Chili Pickled Eggs

I don’t know what spurred on this new obsession PolyVector and I have with pickling. It might have been an episode of “Good Eats” on the Food Network one night. But ever since we have decided our new quest is to find our own version of the perfect pickled egg.

Pickled eggs have gotten a bad rap (did I use the right “rap”), you always see them in bars or imagine these rubbery little slimy eggs. Let me be the first to say, if you like pickles and you like hard boiled eggs, than this is a snack you should give a chance.

Our first attempt at pickled eggs wasn’t an awful one, but we didn’t feel it was one to share. The eggs had an over powering balsamic vinegar taste. Not bad, but it was just too sweet for our tastes. There were other things in there that we thought would contribute to the brine, but all in all it wasn’t what we expected. MegaNice9 was kind enough to give an egg a try and she expressed a like despite our own disappointment with the batch. This time around we think we have a winner.

Chili Pickled Eggs (working title) my friends. We love hard boiled eggs and we make them whenever we feel we aren’t going to make it through a dozen eggs. So we wanted to come up with an alternative snack for this. In comes this recipe.

• 1 dz. hard boiled eggs
• 2 c. filtered water
• 2 c. distilled white vinegar (5% acidity)
• 2 tbsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. cumin
• 2 tbsp. cayenne pepper
• 12 dried small chili peppers

Now, this recipe is still pickling in our fridge at the moment, so it is kind of untested. You should let the eggs sit in there for at least three days. We just made this batch yesterday morning.

I can’t wait to give ‘em a go. Happy pickling!

Update (4/20/2008): We tried our first egg tonight and made some adjustments to the recipe. The brine was not salty enough and there wasn’t enough of a kick. So we added another tablespoon of salt and cayenne pepper. This batch is looking really good and so we will continue our quest to perfecting these spicy little guys.