Telur Asin

More food today. I present to you the final contents of my refrigerator, Telur Asin, which translates to Eggs Salty.

Telur asin is a very traditional Indonesian dish, made from duck (bebek) eggs. They have this gorgeous bluey green color and as the name suggests, they are extremely salty. They are a cross between a food and a salty condiment. You take an occasional nibble while eating other foods, to add salt flavor. Personally, I prefer to dip in chillied up kecap manis, which is the Indonesian version of a thick, sweet soy sauce with chopped chillies mashed into it, and take big bites.

Telur asin is processed on large duck farms. The freshly laid egg is rolled in a charcoal and salt slurry and stored for up to three weeks. The eggs are then washed, boiled and stamped as genuine telur asin and distributed. Some of the eggs go to market with just the salt/charcoal coating in tact, for the more discerning traditionalist customer.

When I first arrived in Indonesia, it was not long before I was introduced to these curious orbs. It was tedious to peel the shell and kind of sticky underneath. My host took the egg from me and skillfully peeled it on my behalf, a much better idea, men like to appear helpless and give women the illusion of power, it certainly helps to get your eggs pealed.

I sliced the rather tattered and torn looking sphere in half. The mere sight of the mottled blue/green mess of a yolk had me looking around for the emergency bucket. I am not talking subtle hues here, more a well fermented, runny camembert from the Monty Python cheese sketch. I do like to broaden my palate with new experiences, especially after my rather picky youth (I still hate cabbage to this day), so I had a bite. Of course it would have spoiled the surprise and entertainment if they had actually warned me that I might find the dish a tad salty. I managed to contain the briny mess within the confines of my gums and not embarrass myself further, but the remainder of the duck upchuck was pemanently parked on the perimeter of my plate.

It seems that over the years, the salty egg has been dumbed down, as you see from the blipped image, not a hint of Norwegian blue, in fact, it looks quite normal, even edible. Actually very disappointing on two counts. Firstly I was hoping for something a bit more graphic for you, the blipping community. Secondly, I was hungry and had a hankering for something that would rip my taste buds out, which the above mildly salty eggs failed to do. Ah well, we all know that planned blipping does not always go to plan, it is often more productive to load your weapon of choice, get out there and hunt something down. Still, now you all know what a salty egg is, if you managed to read this far.

Dave