# food network's 1000 year old egg?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-networks-1000-year-old-egg/80624
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 10, 2001, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-networks-1000-year-old-egg/80624 "2001-09-10T04:41:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@funguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funguy)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2001, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-networks-1000-year-old-egg/80624/1 "2001-09-10T04:41:44Z")
has anyone ever heard of such a thing on the commercial it is frieghteningly bizzare looking( if that is a word) or you had heard of it is it cooked? pickeled? thankx
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### Author:  [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2001, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-networks-1000-year-old-egg/80624/2 "2001-09-10T04:54:53Z")
I’ve seen them. Basically, you take a regular hard boiled egg and pickle it in this special black mud for a week to ten days. When you shell the egg, the mud’s black has seeped into the white and yolk, the mud’s sulfur content (or something) adds a distinctive flavor.
They’re not really 1000 years old…why they’re called that, I don’t know.
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### Author:  [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2001, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-networks-1000-year-old-egg/80624/3 "2001-09-10T04:57:06Z")
It’s a Chinese thing. Pretty tasty. Usually served as an appetizer or to accompany rice porrige (zhou) or stir fried with doufu.
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### Author:  [@Animus\_Ping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Animus_Ping)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2001, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-networks-1000-year-old-egg/80624/4 "2001-09-10T05:55:18Z")
I bet my sister $50 she couldn’t eat a whole one and keep it down. She bit into it and I had to pull over to let her vomit. Tasty is relative. Try bolute, fermented dead baby chickens(with bones) in the shell, a Phillipine delicacy–so I’m told:D
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### Author:  [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2001, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-networks-1000-year-old-egg/80624/5 "2001-09-10T06:34:32Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by g00g00fish \*
> \*\*…Try bolute, fermented dead baby chickens(with bones) in the shell, a Phillipine delicacy–so I’m told:D \*\*
Balut is usually a duck’s egg with a semi formed embryo inside. It is regarded as a hangover cure and the crunchy bit of beak is supposed to be the best part.
While I was recently in Taiwan I tried 1,000 old eggs for the first time. Being a cooking enthusiast, I owed it to myself to try this classic dish. They were quite delicious and creamy in texture without a even hint of rotten or fetid odor about them. Now I can see why they are regarded as such a delicacy. I’ll leave balut for more adventurous souls.
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### Author:  [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2001, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-networks-1000-year-old-egg/80624/6 "2001-09-10T07:02:43Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by g00g00fish \*
> \*\*I bet my sister $50 she couldn’t eat a whole one and keep it down. She bit into it and I had to pull over to let her vomit. Tasty is relative. Try bolute, fermented dead baby chickens(with bones) in the shell, a Phillipine delicacy–so I’m told:D \*\*
Been there, ate that. Bolute are pretty good actually, although the first time the baby head is a little strange to get down.
In a Jim Jaramuch (sp?) movie, the one with Joe Strummer, Screamin Jay, and the Japanese couple, Screamin Jay Hawkins eats a 1,000 year old egg given to him by the Japanese couple.
Surprised someone couldn’t keep it down for 50 bucks. I mean, the consistency is like a hard boiled egg. The yolk can be a little runny, maybe like peanut butter or brie. As Zenster pointed out, they don’t have a powerful odor or taste. One may find the taste a bit odd first time out, but I wouldn’t think it’s an overpowering taste, certainly not compared with a ripe cheese for example. Because they are a dark grey/black, maybe that turns people off before they try 'em.
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### Author:  [@Animus\_Ping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Animus_Ping)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2001, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-networks-1000-year-old-egg/80624/7 "2001-09-10T07:07:30Z")
[QUOTE]
\*Originally posted by China Guy \*
\*\*
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by g00g00fish \*
> \*\*
> Surprised someone couldn’t keep it down for 50 bucks. \*\*
She’s from Michigan. I think it was the idea that grossed her out (we were in our early twenties at the time). So the next time I’m in Oakland Chinatown, I’ll give it a try.🙂
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### Author:  [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2001, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-networks-1000-year-old-egg/80624/8 "2001-09-10T07:58:19Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by China Guy \*
> \*\*
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > \*Originally posted by g00g00fish \*
> > \*\*I bet my sister $50 she couldn’t eat a whole one and keep it down. She bit into it and I had to pull over to let her vomit. Tasty is relative. Try bolute, fermented dead baby chickens(with bones) in the shell, a Phillipine delicacy–so I’m told:D \*\*
>
> Been there, ate that. Bolute are pretty good actually, although the first time the baby head is a little strange to get down.
> \*\*
Another baluter checking in here. The Vietnamese have this too, and as I have both Vietnamese and Philippino friends, I got sick of having to say “no, thanks” so often. The first time I tried it, I did so just so I could say I’d _done_ it. I was surprised to find I wasn’t disgusted. However, I also wasn’t particularly impressed (turns out my Philippino host had overcooked them). The second time I tried, I was hooked. My girlfriend is Vietnamese, so I probably have this dish once a month or so. It’s great with a little salt, and some ginger. The Vietnamese eat it out of an egg cup with a spoon, but if a Philippino offers you one, it’s customary to tilt your head back, and “drink” it. I can honestly recommend this food to the Dopers. Try it, and you’ll see why it’s a delicacy. Not sure about the hangover bit though…
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### Author:  [@andyrose2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andyrose2000)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2001, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-networks-1000-year-old-egg/80624/9 "2001-09-10T09:03:15Z")
I think scrambled eggs are far enough for me, I’ll play it safe…
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### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2001, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-networks-1000-year-old-egg/80624/10 "2001-09-10T09:09:49Z")
I’m going to be sick…
not a thread for vegetarians… :::gag:::
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### Author:  [@OneChance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneChance)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2001, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-networks-1000-year-old-egg/80624/11 "2001-09-10T09:38:09Z")
I’m not a vegetarian and I’m feeling sick.
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### Author:  [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2001, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-networks-1000-year-old-egg/80624/12 "2001-09-10T09:46:27Z")
BTW, the balut I’ve tried has always been baby ducks, not chickens.
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### Author:  [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2001, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-networks-1000-year-old-egg/80624/13 "2001-09-10T09:51:03Z")
Try it, you’ll like it. I mean the 1000 year old eggs (the incubated eggs are a different category). Really, if you can eat Brie, especially the non-pasturized stuff they serve in fine restaurants in France that have mold growing all over the skin with a STRONG smell and sits on a bed of straw, then the 1000 year old eggs are a cakewalk. I guess it’s what you’re used to.
My parents ate these when they came out for a visit, and we’re talking some pretty hardcore meat and potato kinda people.
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### Author:  [@Cougarfang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cougarfang)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2001, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-networks-1000-year-old-egg/80624/14 "2001-09-10T09:58:39Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by China Guy \*
> \*\*It’s a Chinese thing. Pretty tasty. Usually served as an appetizer or to accompany rice porrige (zhou) or stir fried with doufu. \*\*
hit the nail right on the head, **China Guy**. my parents like to eat these things… they look like green mushy things in the middle of jello obsidian. i’ve never eaten them, and i never want to. in chinese (well, the way everyone i know refers to them) they’re “Ma Pi eggs”, which i think translate as “horse skin eggs”. i saw a recipe on how to make them before somewhere… apparently, they used to be made by digging a hole, putting the eggs in, and covering them with horse crap. THAT is one of the main reasons why i don’t eat them. what if they still make 'em that way… _bleargh_