Random Thoughts on Balut

I’ve been thinking about Balut. I think it’s time I try this Filipino delicacy. Hell, Mark already sampled it.

originally uploaded by queenkv.

I wonder if this is a good price for the half-hatched duck eggs. We found this vendor at the Fremont Farmers Market last September. Sadly, I had to catch a plane to Kansas that day…so we passed on the Balut.

This week, I stumbled on this informational blog entry on Balut aka Hot Vit Lon.

I remember eating them with my siblings, tapping on the egg shell with a spoon and then breaking the membrane underneath to sip at the flavorful liquid, which was broth like. Then we ate the solid stuff, which basically was the embryo. I don’t recall beak, bones or feathers, but they can be in there, depending on the age of the egg. We didn’t eat the hard white albumen. It was a kind of weird dare and that was it.

OK — some day I will try Balut. Maybe on my next trip home to LA…we’re thinking about doing a quick visit on President’s Day weekend. I know that falls in the middle of sweeps, but I happen to have that holiday off. Neato.

A few weeks ago, I did coffee with a San Jose reporter. We met through AAJA and he has some amazing contacts in the business. He knows reporters and anchors at my old station in Kansas and my new one in Sacramento. We chatted about news, presidential candidates and weather. We’re both happy to escape Midwest winters.

Then we moved on to my favorite topic: food. He told me he had some yummy Filipino food in Lenexa. He also discovered balut at a Vietnamese restaurant in the Kansas City area. He said it’s not on the menu and you simply to have to ask for it. He said it’s one of his favorite Filipino delicacies, along with kari kari and halo halo.

Here’s a video of Anthony Bourdain trying Hot Vit Lon in Vietnam for his show “Cook’s Tour”. He’s a little more open-minded to tasting exotic stuff. On his trip to Nambia, he tried a warthog’s anus. Seriously.

I wonder if I’d have the same reaction. Balut and/or warthog.