Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain
Speaker 1: Stuff Lauren Vogel Bomb. Here around the world, street food
Speaker 1: provides nutrition, sometimes, entertainment usually and Instagram opportunities increasingly on
Speaker 1: the go from fresh cut fruit to dirty water dogs
Speaker 1: to rhody to surf fried noodles to deep fried everything
Speaker 1: two pretzels to kebab of all kinds, but nothing is
Speaker 1: quite like ballot translating to rap into Galic and Malay,
Speaker 1: balut is a partially developed bird embryo, typically a duck
Speaker 1: that's incubated for anywhere from fourteen to twenty one days
Speaker 1: before it's boiled or steamed and eaten at around one
Speaker 1: eight eight calories each with approximately fourteen grams of protein.
Speaker 1: This delicacy is a staple at roadside markets in Southeast Asia.
Speaker 1: Although many of us around the world eat unfertilized eggs,
Speaker 1: the idea of eating one that's been fertilized and this
Speaker 1: contains and albeit very early stage developing duck inside it
Speaker 1: can seem a bit well odd, but balut is widely
Speaker 1: considered a celebrated staple in countries like Vietnam and the Philippines.
Speaker 1: It's also purported to be an aphrodisiac, though historically speaking,
Speaker 1: pretty much everything has been at some point. Seriously, my
Speaker 1: other show is a food show, and the only thing
Speaker 1: we found that's definitely not has been lettuce. But anyway, baloot.
Speaker 1: How and where did balot get its start? It all
Speaker 1: begins in China. Balut was first introduced from China to
Speaker 1: the Philippines in five where it quickly became a cheap
Speaker 1: and easy snack for laborers from their Filipino immigrants took
Speaker 1: balut with them wherever they immigrated, and it caught on
Speaker 1: in countries like Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand. In the Philippines,
Speaker 1: balut is everywhere. It's often eaten as a late night snack.
Speaker 1: Street vendors hawking the dish open as the sun goes down,
Speaker 1: and it's common to hear them shouting out balot to
Speaker 1: people walking by. The dish. Comes with some amount of controversy.
Speaker 1: It's forbidden by some religious practice is like Islam and
Speaker 1: Judaism that plays restrictions on what animals can be eaten
Speaker 1: and how they can be slaughtered. Additionally, some countries like
Speaker 1: Canada count balot as a health risk, as quote incubators
Speaker 1: are conducive to the potential growth of salmonella, though the
Speaker 1: same thing can be said about eating raw cookie dough
Speaker 1: or even eggs benedict. However, unlike most controversial foods, the
Speaker 1: stigma surrounding balot is one that should be taken with
Speaker 1: a grain of salt. We spoke via email with food
Speaker 1: and travel host and journalist Christie Hung. She's a self
Speaker 1: described Balot fan who's eaten the fertilized duck egg at
Speaker 1: home and on the side of the road in various
Speaker 1: places all over Asia. She said, I mean, the dish
Speaker 1: can be daunting to try, but every culture has their
Speaker 1: own so called weird dish that's an acquired taste. For many.
Speaker 1: Scots have haggis, Swedes have stir strumming, the Chinese have Durian,
Speaker 1: and Japanese have nato. It's an excellent point. So how
Speaker 1: does one eat balot and more importantly, what the heck
Speaker 1: does it taste like? How suggests that all you really
Speaker 1: need is a pinch of salt and a couple of herbs.
Speaker 1: Balut is prepared sort of like a hard boiled egg.
Speaker 1: The fertilized egg is cooked in boiling water for about
Speaker 1: twenty to thirty minutes and you eat it while it's
Speaker 1: still warm. If you want to consume it the typical
Speaker 1: Filipino way, you crack the shell of the egg and
Speaker 1: peel a small hole in the inner membrane, then sip
Speaker 1: the warm fluid inside. Finally season the solid goods remaining
Speaker 1: with salt and vinegar, then peel and eat. But Hang
Speaker 1: explains that there's really no right or wrong way to
Speaker 1: eat balut, and she says she knows plenty of people
Speaker 1: who eat it with chili pasteore vinegar. The only thing
Speaker 1: you really want to avoid is bellut that's too old,
Speaker 1: as in the embryo inside is too old. So it's
Speaker 1: basically a duck that she says, can taste and I
Speaker 1: quote life ruining. Hang said, if you find a proper
Speaker 1: place that prepares it, then it should taste like a moose.
Speaker 1: The ballot itself should be mild. The yolk portion should
Speaker 1: taste rich and creamy. The broth portion should taste like
Speaker 1: an extremely rich chicken or duck soup. If it's undercooked
Speaker 1: or if the ballot is too old that it can
Speaker 1: taste fishy or crunchy, that's not what you want. Incubation
Speaker 1: timing is indeed key for Ballut, and seventeen days of
Speaker 1: incubation is the sweet spot. Eggs aged just to that
Speaker 1: point should be boneless, taste like poultry, and have a
Speaker 1: smooth texture like moose. As Hang said, Ballut that age
Speaker 1: longer could have beaks, bones, and even feathers, which are
Speaker 1: all still edible, but maybe not what you're looking for.
Speaker 1: And if you're not in Southeast Asia, never fear, you
Speaker 1: don't have to travel too far to try this. Dish
Speaker 1: cities across the United States now boast any number of
Speaker 1: spots serving it. Today's episode was written by Jeremy Glass
Speaker 1: and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a production
Speaker 1: of iHeart Radio's has Tough Works. For more on this
Speaker 1: and lots of other curious topics, is that our home planet,
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