This post is on a particular food item in the Philippines, called balot (pronounced ba-loot).
My father-in-law is here visiting us right now and he hasn't quit talking about "the 17 day old duck" since he saw a man eating one at a bus stop at 2 in the morning. If you saw someone eat balot, you probably wouldn't quit talking about it either.
Balot is a duck egg. A gourmet duck egg, if you will. Inside the egg is a developing embryo. The eggs are kept warm by incubator or buried under the ground for approximately 17 days. The cooking process is basically like boiling a hard-boiled chicken egg, except the duck embryo is boiled alive.
Balot is eaten throughout SE Asia, but here in the Philippines it is eaten warm with salt or coconut vinegar. The process of eating balot is shown in the pictures below.
looks like a normal, innocent egg
the shell is tapped and the 'broth' inside is drank.
a little more of the shell is peeled away
the yolk and embryo are eaten
a little more shell is peeled..
and a little more is eaten
The entire embryo can be eaten, including feathers and the beak if they are already developed. Sounds appetizing, right?
I personally cannot attest to the taste of this local delicacy because I have yet to be put in a situation where I felt obligated to try it, but all of our friends assure us it's "masarap!" (delicious!)
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