Last week I made Udon Noodles in Consommé, a process that requires a lot of egg whites. Naturally I had a lot of egg yolks leftover, so I decided to put all of those beauties to good use!
I got a call from my mom several months ago, telling me about a recipe from Bon Appétit. It was egg yolks cured in salt for several days until all of the moisture has been drawn out. Then they’re rinsed of salt and allowed to dry out in a cool oven until they’re hardened to the consistency of a hard cheese and perfectly grate-able. This definitely piqued my interest, but I filed it away among the long list of other things I want to try.
After making these, I seriously need to revise my list, because these little gems are a…ma…zing! When grated, those wispy golden curls literally melt in your mouth and taste like liquid carbonara! Grate them on salads, pasta, fried rice, casseroles, really the sky’s the limit!
- 1 3/4 cups Kosher salt
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 4 large egg yolks
- nonsitck vegetable oil spray
- In a medium bowl, combine the salt and sugar. Spread half of the contents in a small baking dish (approximately 8×6).
- Using the back of a spoon make 4, evenly spaced indentations in the salt mixture. Carefully place a raw egg yolk in each depression.
- Carefully sprinkle the remaining salt mix over top of the yolks, making sure they are completely covered. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 days.
- Gently brush the salt off of each egg and run under cool running water to remove the remaining salt. The yolk will resemble a gummy-like texture. Then gently pat dry with a paper towel.
- Preheat your oven to 150 degrees F. Coat a wire rack with the vegetable oil spray and set it on top of a baking sheet. Bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Let cool and then grate over whatever you like. If your oven doesn’t go as low as 150 degrees F, simply allow the yolks to dry out in an unheated oven for 2 days. Enjoy!
I don’t have kosher salt, what would be a good substitute? I have table salt and pink sea salt.
Hi Jeremy. Yes, either one of those will work as well.
Latecomer to this post… my eggs have been curing for 2 weeks and are still a bit gooey, do I just continue to wait? I am impatiently waiting for these to try it out, as I think I may want to throw one on the smoker to add some bacon smokiness to it…
Hi Pamela! I’m so sorry for my late response! My husband and I recently moved across the country with a newborn (due to an unexpected job change) and we’ve been in temporary housing while we look for a new home – yada, yada… it’s been a little crazy around here 🙂 In any event, the cured egg yolks will end up with a gummy bear-like texture – firm with a bit of flexibility. Once you bake them in a cool oven, they should dry out a bit more. If your yolks are not firming up at all – try removing the yolks (gently if they’re still pretty soft) and using a fork, stir the salt and sugar mix around to disperse any moisture that was trapped around the yolks. You may even want to add a bit more salt to help the leaching process. See if that helps!
Btw, smoking them is a great idea!
Is it possible to do the whole egg?
Hi Justin! I have not tried curing a whole egg, but I suspect that the whites won’t set up the same way that the yolk does. Plus I don’t think the egg whites will give you much flavor, all of that carbonara-like flavor is in the yolks. That being said, it would certainly be an interesting experiment! If you decide to cure some egg yolks, why not through in a whole egg to see what happens?! I’d love to know what you find if you give it a try!
After reading some of these comments I feel like I have found my people!
This week I am eating a lot of egg whites and do not want to throw the yolks away. I have seen cured egg yolks before and thought my friend “Chef Mike” was crazy… Now I hear you say it is the flavor of carbonara… WHAT?!!
Ok, I am in. Yolk is my guilty please but I don’t like it cooked so you had me at dried and melty.
Yes, I know what you mean, Sara 🙂
Oh I’m so excited you’re going to make these! Just thinking of the way the delicate shavings melt in your mouth is making me drool! I hope you love it as much as I do!
Hello, I can’t wait to try these! I wanted to ask, how are they in terms of saltiness? I’d just want to know if they add saltiness to the dish, then I’d compensate by using less salt. Can’t wait to try this on a risotto!!!
