4 cup water
1 cup salt
9 duck eggs or chicken eggs
Directions
Info: from "Real Thai" by Nancy McDermott posted by
Perry Lowell
This Chinese invention is loved by Thais, who serve
salty eggs as a contrast to the incendiary heat of a
green curry or a bland dish. Kai kem is traditionally
made with duck's eggs, which are cured for several
weeks in a simple salt brine. Once cured, they keep
for many months at room temperature, and are boiled
when it's time to eat them.
In a medium saucepan, combine the water and salt and
stir well with a large spoon to dissolve some of the
salt. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil,
stirring frequently. After mixture boils rigorously
for about 1 minute, remove from the heat, stir once
more, and cool to room temperature.
Gently arrange the eggs in a crock or large jar. Pour
the cooled brine over the eggs, making sure they are
completely submerged. Cover and keep in a cool place
for 1 month.
When you're ready to use the eggs, place the number of
eggs you want in a small pan and add cold water to
cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. When the
water reaches a rolling boil, reduce the heat to low
and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool
to room temperature. Peel and serve.
Note: Salty or Salted Eggs are sold uncooked in Asian
markets. Often they are covered with 1/4-inch layer
of charcoal colored ash. Rinse off the ash and cook as
above.
Servings: 9 servings
Kai Kem (Salty Eggs) Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Poultry
The History of Recipes
Written recipes as a concept can be tracked far back into antiquity, at least as far back into recorded history as pharonic Egypt, and quite possibly further than that. Interesting though that maybe, these, ancient recipes were just primitive pictorial recipes for food preparation.
Fascinatingly, the oldest recipe in existence, according to Professor Solomon Katz, are some stone tablets in Sumerian which recount the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making those who drank it feel exhilarated. As our culinary historical trip moves to more modern times we find a couple of interesting books which were published in the fourteenth century : a recipe book titled `Forme of Cury`, and another titled `Curye on Inglish`. Although the titles sound familiar, these two books have no connection with the spicy food that appears on menues today, but instead recipes for the types of meals cooked for the rich people of the time. In the 15th century, people returning from the crusades brought back many foods and spices from Arab cooking, including coriander, parsley, basil and rosemary. The introduction of these new herbs and spices created an explosion in books on cooking, some of which are kept safe in private libraries. Over the following few centuries, the powerful and wealthy houses competed with each other to serve up the most extravagent banquests, and as a consequence, the best cooks and their collection of recipes were highly sought after. Even so, it was during the 19th century that fine cooking and recipe publications became popular. Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Merritt Farmer in the US, dedicated years of their lives to assembling, trying out, and writing down popular recipes of the day. The introduction of television gave us TV cookery programs and the demand for the spin-off recipe books. Which pretty much brings us up to date and the invention of the internet, allowing us all to search through massive numbers of recipes like those on sites such as this. |
We hope you enjoy this Kai Kem (Salty Eggs) recipe.
