What the duck?! Or, Eggs-otic Gastronomy

The Hanoi Metropole Hotel is a gorgeous French colonial style hotel run by the Sofitel chain.  Painted all in creamy whites, it exudes old-world glamour and modern luxury so you can imagine my pleasure when we pulled up to it a few hours after departing the somewhat lacking Ha Long Bay Novotel and told, this was where we were having lunch.

The evocatively named, if slightly grammatically challenged, Spices Garden offers a beautiful lunch buffet of appetizingly presented regional delicacies.  I was especially taken with the green mango salad and the tiny bowls of personally prepared beef pho.  The young woman, Qiu Xiang (also evocatively named, as her name means Autumn Fragrance) who had been capably accompanying us and making up for the hapless Dong’s gaffes, joined us for lunch and had been seated next to me.  I imagine that it’s a real treat for a local young woman on an office girl salary to eat at the Metropole, and she was happily making her way through plate after plate of food with a great deal of gusto.  She was just starting to dig into a small bowl of something, upon which she had heaped various sprigs of fresh herbs and she noticed me watching her.  She looked at me and asked, “Have you tried this before?”

“What is it?”

Obligingly, she pushed aside the greenery in her bowl to expose what looked like a miniature brain.  “It’s a boiled duck egg, with an embryo.  Very nutritous.”

Hoping I wasn’t blanching visibly, I watched her mash it up and dig in.  Too late, I realized, I should have taken a photo, and I said as much.  Qiu Xiang offered to make up another bowl for me to photograph.  I was hesitant, as I didn’t want it to go to waste, and she even offered to eat it for me after I’d taken the picture.  Happily, I acquiesced.

Looking harmless as a boiled egg.

See what I mean about a resemblance to a boiled brain?

How it's meant to be eaten. A.k.a. all the gory bits, covered.

The condiments that are meant to go with 'Half Hatched Duck Egg'.

Getting a little hairy. I mean, feathery.

Close-up. Here, you can see the beak of the embryo.

I am certain that some of you are gagging.  Those of you who know me are probably reading with a horrified fascination and thinking, ‘No, she didn’t…!”

I will admit, I have known about people eating balut, or fertilized duck eggs for quite some time now, and I have always found the thought of it repulsive.  I mean, my reaction has always been “EWWW, NO WAY!”

According to Wikipedia, balut is eaten as street food in the Philippines and is also very common in Southeast Asian nations like Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Vietnam.  It is thought to have been introduced to these areas by Chinese traders and migrants.  Different regions prefer different condiments, but the entire contents of the egg are normally eaten, and in the Philippines, balut have recently entered into haute cuisine, even being baked into pastries.  In China, they are known as mao dan, or literally, ‘feathered egg’.

My mom’s friends, including my godmother had been watching the photography process with some interest, and had whipped out their own cameras.  My godmother mentioned that she was definitely going to show the photos of the duck egg to my godbrothers.  “Daniel is going to say, ‘Disgusting!‘”, she predicted happily.

“No kidding!” I thought to myself.

Somehow, though, the thought of my brawny, macho godbrothers being too chicken to try it, egged me on.  (No puns intended.  Yeah, right!)  Years of good-natured, competitive teasing  between us made having something to hold over them, and the thought of being able to freak them out, too tempting to pass up.

And thus, as Pavlov’s bell to a dog, as dumb as any canine, (but definitely not salivating)  in response to my godmother’s words, I found myself, much to my own chagrin, saying, “Why not?  I’m going to try it.”

A ripple of approval went through our table.  No backing down now.

I don’t like Thai basil and ginger and mint on my food and so I picked it all off, leaving me with woefully nothing to mask the taste of what was, admittedly, a disgusting looking sight. What was I thinking?

On the sidelines, Qiu Xiang continued to provide commentary about the dish.  “Some people like the yolk,and others like the egg white.  Try them with a little pepper salt.”

I took a deep breath.  Egg yolk, egg white.  I know what those are, I can do this.  Using chopsticks, I picked up the yolk and took a tiny bite.  And then, I took a bite of white.  A little stringier than normal, but okay.

Why I should never play poker.

Got my game face on.

In the end, it really wasn’t that bad.  I didn’t take more than two or three small bites, but I can say that I tried it.  And honestly, it wasn’t awful.  It looks far worse than it tastes.  In fact, it tastes like egg that has been steeped in the flavor of duck meat.  This is, of course, completely logical, and I don’t know why I was surprised at that.

As I chewed, I bit down on something that resisted my teeth and I reached in and pulled it out.  It was a tiny little bone, about the size of a fake eyelash.  Carefully, I discarded it on my plate, looked at Qiu Xiang, who was watching me intently, and gave her a big smile.