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Home » Charcuterie » Salt Cured Egg Yolk

Salt Cured Egg Yolk

By Hank Shaw on May 9, 2014, Updated June 18, 2020 - 126 Comments

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5 from 15 votes
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A finished salt cured egg yolk
Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Egg yolks are one of the most magical of foods. Chefs all over the world wax poetic about them, but it’s hard to understand why when all you might be exposed to are the wan, watery, factory-farmed yolks you see in most supermarkets. A golden treasure they are not.

You can only understand the joy — lust, even — over an egg when you finally see (and taste) a real egg, eggs from chickens raised on grass and bugs and whatever else it is that a hen loves to nibble throughout the day.

Before I’d encountered such eggs, when I saw pictures of Italian egg pasta, I thought they were retouched: Their pasta is always bright yellow. As much as I tried, I found it impossible to duplicate with eggs from the supermarket. I talked to Italian pasta makers and they said you need yolks of a truly golden, almost orange, hue. That’s what gives you that pretty color.

I came into possession of such eggs from my friend Teala’s father, who raises ducks and geese in my neighborhood. It’s what I prefer to use for my pasta, and, just like the Italian pasta pictures I swooned over, the photos on this post are not retouched. This is precisely how yellow they actually are.

Not too long ago, Teala’s dad gave me two goose eggs along with the duck eggs. I was amazed at their size. I cracked one open and made an entire batch of pasta with that one egg. I was shocked at how orange the yolk was — brighter even than the duck eggs.

I wanted to capture that color, that richness. I’d known about salt cured egg yolk for a few years; my friends, Chefs Brad Cecchi and Oliver Ridgeway at Grange in downtown Sacramento had first clued me into it. Basically you bury egg yolks in salt, then dry them out until they are like a very hard cheese. This is exactly how you use them — as a golden, eggy, über rich substitute for grated cheese over pasta or rice.

Brad and Oliver never explained to me exactly how to do this, but fortunately Chef Jeffrey Weiss does in his remarkable book Charcutería: The Soul of Spain. You will be seeing a lot of this book in the months to come. I am mildly obsessed with it and have already made a half-dozen or so of its recipes, ranging from salami to sausages to cured fish and now, here, salt cured egg yolks.

If you’ve never cured anything in your life, this would be a good place to start. It’s really easy and comes together in about 2 weeks. And once you’ve made the cured yolks, you can use them over pasta for months.

What else can you do with cured egg yolk? Not sure. I eat a lot of pasta. What would you suggest?

pasta with salt cured egg yolk
Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Grate your egg yolks over any of these pasta recipes.

Salt cured egg yolk
Print Recipe
5 from 15 votes

Salt Cured Egg Yolk

You will want to use the best quality eggs you can possibly find for this -- the reason is the color of the yolks. Most factory farmed eggs have pale yolks that tend to be watery. You want that golden hue. Size also matters, too, which is why I use duck and goose eggs instead of chicken eggs. Larger egg yolks are easier to hold and they last longer as you grate them over time. But there's no reason not to use a chicken egg if that's all you have. My suggestion for the leftover egg whites is to use them to make pasta, which is what I did in the picture above.
Prep Time15 mins
Total Time15 mins
Course: Condiment
Cuisine: American
Author: Hank Shaw

Ingredients

  • Egg yolks
  • Salt
  • Cheesecloth

Instructions

  • Get yourself two containers: One for the whites, so you can do something with them later, and one to cure the yolks. You will need to lay down a half-inch layer of kosher salt in the bottom of your curing container; you can go a little deeper if you want. Make little depressions in the salt to hold the egg yolks.
  • Crack the eggs and separate them. Gently lay the yolk in one of the depressions and repeat until you have all your eggs in the container. Now bury them in more salt.
  • Keep the yolks buried in the salt for a week in the refrigerator. Take them out -- the yolks will be firm and a little tacky still -- and carefully brush off the salt. You might need to remove the salt with a damp paper towel.
  • Wrap the yolks loosely in cheesecloth and hang them in the fridge until they are dry, about 7 to 14 days. Store in the cheesecloth in a closed container in the fridge.

Notes

Prep time does not include curing time. Once made, these cured egg yolks will keep indefinitely in the fridge. 
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Filed Under: Charcuterie, Culinary Experiments, Featured, How-To (DIY stuff), Recipe

Avatar for Hank Shaw

Hank Shaw

Hey there. Welcome to Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, the internet's largest source of recipes and know-how for wild foods. I am a chef, author, and yes, hunter, angler, gardener, forager and cook. Follow me on Instagram and on Facebook.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Avatar for TomTom says

    March 30, 2018 at 1:47 am

    Thanks, this is great! Most other recipes seem to call for sugar but that seemed unnecessary to me, and sure enough, here we are without. Just picked up some duck eggs from a nearby farm and will get this started before the busyness of the weekend!

    Reply
  2. Avatar for TimTim says

    March 6, 2018 at 10:06 am

    Do the yolks need to be hung individually wrapped in the cheesecloth or can a bunch of them be all wrapped up together, touching each other in the same bundle?

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      March 6, 2018 at 11:00 am

      Tim: They need to be separate.

      Reply
  3. Avatar for Joyce WebbJoyce Webb says

    February 26, 2018 at 8:46 am

    I can’t wait to try this! I will use the leftover salt for salting my walk. That’s all I use anyway.

