Immature Chicken Eggs by Marketman

Embryonic. Unlaid. Immature. No matter what you call them, there is going to be a queasy and uncomfortable proportion of readers out there whose first reaction is going to be “eeewww”. Never mind that we eat caviar or fish roe or even bihud, immature eggs of monitor lizards, or even fry the eggs of red ants up in Ilocos… I have always noticed these immature chicken eggs for sale at the market, but since I never ate them as a kid, I wasn’t sure what to do with them. But a re-run of an Anthony Bourdain show with guest (and former NYTimes critic) Mimi Sheraton that had them dining at Sammy’s Roumanian Steak House and the immature eggs were one of Ms. Sheraton’s favorites, so I went ahead and purchased a little plastic bag filled with these immature eggs at the market this morning…

A completely natural byproduct of killing older hens for their meat, these immature eggs are locally commonly added to adobo, as an added source of protein. They come in all sizes, and start a pale yellow and as they get larger turn into an intense yellow orange. The New York Times did an article on them several years ago here, and it seems they were a childhood favorite of many who recall lives near their own henhouses/poultries. According to that article, they are incredible in homemade pasta, and I am a bit curious if they would intensify the flavor and color of yemas or leche flan… But for now, I think these are going into some adobo unless readers have some other brilliant sounding uses for them before I get a chance to cook them later today or tomorrow…