A Beginning in Product Iteration: Curry Salted Egg Yolk

Salted egg is a traditional staple in Asian cuisine for having a rich, umami flavor from egg yolk that is accompanied by the saltiness of your curing method of choice. This delicacy has been on a recent rise with the likes of Irvin’s salted egg fish skin in Singapore along with several other variations of salted egg chips across various brands from Asia. Despite that strong affinity with the Asian population, its presence in America has been little to none with foreign makers largely being unable to meet their own domestic demand. As with anything production restricted, this leads to rampant premiums on third party sites like Amazon. All this sounded like a recipe for a good product, so I embarked on the journey of having my own take on the traditional meets contemporary craze.

The base comprised of salted egg yolk and, because tradition should always be challenged when given an opportunity, I opted for high quality chicken egg yolks (golden egg yolks provide near incomparable flavor). Then I chose the quickest method of curing by dropping the yolks in a vat of salt overnight. Afterwards, I removed the excess moisture via low temperature baking.

The result was something that tasted nearly identical to salted duck yolks. Now having the foundational component, it was time to integrate it into its medium as a seasoning. This would provide the most flexibility to both pick up on the salted egg chip craze and allow for other adaptations to any opportunities.

With this golden powder in hand, it was time to blend and balance flavors. One of the most popular salted egg chip flavors is curry so, hoping to improve upon the pairing, I stuck with that as my flavoring of choice. Though unlike my other cooking experiments, the goal was to create a product which meant embarking on the side excursion of learning what it takes to make curry from scratch. Fortunately, I had a close Indian co-worker deeply familiar with the topic that walked me through what was used and in what way. After a little trial and error, my newfound knowledge gave way to my own curry blend. The umami from the egg is fortified by notes of coconut, accented by a dull sweetness from brown sugar, spiked with tones of spice from common curry spices, and rounded out with herbs. Fully flavored yet enticingly mild, but I noticed a particular flavor lacking (as with all similar products) so I took things a little further by adding some citrus to the mix with yuzu.

The goal of this exercise was to derive a fully flavored curry salted egg seasoning, that I could apply to something like chips, and was made from the ground up using a combination of my knowledge from other products and people with some personal intuition. After a couple of iterations and adjustments, I arrived at a solution that now needs to be put through the ringer to beget scale, but after several tastings I am confident that I have familiar flavors with just a touch of unique twists that grasp beyond just appeasing to this modern sensation.

Ultimately, it looks like my first food product endeavor will be this blending of new and old in an up and coming craze that I iterated on with what I feel to be a unique personal touch to satisfy those with similar yearnings. In other words, a similar beginning to my motivations for cooking in the first place. I guess some things never change.