    Reply
  4. Avatar for RyanRyan says

    February 10, 2018 at 12:36 am

    I am one week into the initial cure and my yokes are not firm. I noted the salt was wettish which was good, but then I though maybe I should have left the container uncovered to let the removed moisture escape. Should the curing container be covered or uncovered?

    Reply
  5. Avatar for ScottScott says

    February 9, 2018 at 12:08 pm

    It sounds very interesting! A question I had was could you combine more than one yolk together into the salt and then into the cheesecloth? Or do they have to be separate? Also, should it be in one layer of cheesecloth or several?

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      February 9, 2018 at 1:28 pm

      Scott: One yolk. If you break them they won’t hold shape. Several layers of cloth.

      Reply
  6. Avatar for AshleyAshley says

    February 9, 2018 at 11:56 am

    So neat! Any use for the salt after that? Would hate to waste it…

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      February 9, 2018 at 1:28 pm

      Ashley: I toss it or use it for more eggs.

      Reply
  7. Avatar for FaithFaith says

    February 6, 2018 at 5:54 am

    Salted eggs have strong roots in Cantonese cuisine, and in recent years they’ve found their way into pastry – mixed up into a custard and put in buns or croissants!

    Reply
  8. Avatar for BrianBrian says

    January 25, 2018 at 9:26 am

    I also finish mine in the smoker. So tasty!

    Reply
  9. Avatar for BrianBrian says

    January 25, 2018 at 9:24 am

    I slice mine very thin and eat with cheese, meat, and crackers. Delicious!

    Reply
  10. Avatar for Phoebe JonesPhoebe Jones says

    September 17, 2017 at 6:24 pm

    If you freeze your eggs , and partially defrost them, get rid of the white, leave the yoke semi froze, make it much easier to handle.

    Reply
  11. Avatar for BeccaBecca says

    August 24, 2017 at 8:40 am

    Thank you! Good to know the salt is a feature, not a bug.

    Reply
  12. Avatar for BeccaBecca says

    August 23, 2017 at 2:35 pm

    Hey! I tried this about a year ago with some chicken eggs (good ones though- my neighbor raises them!) and it didn’t totally work out for me. I had a really hard time getting the salt off when the yolks were still at the tacky stage, and then once they’d dried it was impossible (duh) and too salty. Also, I wasn’t totally sure when I should declare them dry.

    Anyways, I now have ducks (!) that are going to start laying in the fall, and I was thinking about trying this again. Any thoughts?

    PS: “I dunno, this is kinda foolproof?” would be a perfectly charitable answer. I have a tendency to struggle with things that are supposed to be dead-simple :D.

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      August 23, 2017 at 2:44 pm

      Becca: You only brush off most of the salt, not all. And they are supposed to be super salty — they’re a condiment, shaved onto things, after all. If the yolks are still too tacky when you check them, keep them buries another day. And you declare them dry when you can pick one up and shave it. It will continue to dry as time goes on.

      Reply
  13. Avatar for SarahSarah says

    August 5, 2017 at 4:30 am

    Hi. Do you know if these could be vacuum
    Sealed to make shelf stable?

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      August 6, 2017 at 10:05 am

      Sarah: They are pretty stable as-is. I’ve kept them in a plastic container in the fridge for more than a year.

      Reply
  14. Avatar for AmandaAmanda says

    July 13, 2017 at 2:15 pm

    I just put my first batch of these in the fridge and am very excited to see how they turn out. What do you do with all your left over salt, cure more yolks?

    Reply
  15. Avatar for AndrewAndrew says

    July 8, 2017 at 11:13 am

    How long could a cured yolk keep at room temperature or above? Interested to take one on a 6 day backpacking trip to liven up backcountry meals. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      July 8, 2017 at 11:21 am

      Andrew: Once it’s done, you’ll be fine. These things are so salty not much can hurt them.

      Reply
  16. Avatar for CarolynCarolyn says

    July 8, 2017 at 9:07 am

    I love to shave these over a salad or into soup. Delicious!

    Reply
  17. Avatar for YeccaYecca says

    July 5, 2017 at 9:17 am

    What happens if I accidentally left it out the first day? It was a fresh duck egg that was already sitting on the counter since they weren’t washed. I think it’s okay, but do you think the curing time will be shorter since it was at room temp?

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      July 5, 2017 at 9:22 am

      Yecca: You should be fine.

      Reply
  18. Avatar for D. DavisD. Davis says

    May 17, 2017 at 8:33 am

    Could the yolk be cold smoked between the cure and dry?

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      May 17, 2017 at 8:37 am

      D.Davis: No. Too gooey. But it could be smoked maybe 3/4 of the way through drying. Good idea!

      Reply
  19. Avatar for GarryGarry says

    May 6, 2017 at 5:26 pm

    I love watching people’s faces when they rave about how delicious my “jumbo” eggs are and I point out they come from my ducks. Course, my pan fried venison cube steaks raise a few eyebrows too. Thx for the salted yolk recipe.will try this week

    Reply
  20. Avatar for Lynn Elliott ViningLynn Elliott Vining says

    April 13, 2017 at 1:44 pm

    I have made the salt cured egg yolks several times now! The process of removing the yolk from the salt is like opening Christmas presents to me! Fantastic and wonderful step by step! Thanks Hank!

    Reply
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Hi, my name is Hank Shaw. I am a James Beard Award-winning author and chef and I focus all my energies on wild foods: Foraging, fishing, hunting. I write cookbooks as well as this website, and do a podcast, too. If it’s wild game, fish, or edible wild plants and mushrooms, you’ll find it here. Hope you enjoy the site!

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