Egg salad

Yes, I know something as mundane as egg salad so why bother posting? Well, I found the secret to really great egg salad quite a few years ago after having a surplus of hen fruit. Make it from pickled eggs. Pickled eggs last, near as I can figure, close to forever if kept refrigerated, maybe just as long in a root cellar or on a shelf at room temp'. I don't know about the last 2. We've had some pickled eggs in the refrigerator out in the shop for at least 4 years now, maybe longer. The hens are laying just enough to prevent the chopping block and no more. Today I had a hankering for egg salad and I thought about the pickled eggs. Understand, I've used pickled eggs for egg salad in the past. Anyway, I made a mess of it after removing the eggs from the pickle and allowing them to drain. IMO, delicious. My pickle contains the flavors I want in an egg salad and is vinegary tart. After making it I had a number of saltines piled high with the mix for lunch. A few had an exceedingly spare spread of Marmite on the cracker first just to test that addition. It added another level of flavor and it wasn't out of line (the B vitamins are also welcome).

My pickled egg recipe isn't exclusively for egg salad though. It's really designed for eating eggs out of hand with some salt and black pepper on them, OK, some hot sauce also. I've eaten them for a quick breakfast and as a mid day snack. But todays pickled eggs were years old and needed to move on. I used approximately 1/2 of the 1/2 gallon so I have one batch of egg salad to go. Since the eggs were so old they had split and the texture wasn't suitable for eating out of hand IMO, but fine for egg salad.

If anyone wants my pickled egg recipe let me know and I'll post it. It makes 1/2 gallon at a time (20+ eggs; of course that depends on their size). Yes, for anyone keeping track I made a pretty big batch of egg salad. I love the stuff.

Hmmmmm........ I'll have to try that

https://youtu.be/_f20pv9QBc0

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

ShadowsDad I would love the recipe if you don’t mind posting it. I enjoy egg salad, and I think the guys at my station would like the pickled eggs as well as the egg salad. Thanks!

OK, the recipe is BS for me anymore. I just use it as a general sort of recipe. The only critical thing is the vinegar dilution and to cover the eggs. It could probably be made with just the vinegar dilution but that wouldn't taste nearly as good (I'm salivating as I write this). Today I just quarter a medium to large onion pole to pole and it goes into the 1/2 gallon (wide mouth) jar first along with a few halved crosswise garlic cloves. The eggs fill up the jar and the vinegar solution fills it. Don't pack the eggs tightly. Possibly 20 eggs fills a 1/2 gallon jar (what I now use 'cause I get them for free). Just give it time to pickle before using them. I don't chop anything, I just leave things in really large pieces so that nothing gets onto the eggs and requires removal. I hope that makes sense. Too, I no longer add hot stuff. While I like heat, I now just supply hot sauce so that those who will can, enjoy it, and those who don't can dodge it. Of course salt and black pepper can be added to each bite of the egg in the hand. (still salivating)

FWIW, the ratio of vinegar/water is critical but the amount isn't as long as the eggs are covered more or less (they may float a bit). I keep a gallon of the mixed vinegar dilution on hand and use whatever the jar requires. Feel free to play with the flavorings, but other things need to not change.

Now the original recipe with my notes to myself.

Pickled Eggs

3 dozen large eggs
6 cups White Vinegar
2 cups water
2 medium to large onions, coarse chopped
5 cloves garlic, coarse chopped

1 gallon jar

Optional:
1 Beet for color
4 Ripe Scotch Bonnet Peppers, coarse chopped OR
2 generously rounded TBL crushed red pepper

Add ½ of the liquid and all coarse chopped flavorings to jar. Hardboil eggs, then shell them and add the eggs to the jar. The eggs should all easily fit in the jar and be covered by liquid. If desired a skinned, sliced beet can be added for color, the pickling juice should be much darker than the desired egg color when you remove the beet slices. If the beet is small enough removal of the beet may be unnecessary. Allow to sit at room temperature for 2-3 weeks for the pickle to fully absorb. Shelf life should be a few months, but they won’t last that long.

Add salt and pepper as desired when eaten, a good hot sauce is also good on them if the hot peppers aren’t added to the jar. I think they make the best egg salad.

4 dozen of our hens eggs makes two ½ gallon jars with a few left over.

Note: I now use 5 parts vinegar to 1 part water.

Thank You ShadowsDad, that sounds amazing! Going to throw this together tomorrow, can’t wait!

I tried to make pickled beets and eggs when I got my first place. An apartment. This was about twenty years ago. I called my mom or my dad and asked for the recipe.

I patiently waited for a week or so. Really wanted the juice to soak into the eggs. Just like they were at home when my parents made them. With the beets, the egg whites eventually turn purple.

Finally I had had enough of waiting. I opened the jar and pulled out an egg. It wasn't pickled! Why? It's been days and days and I know I followed the easy recipe.

Dad said, "do they taste pickled or look purple inside?"

I said not at all. The first one I peeled had a purple shell. Not inside though.

I remember he laughed and laughed...

Peel the eggs before you pickle them!
I was so embarrassed. So obvious. Doohhh.

I'm a big fan of egg salad. I like it with some diced onions and lots of black pepper on toasted bread. yum!

bakerbarber Your story cracked me up. Thanks for the chuckle.


I consider myself an epicurean adventurer - both in my kitchen and in restaurants. I love to try new things.

But I draw the line at egg salad. I just can't get pass the sulfurous smell.

My mother-in-law was known for her deviled eggs and egg salad. Always requested at socials and church gatherings. She was always disappointed that I never ate either.


Escargot, yep. Goose liver, yep. Steak tartare, yep. Moose, yep. But egg salad - NOPE.

Phil, There are some things that turn me off many years after having a bad experience, so what I suggest below you might want to just pass on.

It sounds like you got hold of old eggs. If you buy some really fresh eggs from someone with a shingle out at the road, and be sure to let them know you want the freshest eggs possible I'm betting they won't be sulfurous unless you're very sensitive to it. Too there are ways to cook them that will reduce that smell. To boil eggs cover with at least 1" of water. Bring them to a boil covered. Leave the cover in place, shut off the heat and allow them to sit for ten minutes. Then drain and flush with cool tap water or put them into an ice bath (ice bath for best peeling). Boiled that way there won't be any green yolk and the eggs won't be overcooked.

FWIW, the "fresh" eggs at the supermarket are, at a minimum, at least 3 weeks old and probably much older. Why do I say that? A fresh egg can't be boiled and peeled. I have yet to buy a supermarket egg that can't be easily boiled and peeled. The henfruit that our ladies give us need to sit under refrigeration for at least 5 weeks before they'll peel reliably. But even those 5 week old eggs don't have that sulfurous smell you refer to so I suspect supermarket eggs are MUCH older than that. Yet every carton I see states that they are fresh eggs. What a lie!