Enjoying the little ones

I have always loved dill pickles.  It is something that I miss very much in Japan.  I can get jars of them at Costco (which I do), but I don't think I've ever seen them in any other stores here.  I've seen gherkins and cornichon and several Russian varieties, but never dill.  This also upsets my son, who got his vinegar obsession from me.  I've never met another kid who loves sour as much as my child!

While at a small grocery store (I still won't let my son go to the crowded big grocery stores, but I've relented on the smaller stores with much smaller clientele), my son asked for quail eggs.  "What do you want to do with the quail eggs?" I asked.  He replied "pickle them!"

When I was a kid, my stepmom introduced me to pickled eggs.  Simply hard-boil some eggs and drop them into the leftover pickle juice.  Let them marinate for a few days and then enjoy!  These eggs, in my opinion, are delicious right out of the jar, or to make egg salad or tuna sandwiches.

I've tried several recipes over the years (marinating them in pickled beet juice makes beautiful pink eggs), but I keep coming back to simple dill brine.

Since pickle juice is in such short supply here (will I ever get back to Costco???), I decided to make some myself.  I happened to have a small container of dill seed from my pea patch (community garden) that I had saved.  Using a recipe from foodinjars.com, my son mixed up the brine himself.  Then we just boiled the quail eggs, peeled them, and dropped them into the brine.

I learned long ago the easiest way to peel your quail eggs.  After cooling them in an ice bath, put them in a dry bowl or pan (I typically us the pot I boiled the eggs in).  Shake them to crack the shells all over.  Then pinch the bottom where the air pocket is and the peel will come right off.  My son loves doing this!

Quail eggs are incredibly popular in Japan.  They can be found at most grocery stores.  Besides using them in sushi, the tiny eggs are also popular marinated, fried, and hardboiled (in bento boxes).  We like them so much we had a small flock of quail in the US for a while.  At 2 years old, my son thought the tiny eggs were just his size.  He loved collecting them even more than the chicken eggs.

We can't have quail here (rules of our housing), but at least these eggs are super easy to find in Japan.  And we have no problems making our own brine.  The hardest part of the whole process is waiting a few days for them to really soak up the flavors.