Salt-cured egg yolks are incredibly simple to make and a great way to use up leftovers when you’ve used the whites in another dish. They are intensely savoury, umami-rich and a vibrant, golden colour, much like bottarga, or Italian-style cured fish roe. Once dried, they take on a firm, grateable consistency, and are ideal for giving dishes a final punch of flavour – I often use them instead of cheese: try grating over pasta, risotto or steamed greens.
Salt-cured egg yolks
Salt-cured egg yolks are a fine project that I’ve been meaning to take on for a while. These golden orbs of deliciousness add an incredible burst of flavour to any dish that could benefit from a whack of umami. Grate over buttery pasta, risotto, sushi maki rolls or steamed greens for an extra hit of depth. I recently enjoyed mine over purple sprouting broccoli, where it melted into the warm florets like a golden seasoning, adding both colour and loads of flavour. The salting draws out moisture, so preserving the yolks and intensifying their taste. Some recipes include sugar for balance, or black pepper and herbs for extra flavour, but I prefer a basic salt cure. The leftover salt absorbs some of that richness, too – keep it in the fridge and use up as a seasoning within a couple of days – I like it for salting the water when I’m boiling greens or pasta.
Egg yolks
2 tbsp fine sea salt per yolk
Oil, for greasing
Choose a dish or bowl that’s large enough to hold the number of yolks you’d like to cure in a single layer, and leaving at least 2cm between each yolk. Measure out two tablespoons of fine sea salt per egg yolk. Spread half the salt in the base of the dish, and make slight hollows in it to welcome the yolks. Carefully separate the eggs, keeping the yolks intact, then nestle the yolks in the salt hollows (save the whites in a clean container for another use – they’ll keep in the fridge for up to three days). Cover the yolks completely with the rest of the salt, then cover and refrigerate for four to five days, or until the yolks are firm to the touch.
Lift the yolks one by one from the salt, brush off any excess, then rinse quickly under the cold tap and pat dry. At this stage, the yolks will be jelly-like, and are delicious sliced. To dry them further, so they can be grated, use the residual heat from the oven after baking or roasting. Lay the dried yolks on a lightly greased oven grate, then put in the hot oven and leave to dry for one to two hours, until firm and grateable; if you’re turning on the oven specifically for the yolks, set it to 90C (70C fan)/gas ¼. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a month.
