Pickled Quail Eggs Three Ways

Contains: Eggs. Added sugar for one recipe.  Is: Vegetarian.  Two recipes are Paleo, Whole30.   

From left to right: Pickled with unsweetened dill pickle juice (dill and a little jalapeño added), Pickled with beet juice, vinegar, sugar (cloves and cardamom added). Pickled with rice wine vinegar and Chinese 5 Spice added.

                                                                  

One can also make these appetizers using chicken (or duck) eggs, but in such a case it is best to let them marinate for FIVE days as opposed to the one or two days needed here.  Thickness matters.  It will take a LOT longer for the pickling juices to penetrate a chicken egg than a quail egg.

You can use the pre-canned pre-shelled hard-boiled eggs found in a few supermarkets, but readily available in Asian (Chinese. southeast Asian and east-Asian) markets.

Many supermarkets, depending on where you are located, will sometimes sell tiny cartons of raw refrigerated quail eggs.  These you would take home, hard boil or steam on your cooktop, gently peel, and then carry on with the pickling process.

The ones I used herein were largely pre-canned, as my own home-raised quail have only just started laying eggs, and I was bringing all three recipes to a pickling/fermentation-themed pot luck, having enough of each type so that each attendee would get to try at least ONE egg from each recipe.  No – these recipes are NOT about fermentation, just the pickling end of the equation.

I’d thought I had two cans of quail eggs, but alas, only one.  So I did dip into my stash of fresh quail eggs from my “children”.  The can held 21 eggs, so expect about 20 more or less in any 15 ounce / 425 gram standard can.  (Some of the weight is water weight.  Drain off, for use.)

Serving all three types of quail pickles. They seem to have been a success. You can always play with ratios for more or less sour pickling results.

Since I was bringing these as a batch of several recipes to a pot luck, I only made ten of each variety.  If you pick just one, make more – to this end, I wrote the recipes up as a ratio for the liquids.  Also note, that you want enough volume to completely submerge the eggs, and this amount will vary depending on the dimensions of your marinating vessel(s).

IMPORTANT NOTE:  Eggs are not suitable for Water Bath Canning – not acidic enough.  I am not going to recommend Pressure Canning here, either.  I am uncertain about textural outcome, and have no desire to try.  I do find food like this – that will never be subjected to water bath or pressure canning – a good place to re-use caps for short term refrigerator storage.  

The Recipes:  

I.  Dill Pickle Juice Pickled Quail Eggs.

2  Red Wine Vinegar and Beet Juice Cardamom-Seasoned Pickled Quail Eggs.

3. Asian-Inspired Rice Wine Vinegar and Chinese Five-Spice Pickled Quail Eggs.

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.Prep Time:  10-15 minutes.
Cook Time:  Only necessary for the beet juice recipe.  5-10 minutes.
Rest Time:  Until cool, beet juice recipe only.
Marinating Time:  2 days ideal.
Serves:  Appetizers.  According to the can, “one serving” equals 5 quail eggs.
Leftovers:  Refrigerate up to a month, but they won’t last that long…

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Dill Pickle Juice Pickled Quail Eggs.

Use any unsweetened dilly pickle juice. Folks would save all their leftover dill pickle juices for several purposes, such as this one.

This one is essentially the recipe handed down to me by my parents, and yes, they used quail eggs (from the Asian market), too.

Quail Eggs Pickled with Dill Pickle Juice

• 10 hard boiled and peeled quail eggs. 
• Dill pickle juice, unsweetened, to cover.  
• Fresh or frozen dill fronds.  Two or three fronds per 10 eggs, coarsely chopped.
• Dill seed (optional), about a quarter teaspoon per 10 eggs.
• For a spicy option, add 1/4 or 1/2  de-seeded jalapeño pepper, chopped finely. Or spicier yet:  a Thai pepper or two, sliced half-wise longitudinally, de-seeded.  

Put everything in a container, making certain that liquid covers the eggs, add the lid, shake hard, and let marinate 1-2 days in the refrigerator.  Shake once or twice a day

Serve as an appetizer with toothpicks.

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Red Wine Vinegar and Beet Juice Cardamom/Clove-Seasoned Pickled Quail Eggs.

Canned eggs, canned beets with juices.

I cribbed the ratios from this recipe, and seasoned the mix as per personal inclination.  Due to the added sugars, this recipe is neither Paleo nor Whole30.

Red Wine Vinegar and Beet Juice Cardamom/Clove Seasoned Pickled Quail Eggs

• 10 hard boiled and peeled quail eggs.
• 1 part beet juice from a can of beets.  (Measured as volumes, here).  1/4 cup.
• 1 part water. 1/4 cup.
• 1 part red wine vinegar (white or apple cider will do as well).  1/4 cup
• 1 part (v/v/v/v) sugar – I used coconut palm sugar, but regular brown or white will work.  I also cut back a bit on the sugar due to my own taste buds.  1/4 cup.
• About 3 slices of beets from that can, julienned or sliced further into thin strips.  Per ten eggs.
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves or  5 whole cloves.  

Put everything in a container, making certain that liquids cover the eggs, add the lid, shake hard, and let marinate 1-2 days in the refrigerator.  Shake once or twice a day.

Drain whatever portion you plan to provide, and serve with toothpicks.

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Asian-Inspired Rice Wine Vinegar and Chinese Five-Spice Pickled Quail Eggs.

Rice wine vinegar, ready and waiting…

This is my own adaptation from the parental recipe – I don’t buy pickles often, and thus don’t typically have a stock of pickle juice to hand.

Note that rice vinegar is less acidic than white, red or apple cider vinegar.  For those, I suggest a 1:1.25 or a 1:1.5 v/v vinegar to water ratio. Here, using the rice vinegar, I am going 1;1.

Rice Wine Vinegar and Chinese Five-Spice Pickled Quail Eggs

• 10 hard boiled and peeled quail eggs. 
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar, unsweetened (NOT the sushi rice vinegar)
• 1/4 cup water.  
• 1/4 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice seasoning.

Separately, mix the vinegar with the water, 1:1 v/v.  (If this will NOT cover your eggs, add more of these liquids at the same ratio, see below.)

Put the eggs in your container.

Put everything else into that container, making certain that liquids cover the eggs, add the lid, shake hard, and let marinate 1-2 days in the refrigerator.  Shake once or twice a day.

Drain whatever portion you plan to provide, and serve with toothpicks.

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There are a LOT of options here.  You can simmer up a vinegar broth with water, shallots and peppercorns (to release the flavors of the seasonings – let cool before pouring over eggs).  Or try Indian style with home-made spicy okra pickles – using both the pickled okra and the eggs for a presentation, and including turmeric, onion, and slightly-crushed cumin.  Or… be guided by your personal culinary byways.

And if I had have enough quail eggs here to experiment this time, I would have tried a brined (without vinegar) quail egg preparation.  Nothing wrong, however, with reserving for a future blog post!

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