Preserving Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
Make the brine
Combine 5 quarts of cold water, 1 pound of coarse sea salt, and 1 ounce of saltpetre in a large pot.
Boil the mixture for about 20 minutes, then let it cool nearly to room temperature.
Stir in 4 tablespoons of pounded quick lime and let it stand for 3 days, stirring twice a day.
Preserve the eggs
Place fresh eggs in a jar with the small end down, and pour the lime mixture over them, ensuring the lime covers the eggs by at least 2 inches.
Add more layers of eggs as needed, up to 30–50 eggs in one jar.
Do not remove the eggs from the lime until you are ready to use them.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Eggs (in the method)
- The main food being preserved, set by the alkaline lime mixture over time.
- Quick lime
- Makes the mixture strongly alkaline, which slowly changes the egg white and yolk during curing.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the eggs and helps preserve them against spoilage.
- Saltpetre
- Adds a preservative effect that supports the curing mixture over the long soak.
The step that matters
Keep the eggs fully covered by the lime mixture. Eggs exposed above the liquid can spoil, because air contact lets microbes grow. Keeping them submerged by at least 2 inches holds the alkaline, salty environment steady across the whole curing period.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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