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Monday, January 11, 2010

get my groove on


O
nce again I have let my blogging fall to the way side but that is now going to change. First let me tell you that I have a calendar available and if you would be oh so kind as to purchase one I would be forever in your gratitude. Its less than 2o bucks but the joy and beauty that it brings is priceless - plus you get to have a little bit of me hanging around your house for a whole year! Buy a few and make wallpaper or use them to line the bird cage or whatever your hearts desire. I know it isnt a cookbook and believe me when I tell you that I have finally succumbed to the powers that be and I am working on one so if there is some special something that you would like to see included in this cooking tome please let me know - if I dont include things that people actually want to make then what good is it anyway?



Recently I was asked to make something that not only had I never had before I also had never even heard of and this almost sent me into a tail spin of glee and delight. Sopa de Gallina or Old Hen Soup is apparently popular in many cultures, I found out. Each culture prepares it a little different but the foundation is an old hen and the eggs that come with it, you heard that right, unlaid eggs. Rather than go to a chicken slaughter house and hope that they had what I wanted I decided to simply get the eggs separate and an old hen, or stew chicken as I have heard them called, and merge them in the pot.



I went for a Caribbean/Hispanic approach with yucca, yautia and batata rounding out the starch.



Celery, onions, garlic, carrots and red chile sauted with some collard greens, a bay leaf and the cut up hen until everything was golden and delicious - add water then this bad boy, or more correctly this old hen, simmered for about 4 hours. Tough old bird that she was, this chicken didnt fall apart that easily.



I readied a bowl to photograph and the rest was delivered to its owner. This soup had more flavor and oompf than any chicken soup I have ever had and the addition of the unlaid eggs made this one action packed bowlful.



I removed the outer membrane of the other half of these immature eggs, you can see it here.



With the membrane removed they were then salt cured because I read about something like this.



These eggs turned out great after a 24 hour salt cure, dense but ooey gooey creamy inside.




Equally good on and english muffin with butter as they are with melted cheese in a corn tortilla, I have a new friend and this friend is the unlaid egg. Anyone have any ideas on how to make these little gems into something spectacular?

26 comments:

snugs said...

I'm certain that I do not need you hanging around all year...we would get in entirely too much trouble..

Maggie said...

Mmm, are those blintzes? I'm so jealous of the unlaid eggs as well. I can't even imagine where I would find them up in the wilds of MI.

Sippity Sup said...

Those eggs blew my mind. Must have, must have! GREG

Tangled Noodle said...

I wouldn't even know where to ask for unlaid eggs! Both soup and cured eggs are awesome, especially the latter - on the English muffins, they look almost like pasteis de nata. So creamy . . .!

Fresh Local and Best said...

Wow! I've never seen unlaid eggs available at the store. I do remember my mom removing them from freshly slaughtered chicken when I was younger.

The Diva on a Diet said...

Are you kidding me ... you've already made them into something spectacular. Wow, those crazy eggs look good! And so does the soup.

Very cool about the calendar, I'm all over it. Will you autograph my copy? ;) Lastly, as for the cookbook, would love to see a bunch of mushrooms stuff as well as any and all the work you do with chilies.

teresa said...

well what do you know about that! i always learn about new things on your blog, the soup looks outstanding!

Jenn said...

Ooo...never seen unlaid eggs before. They do look tantalizing.

Angel said...

ok, ANDREW ZIMMERMAN!!!!! WTH Dog? UNLAID EGGS? Really? we didn't talk about THIS that's for sure! ;)

really? REALLY?

Anonymous said...

One of the chefs in the last Next Iron Chef competition got unlaid eggs to cook and he made egg carbonara and zabaglione custard. Such a unique ingredient, I would love to cook with these if I could ever find them. Your calendar is neat!

KennyT said...

Wow, you have your own calendar!!!! So pretty!

Those eggs, we use them in our hotpot sometimes.

T.W. Barritt at Culinary Types said...

This is fascinating - I've never seen unlaid eggs before, and the soup looks great!

Ciao Chow Linda said...

wow that's a new one on me. The eggs look really intriguing. I wonder what they'd be like if they were breaded and quickly deep-fried?

FOODalogue said...

Ah...now I see why your blog is called ChezWhat? I had to re-read the section on unlaid eggs twice, saying "what? what?" along the way. The cured eggs look fascinating though I don't know that even if I could find them, I'd go through the trouble of removing the membrane etc. but delicious looking nonetheless.

Harmony said...

That soup looks amazing! I'm very excited about the calendar.

vanillasugarblog said...

oh my gosh that sounds so good. I would totally eat that for breakfast and lunch. salt cured--you rock!

buffalodick said...

That's a new one on me! Looked pretty good, though...

Donna-FFW said...

Id like your favorite chilles rellenos recipe on your cookbook.

And a recipe for a roll in the hay..;)

Reeni said...

Congrats on your calendar! The soup is totally new to me. It looks crazy good!

chow and chatter said...

oh great soup and those eggs are interesting new to me, and fresh local and best just answered my question of where you get them!

Inspired by eRecipeCards said...

good luck on the book... truth to tell, I imagine 2/3rds of us dream the dream... Hope all works well and it is a huge success!

Nutmeg Nanny said...

Congratulations on your calendar :) I would love to have a little you hanging around all year...haha. This soup looks neat too.

Cynthia said...

Oh yeah, on a deeply rich crusty toast...

tavolini said...

whoa--how are these eggs procured? Or do I not want to know?

Soup looks good.

pTsaldari said...

Exceptional site. I felt like I had happened inside of Gourmet Magazine. It was enchanting from the rusty spoon logo all the way down. To many items to mention in this short comment. I shall return and will subscribe. Love the way your mind is wired!
Cheers, PT
You can visit me at http://ptsaldari.posterous.com

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

I've never seen an unlaid egg. How clever of you. The soup is amazing too.

Congratulations on publishing the beautiful calendar. Your cookbook sounds exciting too. You would be a welcome addition to my kitchen any day.
Sam

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