Chili-Pickled Eggs
Hard-boiled eggs sunk in a hot vinegar brine at home. A week later they are camp food.
- calories
- 85
- weight
- 2.2 oz
- cal / oz
- 39
- protein
- 6 g
- serves
- 12, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 20 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Snack
- Lunch
- No cook
- Cooler only
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Day hike
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Eggs, hard-boiled and peeled | 12 | |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 400 ml | |
| White wine vinegar | 400 ml | cider vinegar works the same way |
| Fresh ginger | 1/4 of a thumb-sized piece | sliced thin |
| Coriander seed | 1 tbsp | |
| Red chili | 1 | split lengthwise |
| Black peppercorns | 12 | cracked under a pan |
| Garlic | 2 cloves | roughly chopped |
Method
- At home: boil the eggs hard, cool them, and peel them. Peel under running water and you will lose fewer.
- Put the water, vinegar, ginger, coriander, chili, pepper, and garlic in a saucepan. Bring it up and hold it at a low simmer for five minutes.
- Pack the peeled eggs into a clean jar you have just rinsed with hot water. A cold jar and hot brine is how you crack glass.
- Pour the hot brine over the eggs until they are covered. Lay a cloth over the mouth and let it come down to room temperature.
- Lid it and keep it dark and cold. Wait a full day before you eat one. A week is better.
- In camp: pull eggs out with a clean fork or a spoon. Keep the rest under brine and keep the jar in the cooler.
Marinated eggs are an old trick in a lot of places, and the reason they belong on a trip is preservation, not novelty. A hard-boiled egg on its own is a two-day item in a cooler. Sitting in a strong vinegar brine, it holds for weeks, because the acid does the work a refrigerator would otherwise have to do.
Everything here happens at home. In camp there is no stove, no pot, and no water — you open a jar. The brine matters more than it looks: half vinegar keeps the pH low enough to be worth doing, and the garlic, ginger, coriander, and chili only reach the middle of the egg after a day or two, so make them well before you leave. Keep them submerged and keep them cold. Eggs that have been sitting out of the brine are the ones that go wrong.
Packing
Carry them in the jar they were made in, lid taped, upright in the cooler. For a day hike, fish out three or four the night before into a small screw-top container with a splash of the brine, and leave the big jar at home.
Variations
- Swap the chili for a spoonful of gochugaru if you want heat without the whole pod bobbing around.
- A star anise pod and a strip of orange peel in the brine sends it somewhere else entirely.
- Chop a cold one into instant noodles at dinner for protein and acid at once.
https://www.matprat.no/oppskrifter/gjester/chilimarinerte-egg