Hi Giovanni! It’s similar to parmigiano-reggiano in terms of saltiness. The salt cured egg yolks will be AMAZING on risotto!!! I’m drooling just thinking about a creamy bowl! 🙂
what does it taste like? I’m imagining something like candy? Can thei be eaten like candy? lol
Hi Sveta! The shredded pieces of cured egg yolk melt in your mouth and taste like liquid carbonara! SO good!
This looks amazing! Can it be done without sugar?
Thanks, Imiraielia! Yes, you can do an all salt cure. However, just be aware that the sugar does temper some of the harshness of a pure salt cure. The yolks may be a bit on the saltier side, so make sure to rinse them really well after they are done curing (per step 4).
Has anyone tried without the sugar?
Hi Lisa! Yes, you can do an all salt cure. However, just be aware that the sugar does temper some of the harshness of a pure salt cure. Without the sugar the yolks may be a bit on the saltier side, so make sure to rinse them really well after they are done curing (per step 4).
Is it ok if the yolk breaks when it hits the salt? Also, can I reuse the salt/sugar for future rounds of curing yolks? Thanks!!
Hi Kirsten! Everyone breaks a yolk from time-to-time, so this is a great question! Yes, you can use a broken yolk depending on how badly the yolk is broken. If it’s broken right off the bat and spreading everywhere, I’d say that one may be a goner. But if it breaks as you’re transferring it to the salt/sugar mixture, just quickly (but gently) cover it with the salt/sugar cure. The mix draws out the moisture fairly rapidly, so if you act quickly enough, you can still get a fairly intact yolk.
As for re-using the mixture – absolutely! You may notice that after the first run, the salt/cure mixture is a little on the moist side. That’s because it’s drawn out all of the moisture from the yolks you just cured. You can use the cure mix several times, although your cure time may be slightly longer each time. To extend the longevity, you may want to take a little of the old mixture out and add a little more new (fresh) mixture back.
Thanks again for the great questions! Please let me know if you have any other 🙂
You can dry out your mixture to reuse in a dehydrator if you have one.
Great suggestion, Tom! Thanks so much!
I can’t wait to try this! Yum! My wheels are already spinnin’…
That’s fantastic! Happy grating 🙂
I had to report back … this recipe is crazy good! I grated some over giant mushroom ricotta raviolis and it was so pretty and tasty. Cured egg yolks are going to be a staple in my fridge from now on!
Btw: you’re recipe is blowing up all over Pinterest. It’s all I’m seeing these days. Nice work, girl!
Ooo I’m so glad you did – I was wondering what you thought! Isn’t it just fantastic! They really add such a wonderful flavor profile… and the little golden curls are purdy too 😛
I’ve noticed the spike in Pinterest visits (doing my happy dance for sure)! Thanks sweetie 🙂
Are there any food safety concerns? I eat raw cookie dough, so I suppose it wouldn’t be any worse than that, but the idea of plain raw egg kinda skeeves me out!
Hi Fran! Thanks for the question! You’ll want to of course practice the same food safety steps you would when handling the raw yolk. However, once they have been cured, they are preserved. Curing is one of the oldest methods of preserving food – organisms such as bacteria and fungus cannot survive in such a salty environment devoid of moisture. So eating these cured egg yolks is actually safer than eating raw cookie dough 😉 Once the yolk have been cured, they’ll keep refrigerated in an air-tight plastic zip top bag for about a month.
There are also various forms of curing – smoking, fermenting, etc. If you like smoked salmon or any type of salami, those are all products that have been cured. I hope you give these a try! Thanks again for the great question, Fran!
i also filed this under 2do some time before the holidays last year. this post makes me jealous and happy and hungry and curious and full of adoration for you and your mom, kathleen. and the phrase, “liquid carbonara”… hello!?!?! i sit here smitten with cartoon -team egg- hearts floating around my head.
