Hope Cured Egg Yolks

When someone sees little dried apricot looking gems being grated on a microplane, you get a lot of head turns and perplexed looks. Questions like, “is that cheese?” are common place. The answer is “no”. Not long ago what they are seeing was a raw egg yolk. They have been packed in a mixture of salt, sugar, spent grains and hops for 48 hours, rinsed and air dried for 2 weeks. Then they are ready to make people go, “huh”. From there to give more looks of bewilderment we can age these for periods of time that will at stages coax out flavors from cheese to jerky to bonito fish flake, all from a humble little egg yolk.

  • Spent Grain – (1 Cup)
  • Salt – (2 Cup)
  • Sugar – (2 Cup)
  • Hop pellets – (2 Tablespoon)
  • Eggs – (12 Each)
  1. Dry out spent grains completely in a dehydrator or a 150°F oven
  2. Grind together salt, sugar, spent grains and hops
  3. Place approximately half of the cure mixture in the bottom of a shallow container and shake flat
  4. Using the back of a spoon, make 12 “nests” in the cure mixture
  5. Carefully separate egg yolks from whites and place the yolks into the individual “nests”
  6. Sprinkle the remaining cure mixture over yolks. Allow the yolks to cure, covered, for at least 48 hours at “cellar temperature” (55°F)
  7. After two days remove yolks from the cure mixture, rinse thoroughly and pat dry
  8. Place yolks on a wire rack and air dry at “cellar temperature” for 10 days
  9. After 10 days, place yolks in the refrigerator and dry for another 15 days, uncovered
  10. Place in airtight container and age for up to an additional 6 months