Quail Eggs and Urfa Chilies
I'll start out this blog with the most recent adventure I've had because of food. It all started when a coworker of mine informed me that he raised quails.
Have you see these things?
They're tiny, speckled, and delicious.
Honestly, the best way to eat them is to hard boil them. Trying to "crack" them is difficult because the membrane right under the shell is so tough that you need to actually either cut them with a knife or pair of scissors to avoid mangling them. That same membrane that makes cracking them a chore, makes peeling them a dream! But be sure that you are hard boiling "older" eggs. If you plop them into the water right after they've plopped out of the bird, the peeling isn't going to be nearly as wonderful as you want; that's because as time passes the inside of the egg becomes less acidic allowing the white and membrane to separate.
To hard boil the eggs, I've found that that the best method is to fill a pot with enough water to just cover the eggs (but don't add the eggs yet). Bring the water to a boil and add the eggs carefully, preferably with a slotted spoon. Allow to boil for 2-3 minutes, then drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking process. Start to peel them and serve warm. They can be eaten cold too, but there's just something tasty about them when they're warm that you lose when they're chilled. Sprinkle with a small amount of kosher salt or fleur de sel.
But if you want to get fancy, tea stain your eggs. Hard boil them for the shorter amount of time (2 minutes) and crack the shells with the back of a spoon, or your fingers, and drop them into a hot tea of the following ingredients:
Tea Stained Egg Tea
8 teaspoons of a smokey black tea (I used Prince of Wales)
2 star anise pods (I used some Chinese five spice, as I didn't have any anise)
2 tablespoons of black peppercorns (crack 'em with the back of a pan to release their flavor)
Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Add the cracked eggs, let set overnight. The following day drain, peel, enjoy.
But wait! What about the Urfa? The recipe I had found for the eggs also had a Urfa Chili dipping salt. Urfa chilies, also known as isot biber or Urfa peppers, or any combination of those four words, is a Turkish pepper sun dried, and nigh sweated until it forms a wonderfully smokey, raisiny, spicy taste. The process involves laying out the peppers to dry in the sun, but then at night they cover them to allow them to sweat and mature in flavor.
Here's the adventure part:
I am lucky enough to live in an area where there are different types of ethnic grocery stores. I first tried to find the Urfa (which is the only way I knew about it) from our local orchards who tend to have bulk spices available too). No luck, they've never even heard of it. Okay, step two, contacting middle eastern groceries. I let my fingers do the walking, and called up three of the closest stores. Through bad connections and language barriers I learned that all three probably didn't have what I sought. The fourth place I found was confident when I asked about the Urfa peppers. "Yes, we do!" Thrilled, I was ready to go. The only issue was that it was about an hour away, and on the east side of the city.
I stopped at one of the first groceries stores, no luck, but across the street was a grocery I didn't see online. I went in search of my elusive Urfa chilies. I greeted the attractive woman at the counter, and asked if she could help me find Urfa chilies. She smiled, and took me right to the shelf. She grabbed the canister and handed it to me - "ground cinnamon".
"No, no, I need Urfa chilies, peppers." "Yes, qarfa." "No, Urfa."
Now I'm beginning to think I don't know what I'm talking about, or at least the blog I found the recipe doesn't. Could urfa be qarfa? If I hadn't seen the flavor described as smokey, spicy and raisiny, I'd have just gone home and used the cinnamon I had. I even showed her my phone, which she promptly took to the owner. Thinking that she was going to steal my phone, because I don't normally let strangers walk away with my things, I followed very closely.
The owner went to the shelves as well but couldn't find the urfa peppers anywhere, because he didn't know what they were. I thanked them for their time, and went on my way.
Finally, I made it to the east side market. GPS always has you drive through the roughest parts of town. I went to their spice section and looked up and down for the peppers I needed. No luck. I asked the clerk, hoping that one would be the guy who confidently told me that they had the urfa peppers; both looked very confused about what I was asking. I was led back to the spice aisle and directed to the - wait for it - crushed red pepper flakes. Well, at least we're in the right family now - a pepper instead of tree bark. I tried to further explain that it was a Turkish spice, and was shown the Turkish section - a small shelf at the end of the aisle. No urfa. But I see a word I recognized in my quest: biber.
For fear of misspelling the word and having my search history contain a search for Bieber, I didn't think to look up that word. But I was desperate and checked out what it meant. Biber = pepper. Okay, but what is Isot Biber? Isot biber AKA Urfa biber. I've found it! Finally.
The pepper flakes are exactly as advertised: smokey, raisiny, with a bit of slow heat on the back end.
Urfa Dipping Salt
Kosher salt
Urfa pepper flakes
Curry powder
Mix to a ratio that works for you. Dip those eggs in it and enjoy. And with all that extra salt you're likely to have remaining, sprinkle it on your morning eggs for a wonderful thing to wake up to.
Now I have my tea stained eggs, and dipping salt, I can complete my charcuterie platter.
