When I look at the jars of pale pickled eggs in my local supermarket I shake my head and think "no, I want pickled eggs the way they made them in that pub I used to go to way back when". So what was so different about the pickled eggs that I remember? They were brown - dark brown!
Just for amusement I did a search for pickled egg recipes on the Internet. There are lots of them. Most involve complicated mixtures of spices and weird vinegars. I believe in keeping things nice and simple so I use only two ingredients: eggs and vinegar. Here is how I made mine.
Ingredients
- Hard-boiled eggs
- English malt vinegar (e.g. Sarsons)
Preparation
- Boil the eggs well to make sure they are truly hard-boiled. I use a large pan with enough boiling water to completely cover the eggs, then boil them for 10 minutes
- Cool and shell the eggs then place them in a large pickling jar
- Pour malt vinegar over the eggs until they are completely covered
- Seal the jar and leave for at least a couple of weeks - the longer the better!
John's Notes
Bingo; these eggs look and taste just the way I remember the eggs from that pub all those years ago. The flavour is a simple combination of eggs and the lovely malty taste of real English vinegar.
You could experiment with other types of vinegar if you wish. The eggs will adopt the colour and flavour of the vinegar you choose. I prefer the flavour of good old English malt vinegar. It makes the eggs brown which is the perfect complement to English brown beer (of which I am also rather fond).
And another note: some recipes suggest that you refrigerate the eggs after pickling. I say "piff!"; pickling is a perfect way of preserving food, so you only need to put them in the refrigerator if you want them cold. But then you wouldn't put real English brown beer in the fridge would you? ... would you?
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Thanks John, I too remember pickled eggs as a pub favourite and still enjoy them. Another way I do them too is when I've finished a jar of your Hayward's pickled onions I put hard-boiled eggs into the remaining vinegar with a bit more malt vinegar if needed. Not quite the strong vinegar taste but you also get an onion flavour. My problem is the jar doesn't hold too many and I have a hard time waiting for the two weeks!!
ReplyDeleteLoreen.
What a great idea Loreen. I am going to try that with my next batch. I also eat a lot of pickled onions so there will be no shortage of "onion vinegar" to work with.
ReplyDeleteJohn.