Pickled Eggs
Dorothy Hartley, writing in Food In England, offers this unattributed quotation about pickled eggs, dating to 1700:
“When eggs are plentiful, farmers wives’ take four or six dozen newly laid, and boil them hard; then, taking off the shells, they place them in earthenware jars and pour upon them scalding vinegar well seasoned with pepper, allspice, ginger, and garlic. The eggs are fit to use after a month.”
Food in England, p 345
When eggs became available year-round, pickling them moved from culinary necessity to what early English food writer Gervase Markham would call a “food adjunct” or “adnoration.”
To this end, pickling eggs has survived to the present day in England. For some reason it hasn’t quite made the leap to America. I’ve no idea why, but then again, the older I get, the less I understand.
This is not my maiden attempt at pickled eggs. I made a batch in February 2024 and vowed to repeat the effort. Then my husband got sick, Avian flu decimated the American poultry industry, and, for comic relief, I lost my recipe notes. If there were any to begin with.
Losing recipe notes about pickled eggs meant diving into my collection of older English cookbooks. By “older” think those published pre-internet. Small print. No photographs. Erudite, informed writing. And numerous recipes for pickled eggs.
Into the kitchen.
A few considerations when pickling eggs:
The egg storage vessel must be vinegar safe. I used a glass jar that seals with a rubber flange. Glass canning jars with two piece lids are fine, too. These are common in the US, sold under Kilner or Ball brand names. Many people save empty jam or pickle jars. These are fine, too, provided the lid is vinegar proof.
The rubberized flanges are only usable once, so I buy extras from the hardware store.
Americans refrigerate their eggs. The English do not. Eggs in the UK are sold with a “cuticle” on the shell, which this protects the egg from spoilage. In the US, this cuticle is washed off before eggs are sold, so they must be refrigerated. Granted, pickled eggs are soaking in vinegar, which is a preservative. But best not to mess around: if you are in the United States, please refrigerate your pickle.
Many older English pickling recipes call for malt vinegar. If you like the taste of malt vinegar, go ahead and use it. I find it overpowering. The same goes for distilled white vinegar. My preference is white wine vinegar, which isn’t as harsh. Whatever you choose, make sure it’s 5% acidity. It will say so on the label.
Pickling mixtures are hard to mess up, provided you don’t overdo it. One tablespoon, or fifteen grams each of your chosen seasonings to 2 pints vinegar is plenty, unless you’re using an especially potent spice, in which case use less. This is not the place for six tablespoons of cayenne pepper.
Now is not the time for softly boiled eggs with tender centers. Go against everything you learned from Alice Waters: they’re called hard boiled for a reason.
I consulted six pickled egg recipes. Three said to pour boiling hot vinegar over the eggs. Three said to wait until the vinegar cooled. I waited, but if time doesn’t permit, don’t wait.
If you see more pickled eggs in your culinary future, consider writing down or otherwise noting what you did so you can replicate the recipe. Or not.
Florence White, author and editor of Good Things in England, had this to say of pickled of eggs:
“These are delicious with salads or cold meat.”
Good Things in England, p. 96.
She’s right. Pickled eggs also make nice snacking food. They travel well, hold up during power outages, and make good picnic fare, should you like eat outdoors. Finally, my English cookbooks all say pickled eggs keep indefinitely. I see no reason to test this last assertion.
Pickled Eggs
Yield: This recipe yields enough vinegar to pickle 8-12 large eggs.
Preparation time: about one hour. The eggs may be consumed immediately, but improve if allowed to mature in the refrigerator for ten days.
You will need a glass canning jar with a two piece lid, a glass jar with a rubber flange, or a food-safe jar with a screw top lid that won’t be corroded by contact with vinegar. My jar holds 6.5 cups, or 1.5 liters.
Please read notes, below, before cooking.
The recipe is written so the pickling vinegar is prepared first, then allowed to cool while the eggs are hard boiled. If you prefer to add the vinegar to the eggs while it’s still hot, reverse the preparation order. That is, sterilize the jar, prepare the eggs, then boil the pickling vinegar and pour it over the eggs while it’s still hot. Allow the eggs to cool completely before screwing the lid down or latching the lid tightly. Once the eggs and vinegar are cool, screw down the lid or latch it, and refrigerate the pickle.
8-12 large eggs, ideally organic
2 pints/4 cups/1 liter white wine vinegar, 5% acidity
1 teaspoon green cardamom seeds, lightly cracked
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 scant tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
1 dried red pepper pod
1 bay leaf
1-4 small garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
Sterilize jar: If you have a dishwasher, use that. I do not, and sterilize jars by washing them in hot soapy water, rinsing them well, and drying them in a low oven.
Prepare the vinegar:
In a nonreactive pot–that is, either nonstick or stainless steel–add the vinegar, cardamom, peppercorns, coriander, mustard seeds, dried red pepper, bay leaf, and garlic. Bring the vinegar to a lively simmer and cook for 5-8 minutes. Then turn off the heat and allow the vinegar to cool.
Hard boil the eggs:
Place the eggs in a pot just large enough to hold them. Add cold water to cover. Bring water to a rolling boil.
Once the water is at a rolling boil, boil eggs for ten minutes.
If you have ice to hand, plunge eggs into a bowl of icewater. Leave eggs to cool.
No ice? place eggs in a bowl. If you have ice packs, wrap them around the bottom of the bowl. If not, not. Either way, run cold water over the eggs to cool them. Leave eggs in the cool water.
Crack eggshells against the sink or counter and peel. I am terrible at shelling eggs; my best advice is to pickle eggs that are at least a week old. Freshly laid eggs, a pleasure otherwise, are hellishly difficult to peel.
Drop peeled eggs into the jar as you go. Once all the eggs are peeled, add the vinegar. A funnel is helpful here.
Once the pickled eggs are cool, screw on the lid or add rubberized flange to jar lid, if necessary, and clamp it down. It’s helpful to label the jar with the date you prepared the pickle.
Pickled eggs may be eaten immediately, but improve if allowed to mature, refrigerated, for ten days. My cookbooks tell me they keep indefinitely.
Pickled eggs make nice snacks. They’re also excellent with salads, cheese, and cold cuts.
Notes:
Malt vinegar, distilled white vinegar, and cider vinegar may be used instead of white wine vinegar to pickle eggs. So long as your vinegar of choice has 5% acidity or above, it is safe to use.
Feel free to alter the seasonings in your pickle. Try adding chopped shallots, white peppercorns, a few blades of mace, fresh ginger, or a few thyme sprigs. A tablespoon to every two pints vinegar is a useful formula to keep in mind.
Salt appears in only one egg pickling recipe: Lucy H. Yates’ The Country Housewife’s Book. Published in 1934, both book and recipe are very much of their time, offering advice for coping with gluts of game birds, fresh milk, and eggs. Yates’ pickling recipe is rather vague, suggesting one “procure a number of fresh eggs” and pickle them in a quart of “brown vinegar.” To this you add a half ounce of “rough salt.” Doubtless readers of the era understood Yates’ instructions. Today The Country Housewife’s Book is best appreciated as a document of the era rather than a guide to ours.
Other books consulted include Elizabeth David’s Spices, Salts, and Aromatics in The English Kitchen, Jane Grigson’s English Food, Dorothy Hartley’s Food in England, Sara Paston-Williams’ The National Trust Book of the Country Kitchen Store Cupboard, and Florence H. White’s Good Things in England.
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