Have you see these things?
 |
| Quail Eggs |
They're tiny, speckled, and delicious.
 |
| Hard Boiled Quail Egg |
Honestly, the best way to eat them is to hard boil them. Trying to "crack" them is difficult because the membrane right under the shell is so tough that you need to actually either cut them with a knife or pair of scissors to avoid mangling them. That same membrane that makes cracking them a chore, makes peeling them a dream! But be sure that you are hard boiling "older" eggs. If you plop them into the water right after they've plopped out of the bird, the peeling isn't going to be nearly as wonderful as you want; that's because as time passes the inside of the egg becomes less acidic allowing the white and membrane to separate.
To hard boil the eggs, I've found that that the best method is to fill a pot with enough water to just cover the eggs (but don't add the eggs yet). Bring the water to a boil and add the eggs carefully, preferably with a slotted spoon. Allow to boil for 2-3 minutes, then drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking process. Start to peel them and serve warm. They can be eaten cold too, but there's just something tasty about them when they're warm that you lose when they're chilled. Sprinkle with a small amount of kosher salt or fleur de sel.
But if you want to get fancy, tea stain your eggs. Hard boil them for the shorter amount of time (2 minutes) and crack the shells with the back of a spoon, or your fingers, and drop them into a hot tea of the following ingredients:
Tea Stained Egg Tea
8 teaspoons of a smokey black tea (I used Prince of Wales)
2 star anise pods (I used some Chinese five spice, as I didn't have any anise)
2 tablespoons of black peppercorns (crack 'em with the back of a pan to release their flavor)
Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Add the cracked eggs, let set overnight. The following day drain, peel, enjoy.
But wait! What about the Urfa? The recipe I had found for the eggs also had a Urfa Chili dipping salt. Urfa chilies, also known as isot biber or Urfa peppers, or any combination of those four words, is a Turkish pepper sun dried, and nigh sweated until it forms a wonderfully smokey, raisiny, spicy taste. The process involves laying out the peppers to dry in the sun, but then at night they cover them to allow them to sweat and mature in flavor.
Here's the adventure part:
I am lucky enough to live in an area where there are different types of ethnic grocery stores. I first tried to find the Urfa (which is the only way I knew about it) from our local orchards who tend to have bulk spices available too). No luck, they've never even heard of it. Okay, step two, contacting middle eastern groceries. I let my fingers do the walking, and called up three of the closest stores. Through bad connections and language barriers I learned that all three probably didn't have what I sought. The fourth place I found was confident when I asked about the Urfa peppers. "Yes, we do!" Thrilled, I was ready to go. The only issue was that it was about an hour away, and on the east side of the city.
I stopped at one of the first groceries stores, no luck, but across the street was a grocery I didn't see online. I went in search of my elusive Urfa chilies. I greeted the attractive woman at the counter, and asked if she could help me find Urfa chilies. She smiled, and took me right to the shelf. She grabbed the canister and handed it to me - "ground cinnamon".
"No, no, I need Urfa chilies, peppers." "Yes, qarfa." "No, Urfa."
Now I'm beginning to think I don't know what I'm talking about, or at least the blog I found the recipe doesn't. Could urfa be qarfa? If I hadn't seen the flavor described as smokey, spicy and raisiny, I'd have just gone home and used the cinnamon I had. I even showed her my phone, which she promptly took to the owner. Thinking that she was going to steal my phone, because I don't normally let strangers walk away with my things, I followed very closely.
The owner went to the shelves as well but couldn't find the urfa peppers anywhere, because he didn't know what they were. I thanked them for their time, and went on my way.
Finally, I made it to the east side market. GPS always has you drive through the roughest parts of town. I went to their spice section and looked up and down for the peppers I needed. No luck. I asked the clerk, hoping that one would be the guy who confidently told me that they had the urfa peppers; both looked very confused about what I was asking. I was led back to the spice aisle and directed to the - wait for it - crushed red pepper flakes. Well, at least we're in the right family now - a pepper instead of tree bark. I tried to further explain that it was a Turkish spice, and was shown the Turkish section - a small shelf at the end of the aisle. No urfa. But I see a word I recognized in my quest: biber.
 |
| Isot Urfa Biber Chili Peppers |
For fear of misspelling the word and having my search history contain a search for Bieber, I didn't think to look up that word. But I was desperate and checked out what it meant. Biber = pepper. Okay, but what is Isot Biber? Isot biber AKA Urfa biber. I've found it! Finally.
The pepper flakes are exactly as advertised: smokey, raisiny, with a bit of slow heat on the back end.
Urfa Dipping Salt
Kosher salt
Urfa pepper flakes
Curry powder
Mix to a ratio that works for you. Dip those eggs in it and enjoy. And with all that extra salt you're likely to have remaining, sprinkle it on your morning eggs for a wonderful thing to wake up to.
Now I have my tea stained eggs, and dipping salt, I can complete my charcuterie platter.
 |
| Fresh Bread, Smokies, Fruit Nuts, and Tea Stained Quail Eggs |
Comments
Post a Comment