The Pursuit of Balut by Laura Ambrey
The Pursuit of Balut
By Laura Ambrey
Before traveling to the Philippines I lived in a happy world that knew nothing of balut. My husband, Matt, knew otherwise from watching an episode of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel - and not surprisingly he was determined to give it a try, anxious to add it to the fried cockroaches, dinuguan (pork blood stew) and fermented camel’s milk he already had under his belt.
The simplest way to describe balut is as a hard-boiled duck egg. But it’s much more than that – there’s also a developed beak, veins and tiny little feathers packed into that shell. To go into more detail, it is actually a half-formed duck fetus that has been incubated for about 18 days before it is boiled or steamed and sold as the Filipino delicacy where it is claimed to have aphrodisiac qualities, improve virility in men and no doubt is a good source of protein. It is also commonly eaten in Cambodia and Vietnam.This dish is typically sold at night by street vendors and is often paired with beer. However, we were unaware of this when we set out to find it after arriving in Manila. Around lunchtime we hailed a taxi and found a driver who spoke a little English and understood, with amusement, what we wanted to do. He brought us to a market on the outskirts of Manila and took us right to the balut stand. We bought three pieces, one for each of us, even though I had made it clear that there was no way I would be putting it anywhere near my face.
Matt was about to crack his egg open and chow down when the taxi driver stopped him and told him that it still needed to be cooked.
"But we don't have a kitchen," Matt replied.
"Oh no," the guide laughed, "no problem, come with me. I have kitchen!"
"Great," we said, and we were off to our driver's home to learn how to prepare and eat balut.
We arrived at the driver’s house after winding through a maze of drying laundry, stray cats and shoeless kiddies. He boiled some water on the stove and placed the eggs in the pot, after which he set a timer for 20 minutes. In the mean time, we learned a little about our driver and his family, and even met his newborn niece, but mostly we fielded questions like: “How do you know about balut”, “Why do you want to try it?” and, “You don’t have balut in America?”
Finally, the anticipated egg was cooked, and after a detailed showing of the correct way to crack the shell, suck out the juice (which I later learned was embryonic fluid) and sprinkle on the salt, Matt and the driver each popped the embryo/egg into their mouths in one piece. While Matt struggled in figuring out how to chew the whole thing at once, the driver was at total ease, as could have been expected.
After the final swallow, I asked Matt what he thought of it and his answer was surprisingly positive, “It’s pretty good if you don’t look at it, it kind of tastes like a chicken-flavored-hard-boiled-egg.”
This made me ask our driver an apparently stupid question: “Why is balut made from duck eggs and not chicken?”
“Because chicken eggs are not delicious,” our taxi driver friend answered.
“Duh,” Matt said.
Laura is a teacher, traveler, writer and wife, who is currently living and teaching English in Surabaya, Indonesia.
Laura’s travel tips: Manila has two international airports, Ninoy Aquino and Diosdad Macapagal. Insist on using a metered taxi and you can expect to save half the Pesos you would spend on an airport taxi. Tell the taxi to head to Roxas Boulevard or the Ermita and Malate neighborhoods to find accommodation. Don't be put off by the gun drop boxes and armed guards you will see, this is standard in Manila and does not necessarily mean you're in the bad part of town. For dinner, hit the streets - Filipino street food is everywhere, as a general tip - eat where the locals are eating and avoid being any stall's first patron. There is a lot of poverty in Manila, consider getting your left-overs to go and giving it to the first hungry child you see. Check out this website for more information and list of places not to miss: http://wikitravel.org/en/Manila.