Food is a vital part of the culture in each country and reflects uniqueness from one to the others. There are some dishes that are favorite ones to some certain countries but a nightmare to the rest of the world. Balut (duck fetus) in Vietnam is a typical example.
1. What is a balut?
A boiled balut with the broken shell from the top
If this is the first time you have heard about balut, I would say it’s normal. But if you are here, so now you know!
Balut is a fertilized developing egg embryo (normally duck eggs). Depending on different preferences, it will be incubated for a period of 14 to 21 days. Then, it’s ready to be served. Let’s have a close look at the balut picture above. You can see 2 main parts in this special egg: the yellow is the yolk and the mix of black and white is the baby duck part.
2. How to cook balut eggs?
After getting incubated for 2 to 3 weeks, a balut is cooked in some different ways but the most popular one is boiling. Personally, I like to eat balut in this way of cooking as it’s simple and can keep the original taste.
The recipe is very simple. It’s just like we boil a normal egg but there are some tips you should have in mind:
- Put this special egg when the water is still cold. Otherwise, balut will be broken. Accordingly, it will lose its delicious soup and special taste.
- Water should be twice the height of the egg.
- Cook it for at least around 20 to 30 minutes since the water boiled. A soft-boiled egg is not a term for balut. It needs to be well-cooked. Otherwise, your stomach might need some medicine to save it up.
- Put some salt into the boiled water to make the balut taste better.
Well you see, it’s a piece of cake to cook balut. In fact, apart from boiling, we also stir fry balut with tamarind sauce, mix it with some gourd, or put it into a hot pot dish. All taste delicious!
3. How to eat baluts properly?
Eating an egg is not a big deal. However, to enjoy a balut “in peace”, you need to know how to do it. The Vietnamese rarely eat balut as a main course but mainly as junk food or as an ingredient for another dish such as hot pot or noodle soup. As mentioned above, boiling is the most common way that the Vietnamese cook and enjoy a balut. Therefore, I will share with you how to eat a boiled balut as a local. Like eating a normal egg, we just simply pill out the shell and enjoy it. However, as balut is a different egg which contains a baby duck inside, you should know how to eat it properly.
Actually, there are different ways to eat a boiled balut. You can firstly take off the shell, put the whole egg into a small bowl and eat it. This is how people in the North of Vietnam enjoy this special duck eggs. However, this way is a bit too much for beginners as you will see the whole duck fetus exposed in front of you. Someone also separates the duckling part and the yellow part to eat. Imagine to put the whole body of a baby duck in your mouth? If it is your first time eating balut, you should follow another way. Otherwise, you may not finish the challenge.
Below is the better way to eat a boiled balut:
- Put a balut in a small cup
- Break it from the bigger top (this step is important because if you break the other side, it’s complicated to continue eating)
- Carefully take off the broken pieces of the shell, enjoy the soup first. With me, this soup is the best part of the meal.
- Use a small spoon, scoop each spoon of balut and eat it with Vietnamese coriander (rau răm), some ginger, and a sauce made of salt, black pepper, and lemon.
- Don’t focus too much on detail, just enjoy the flavor as the other food.
If you have a chance to eat balut, don’t forget this guide. It will help you a lot to enjoy this specialty of Vietnam
4. Is a balut rich in nutrient?
Yes, it is! Balut is not only tasty but also contains rich nutrients that are good for our health.
According to some documents, a balut (duck egg) has around 14 grams of crude protein, 188 calories, and around 82 – 100 milligrams of calcium, and some vitamins. That could be the reason why my parents fed me with balut since I was a child. I love it and so do many of my friends.
However, there is around 600 mg of cholesterol in one balut. So pay attention to this! Don’t torture your stomach and your health with a lot of these special eggs at the same time.
5. Why do Vietnamese people love to eat baluts?
Baluts in Vietnam
The Vietnamese are big fans of balut as it’s very yummy. From the soup to the content inside the shell, all are delicious. Especially when we eat it with a combo of some Vietnamese coriander (rau răm), some ginger, and a sauce made of salt pepper lemon, the flavor deserves a chef kiss.
Besides, a balut contains rich nutrients and is considered to be good for health. So it’s no surprise that this is one of the delicacies of Vietnamese people.
6. Why is balut a nightmare to eat for international friends?
A balut egg’s at a close-up
When I introduced balut to my international friends, a few of them almost vomited after putting this food in their mouths. They couldn’t bite it or swallow it. With them, balut is disgusting. As a balut is a fertilized egg and gets incubated for two or three weeks, it already had the form of a baby duck underneath the shell. This look makes many foreigners scary because when they eat it, they need to bite slowly the whole duck fetus from the head to the legs, bones, beaks, feathers, and all. The whole experience is not easy for beginners at all. That’s why balut is ranked as one of the most horror dishes in the world.
However, there are still a few friends abroad who hesitated to try balut at first. But then they fell in love with it!
Balut is a favorite dish and is an integral part of the culinary culture of Vietnam and some countries in Asia. But for someone, it’s terrible, not only because how it looks but also in terms of ethical concerns. Well, it’s difficult to say that eating a balut egg is right or wrong. It’s more about culture and the way we live with it. At the end of the day, it’s your choice of what you eat.