Balut (fertilized duck egg) considers a much-loved Filipino Delicacy

March 24, 2009 · Posted in Philippine Recipes

Balut is a Mallard duck egg locally known as ‘Pateros itik’ with a nearly-developed inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell. They are common, everyday food in some countries in Southeast Asia particularly in the Philippines. Many people believed to be an aphrodisiac and considered a high-protein, hearty snack, balut are mostly sold by street vendors in the regions where they are available. It is also come together with “chicharon”, fried thin slices of pork fat or skin upon selling in the streets.

Balut is an incubated egg with developed embryo of 17 to 19 days which is boiled and eaten with or without salt. It is a Filipino delicacy that commands a good price. Fresh duck eggs are also used to prepare a dessert called “leche flan” (egg custard). According to Ti Sencia (a traditional balut-maker), the best balut – also known as “balut sa puti” – is made by allowing the eggs to incubate from 16 to 17 days. Eighteen days is still okay, but go beyond that and the sisiw will be too large for leisurely consumption. Egg shell thickness is also a very important factor in the handling and processing of “balut” and salted eggs. Today, balut production has not been mechanized in favor of the traditional production by hand. Although balut are produced throughout the Philippines, balut-makers in Pateros are renowned for their careful selection and incubation of the eggs.

Instructions for eating balut:

1. Boil water gently in a pot, and put the balut in it for a few minutes.
2. Untwist the salt and put it in a dish. (A dipping dish, the kind used for soy sauce or patis, works very well.)
3. Hold the balut upright and, with the underside of a spoon, make a crack at the top of the egg.
4. Chip away pieces of eggshell with your finger until you have a hole about the diameter of a finger. (This could be bigger, it depends.)
5. Sometimes you’ll see some kind of gauzy membrane. Pierce it.
6. You can peek inside the balut now and see broth.
7. Tip the egg to your mouth and suck out the amniotic fluid.
8. Continue removing the eggshell. Depending on how you cracked it open, you may then see an undifferentiated mass of stuff that feels like slightly runny, soft-boiled egg in texture. Dip the stuff in the salt and eat it.
9. Or you may encounter a hard, spherical section that looks like a seed. Throw that away.
10. Or you may finally get to the jackpot: the duck fetus. You may pick it up by the head — at which point the body unrolls from its fetal position and its little legs dangle — dip it into the salt, and pop it into your mouth.
11. Wash down with a cold bottle of San Miguel beer.