It sounds like you and I probably have a lot of the same things in the ‘to-do file’. I always love reading your comments, I can practically see the cartoon egg-hearts floating around your head 🙂
kathleen, i would have returned a couple weeks back for my next batch of 2cook, but… but… i have not been able to stop making these addictive orbs of yellow. EVERY single day has seen me grating these things like a crazed woman. i keep thinking of things i want to add them to and the list seems endless. i am totally not exaggerating. i have remade these suckers so many times that my market asked me what on earth i am doing with all these eggs. if i had a lot of extra money, i would fly a sky banner thing across the skies over your place pledging my love for you and these chunks of sunshine. i scare myself sometimes…
Lol! I LOVE it! Ooo… I would love to know some of the things your grating the eggs on! I could always use more recommendations 😉
good thing for both of us, i took notes because there is a lot, kathleen. DO NOT LAUGH! ready? here goes: several times a week i eat raw egg on rice with soy sauce so, thinking i would attack this experiment in an orderly fashion, i hit up all things rice… okayu, rice fritters, risotto, fried rice, plain rice with soy sauce, and omusubi. then i was too excited about it so i went for it like a wild woman… cold tofu, kale soup, mashed potatoes, french fries with gravy, frittata, pasta salad, plain toast, avocado toast, egg salad sandwiches, grilled cheese, on sunny-side up eggs, open-faced kare pan, into the filling of lumpia and shumai, sprinkled over still hot vegetable tempura (shishito, onion + dried shrimp combo, carrot, mushroom, and sweet potato) and over the leftovers the next day to make a killer tendon, in aioli, japanese-style cream stew, quesadilla, split pea soup, roasted chickpeas, and roasted tomato buffalo mozarella flatbread. oh yeah… i even sprinkled it on senbei with nori one evening 🙂 tonight, i am going to try it over some grilled mackerel.
i have future plans to check out how it tastes on fajitas, crab, crab cakes and fish cakes, octopus, squid, scallops, fried chicken livers, steak, all things pork, agedashi tofu, inside the dough of fresh pasta and breads, as a topping for udon and ramen in a couple of different kinds of broth, cabbage rolls, pierogi filling, sushi, sprinkled on onion rings and fish ‘n’ chips, huevos rancheros, yakisoba, green salads, quinoa and farro, dressings, dips, burgers, savory waffles/pancakes, and as a stir-fry ingredient. later i want to try to go for duck eggs and play with herbs/spices in the cure. i told myself to quit adding to the list since it seemed crazy endless.
but… but… i could not resist to take a quick spin around the floor with google. this is when i learned of miso-cured egg yolks, quick-cured soy sauce egg yolks, and fish sauce or gochujang applications. this made me think why not sake lees? or why not shio koji? or why not garum? or why not just sprinkle it directly in my mouth all day ever day? then dearest friend google reminded of how chinese mush it into a paste and cover chicken or crab for pan-frying. i totally forgot about that noise. yummy yum yum! i also read where a chef serves it up with prosciutto and that totally stopped me in my tracks as my brain took off running into charcuterie land. forget those fried chicken livers, right? i started thinking about pate, terrines, jerky, smoked fish, and on and on and on. wait. scratch that. where is my balls to the wall can-do spirit? definitely do not blow off fried chicken livers. do it ALL. my bad. next i learned of how one chef cold smokes his yolks after the cure. whaaaaat?!?! and the last thing i read before i knew i had to quit punching keys is how delicious it is with just plain white bread and butter. dear, kathleen… they were right. after i dragged my bum away from google-land, i ate that bread and butter wonderfulness and saw angels float by my head. i bet my cholesterol is in guiness world record range by now.
as i was waiting for the page to refresh after i hit “post”, i thought of how amazing it would be on pesto. or what about cured in pesto? man oh man…. the sickness grows like moss… the non-witchy kind, mind you.
