sriracha garlic party in MY jar!”