Pickled Orbs of Deliciousness!

When one tend chickens (or helps tend in our case, thanks to the town of Amherstburg) one finds himself with eggs; those wonderful orbs of goodness that reward your efforts feeding and scooping poop.  They're nutritious, tasty and oh so versatile.  Oh, and best of all, they can be pickled.

I've always liked pickled eggs.  Sarah on the other hand, does not.  She's only ever had grocery store pickled eggs.  Hmm... that needed to change.

We found ourselves with what could be described as a "glut" of eggs in the fridge.  Seven or eight dozen. They add up when tending 34 chickens with only one other person helping out for a few weeks.  We gave some away and decided three dozen is a good number to pickle, so we set three dozen aside for a few weeks to age; older eggs are easier to peel when hard boiled.

A colleague of mine had, on occasion, brought into work,  a jar of eggs he had pickled.  They are by far the best I've eaten, so I hit him up for the recipe.  We then looked for a jar big enough to hold three dozen hard boiled and peeled eggs.  A bulk jar of Olives should do the trick.  As it turns out, it fit two dozen exactly... so, an extra dozen for egg salad.

We then proceeded to mix up the recipe, and set our globes of goodness to pickle in the fridge for two week.  Because I'm the impatient sort, and I was hungry, I cracked open the jar  two days shy of two weeks.

BOOM!!! Beautiful Orbs of Deliciousness served with some pickled herring.

The beauty of a pickled egg, slightly red from the hot sauce, slightly spicy, vinegary, eggy goodness.  I love them.  These are the best I've eaten.  Oh, Sarah is a convert too.  She loves pickled eggs, at least these ones.  Resistance is futile.

Recipe and Method 


Based on this one taken from Michigan Tech Alumni Association (the yoopers know a thing or two about pickled eggs).  I changed some things (Frank's Red Hot), and modified the quantities for 2 doz.

Ingredients

• 3 Dozen Hard Boiled Eggs
• 2 cups White Vinegar
• 16 ounces Sliced Jalapenos and Juice (canned is easiest)
• 1 cup Water
• 12 oz MacIlheney Tobasco sauce

Method

Boil the water, vinegar, and jalepenos for about 20min and then add the tobasco sauce to it. Layer the eggs and the peppers in the big GLASS jar (the size restaurants get their pickles etc.. in) and then pour the liquid over the top, filling any extra space with 50/50 water/vinegar. Top off and let stew for 2-3 weeks - any longer and they start to get rubbery. Warning, these are VERY VERY HOT and need lots of cheap beer to wash them down.