Lol! You crack me up! I LOVE it! Pesto would be phenomenal! What about some type of pesto crostini… ? Ooo… what about a buttered crostini with thinly sliced radishes and grated cured egg yolks on top???
guess what i ate yesterday? your “buttered crostini with thinly sliced radishes and grated cured egg yolk” hello!?!? i was caught in the threesome wiggle of gratitude for the push vs jealousy for not thinking of that first vs pain from shoving the third piece of crostini into my mouth incorrectly and doing something weird to the roof of my mouth. i pretty much put daikon oroshi on top of anything i can think of (no borders in mind) so your idea has spawned yet another round of crazy. the mossy cured egg list grows…. xoxoxo
Oh my gosh, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done that to the roof of my mouth – yet that never keeps me from eating more and more 😉 So glad you enjoyed it!
Holy moly! You’ve been busy!!! I’m seriously grinning from ear-to-ear. I’m totally and completely loving the incredible list of things you’ve grated these little beauties on – I’m so going into the kitchen and trying it on bread and butter as soon as I’m done writing this! So far my favorite is anything fried – Korean fried chicken, agedashi tofu, tempura, and I’m sure those chicken livers are awesome too! Of course then there are any and all type of noodles. The miso-cured egg yolks sounds really interesting too – I think I could just grate that directly into my mouth!
what do you mean by placing in a baking sheet with oil?
Hi Kathy! Sorry about that, my thoughts weren’t very clear in that sentence. What I meant to say was, ‘coat a wire rack with the vegetable oil spray and set it on top of a baking sheet.’ Thanks for bringing that to my attention, I made the appropriate adjustments to the instructions.
I can’t wait to try these since I can’t have cheese!! Do these need to be refrigerated? And do you know how long they keep?
Hi Lindsey! This will be a wonderful alternative to something like grated parmesan over pasta! The cured eggs yolks will keep for one month. Just keep them in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
These look amazing! One question though – do you need to use sugar? I am low-carb and am wondering if using just salt would work.
Hi Michelle. Great question! Yes, you can do an all salt cure. However, just be aware that the sugar does temper some of the harshness of a pure salt cure. The yolks may be a bit on the saltier side, so make sure to rinse them really well after they are done curing (step 4).
This looks great, but I’m a little confused! Do you boil the eggs first, or use the raw yolks? Thanks!
Hi Hannah! The egg yolks are raw. I’ll make a note in the recipe so it’s more clear. Thanks for the question 🙂
I too had filled this under things I would try one day. This inspired me to give it a go. Just discovered your blog and love it. I always enjoy finding another person that identifies as Hapa, as a Hawaiian, Chinese, Portuguese, German, French, Irish, Cherokee, and Welsh person its so much easier to say Hapa.
It’s always great meeting another hapa! And yes, SO much easier to say when you get the question, ‘what are you’? 😛
This is brilliant! I’m starting a batch today!!
That’s great! I’d love to know what you think!
This is awesome!! I love the uniqueness of this recipe. Pinning for future reference for sure!
Thanks, Thao! This was definitely a fun recipe to do… and even better to taste 😉
What?!?! They look like candy! I’ve never heard of such a thing! So awesome!
I thought the same thing! Like little candy-jewels.
Can’t wait to try…awesome!
Thanks so much, Lyn! 🙂
This is SO cool! I have never heard about this technique, but I do know that grating freshly boiled yolks can be a challenge since they’re still so soft. I love that this technique would make the yolks easier to grate, plus I’m sure they’ve absorbed some of that delicious salty goodness. <3
Oh yeah, these are so much easier to grate and with some pretty awesome flavor too! I could definitely see this going over some awesome French food! 😉
Wow, Kathleen – these are just amazing! Thanks so much for teaching me something really cool today. Loved your ‘liquid carbonara’ description!
Thanks, Helen! I thought that summed it up pretty nicely 😉
These are awesome! I usually have to wait a month for my salted egg to cure and even then the yolk is not completely solid. This is so quick though 😀 Thanks so much for the recipe Kathleen
Thanks so much, Chi! I don’t think I could wait a month – how do you cure your eggs?