Balut eggs (also spelled Baloot, Baalut, Baluge, or Balute.)
Balut eggs are fertilised duck (sometimes chicken) eggs that are at the stage of development where there is a nearly developed embryo inside. The balut egg then boiled and usually eaten with salt, just like a normal boiled egg.
I think balut eggs might be the yuckiest looking food I have come across so far in researching for this site. Although we have no hestitation in eating eggs, or even young animals (not usually birds, but still) – balut eggs just push all of the ‘eww’ buttons in my brain.
Balut eggs are fertilised duck (sometimes chicken) eggs that are at the stage of development where there is a nearly developed embryo inside. The balut egg then boiled and usually eaten with salt, just like a normal boiled egg.
So where is this deliciousness eaten? Well in the Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam it is actually quite common. You can easily pick balut eggs up from a street vendor (usually cooked), no need for a fancy restaurant in this case. Though in the Philippines in particular, popularity is increasing and you can now pick up your pre-baby duck in an omelette or even baked in pastries.
Interestingly, the age of the egg before it is cooked varies between cultures. In the Philippines, the perfect Balut egg is normally 17 days old, the point where the chick does not have beak, bones or feathers. In Vietnam however, they prefer their Balut eggs to be 19-21 days old, the point at which the bones of the chick will be firm, but they soften considerably when cooked. In case it’s hard to imagine what a 17-21 day duck foetus looks like, here is a 15 day old egg floating in hot sauce.
And here’s a photo of a balut egg I believe is more towards the 21 day mark:
Balut eggs can typically be purchased from a street vendor who will often keep them warm in a bucket of sand. Duck eggs that are not properly developed after nine to twelve days are not sold as balut eggs but instead sold as penoy, which look, smell and taste similar to a regular hard-boiled egg. In Filipino cuisine, these are occasionally beaten and fried, similar to scrambled eggs, and served with a vinegar dip.
After seeing these balut eggs, I’ll never quite look at my fried egg quite the same way again!
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25 Comments until now.
OMG..whyyyyy do humans insist on coming up with these disturbing recipes that are guaranteed to have caused terrible pain to a tiny baby animal? Oh, I’m just ill. Yuck.
That is sick! I think that people just enjoy finding new ways to inflict pain and suffering upon smaller lifeforms.
these chicks dont seem to understand that if we were that small and helpless to a duck they would probably slurp us down their beaks too
WTF? Suzy and Layla, get over yourselves. It’s not like they pluck the thing from under its mother and boil it alive.
It is incubated only to the point of desired consumption, then it is removed from incubation — meaning the bird inside stops developing and is not so much as killed as it is never hatched to begin with.
There is no “terrible pain” with balut. It is a food rooted in history and culture and nothing to do with your jaded insinuations of ‘people are so mean and evil’.
If you must armchair advocate for suffering animals, try spilling your guts to the people who raise and slaughter bovine for veal. Now THAT’S cruel.
Kamusta ka ?
I just had the dish a day ago and was initially irked out. It’s a duck abortion! However if you just avert your eyes while you’re eating it, you’ll be fine. Thank you Tomas for shining some light on the dish’s preparation and silencing some overzealous animal rights enthusiasts.
Animals abuse, no way! More like human abuse! DISGUSTING!!! Who would eat something like that unless they were brainwashed to believe it was yummy?!
*barfing*
Dudes, this is what we called different cultures. Open up your mind and see the world out there. There are things way worse around your back alley than this. It is a dish of other country…so respect it. Or should i say eating beef or pork meat is a abuse as well. Dont eat it! You are killing the animals! Fools
Of course, people just wanted to inflict pain onto helpless baby animals.
Alternatively, in a time when they could not just go to the nearest 7/11 at 3 in the morning, people were probably forced to eat everything they could digest.
As time progressed humanity shed some things (eating mouldy bread) and kept others.
But then, that is probably too sane & reflective for your poor outraged souls.
NOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM
I think its delioush
I couldn’t eat it but my Filipino co-workers aren’t that fussed. One of them says she likes it, the other says that she can only eat it in the dark when she can’t see what it is. Apparently taste-wise it’s just very chicken-y, it’s just looks and texture that’s the deal-breaker for me.
if you hadn’t try it and you think it’s sick, just keep your mouth shut.. you don’t even know what they put in your average daily meals you eat on a daily basis.. this is a filipino delicacy. you do not hear any prejudgments from us filipinos and neither should we from you.. you think we are inflicting pain? then why don’t we all turn vegetarians? try thinking twice before you utter your words.. that’s filipino culture for you! respect it..
Well for me,it is culture..Being a Filipino,I also eat balut..but you still can’t say that unnecessary things,you don’t even know our culture,it’s not that we even say nasty things about other cultures..but if you still make a fuss about it,,atleast we don’t eat crap for the fun of it like you dislikers do,,dumbass!!
i like it when in my class kanina we make experiment about that it is interesting cause’ it is good.it is ok to eat balut than to eat fetus in japan they really eat fetus so i like balut than in fetus ewwwwwww!!!…… for fetus
watched youtube lately, found out americans love to drink their urine or eat their faeces for fun… if that’s your culture, fine with me, just leave me out of it… same way goes with you, close minded morons, if you don’t want to try eat, just shut up, we don’t need your prejudices…
I think it is absolutely disgusting and I couldnt touch it. Tomas thats exactly what they do! They take it out from under a mother hen and put it in a pot of boiling water. I’m sure it tastes nice but I would be thinking about what I was eating, like guts, veins, feet, feathers, bones . . . etc Yuck. We dont know whether it feels pain but I’d say by day 20 of incubation the nerve cells would be developed enough to feel pain. But almost every animal we slaughter feels pain. So there isnt much difference between this and beef on your plate . . . only beef isnt disgusting.
What’s so cruel about that? The chick never felt any pain. No blood was shed. Compare that to butchering mature cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, ducks, fish, etc. They are the ones who experience the much more cruel pain and death, and not contented with their death, the butcher goes on and chops their body parts and even grinds parts of them.
Balut may look disgusting, but it is delicious and rich in calcium. If you eat eggs and chicken/duck, then what’s wrong with eating in between?
I’d love to try out Balut. Where can I buy it from Malaysia – KL or PJ?
What are some foods that people tend to either love or hate?…
Balut. It’s a Filipino dish that consists of fertilized duck (and occasionally a chicken) embryos that are that boiled “alive” and served in their shells. It smells terrible and tastes worse. In the Philippines, it’s often served with and it’s con…
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[...] from Bizarre Foods.) Bills was one of the only non-Asians that I know that could eat and stomach Balut. We also sat through many great conversation during our monthly lunches, our sushi making club, [...]
it’s not actually new in the philippines like others would say… it’s part of the culture here .. it’s just up to you if you would eat it or not .. if you’re so disgusted then don’t eat it .. it’s that simple
Filipino delicacy? What is unique about it? Anybody can do this. I rather have lobster or stake… with little salad and on the side. A glass of wine would be fine as well. Thanks.
What a yummy balot! I really miss to eat you. Well, to those people who say yukky! well you are very wrong! This kind of food has a lot of vitamins. The Food Composition Table for Use in East Asia provides the following breakdown for nutrients in BALOT: embryonated duck egg-188 calories, 13.7 grams of protein, 14.2 grams of fat, 116 milligrams of calcium, 176 milligrams of phosphorous, 2.1 milligrams of iron, 875 micrograms of retinol, 435 micrograms of B-carotene equivalent, .12 milligrams of thiamine, .25 milligrams of riboflavin, 0.8 milligrams of niacin, 3 milligrams of ascorbic acid.
I have to admit that since this is not part of my culture the first link my mind makes at the sight of this is not exactly ”food”.
Then again, crabs and lobsters are really just big aquatic arthropods (bugs), yet they are sooooo tasty.
When you think of it, an egg is really just a female ovulation and yet we have no problem eating them and finding them delicious.
I don’t think its cruel at all, I don’t see how these chicks can feel anything when they are incomplete fetuses still under construction in their eggs to begin with. Much less cruel than to be born and suffer in horrible conditions for several months before being killed like all these other born chickens we eat.
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