To Preserve Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
Make the brine
Mix 1 pint of coarse sea salt, 2 pints of fresh lime, and 3 gallons of spring water in a large container.
Carefully place eggs in the brine without cracking the shells, ensuring they are fully covered.
Lime mixture and final step
In a stone jar, combine 1 pound of lime and 1 pint of Liverpool salt with spring water.
Let the mixture stand for three days, stirring daily.
After three days, pour off the liquid and add your eggs to the brine.
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
- Lime
- Makes the solution strongly alkaline, which slowly firms the egg white and helps preserve the egg.
- Coarse sea salt
- Salt preserves the eggs and draws moisture out of them, slowing spoilage.
- Liverpool salt
- Adds salt to the lime mixture, helping preserve the eggs against spoilage.
The step that matters
Placing the eggs without cracking the shells. Cracked shells let brine and microbes reach the egg contents unevenly, risking spoilage. Keeping every egg fully submerged ensures the brine preserves them all at the same rate.
“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.
More preserved eggs recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.