Pickled eggs.

As I was standing in the kitchen with my brother the other night, he was extolling to me the virtues of pickled eggs. Having brined many a smoked fish, I casually mentioned that we'd probably be able to pickle some eggs. 5 minutes later we were in the car, headed to the grocery.

A little research provided me with the following recipe for pickling brine:

(per quart jar)

1-1/4 cups white vinegar
3/4 cup water
1 tbsp. pickling spice (recipe below)
1/2 tsp. pickling salt
4 tbsp. sugar

1 sprig dill
1 clove garlic, peeled, halved

What else you need:

Quart-size wide mouth canning jars
Jar tongs (in the canning section of the grocery store)
Canning pot, or pot large enough to sterilize the jars
Saucepan, allow 2 cups capacity for each jar of brine
8-10 eggs per jar of brine

Taking advantage of my many stainless brewpots, I was able to sterilize the jars, boil the eggs, and prep the brine at the same time.

To sterilize the jars:

Fully submerge jars and lids in water and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes, remove from water, drain, and place upright on a countertop for filling.

To make the pickling spice, combine:

2 tablespoons mustard seed
1 tablespoon whole allspice
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
2 teaspoons whole cloves
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 small bay leaves, broken up
2 inch piece of cinnamon stick, cracked in small pieces


Place eggs in a pot and bring to a rolling boil. Once the pot is boiling, remove from heat and allow eggs to stand in hot water for 10-15 minutes.

Combine all brine ingredients except dill and garlic in a saucepan, accounting for boil room-- you will need to multiply the batch size by the number of jars that you intend to fill. Bring to a simmer, making sure that sugar and salt are completely dissolved. Continue to simmer to bring out the flavor of the pickling spices.

Remove eggs from hot water, place in an icewater bath and peel. Put 1 sprig of dill and 1 clove of peeled & halved garlic in each sterilized jar, along with enough eggs to fill the jar, leaving enough headspace to allow brine to completely cover eggs.

Carefully pour hot brine over eggs and refrigerate immediately. Eggs will pick up a nice pickled flavor after about a week, and will be best if eaten within 3-4 months.

Enjoy!

Duck, coop!

As some of you may be aware, I recently acquired about eight ducks-- four Khaki Campbells & four Buff Swedish. After two weeks of them residing in my garage and my subsequent cleaning up after them, I spent last weekend building a coop for them.

The run-up to my take on what I needed in a coop design was a series of fruitless internet searches, followed by the realization that nobody is really building these and of the ones that are, nobody is photographing the process. Having said that, I did both. I thought it only appropriate to build something that was not only utilitarian, but would also enhance the appearance of the property.

I will warn you that I do have some background in fabrication, but not enough to be considered a professional. One of these is something that everyone should be able to build. Take note that the only power tool that I used was a 10" miter saw. Everything else? A hammer, nails, a pencil, straightedge, sharpie marker, and tin snips. Someone with more time than money could even make do with a handsaw.

After thinking it over for about a week, I began work on a series of concept sketches. It took a few sessions, but I eventually settled on a design that consists of a 4'x4' main area and incorporate a 2'x4' nesting area for the ducks into the structure. At a 3/12 pitch, the upper roof shares a slope with the lower roof which is mounted on hinges, allowing me to access the eggs without having to actually go inside, or risk them using my entrance as an opportunity to escape. Almost one entire side is devoted to a 33"x40" muck door and there is an 18"x14" front opening allowing them access to the yard-- to be hemmed in by some lath fence at a later time. Ventilation is provided by 2 12"x48" openings facing N/S secured by stapled 1/2" square hardware cloth.

I framed the coop in a standard fashion, but because of its size I used irregular spacing-- typically you'd like to build on a 24" center but given that the coop is only four feet by six, the structure demands that you put studs where they make sense. This, of course, became a thinking problem when I went to mount the hinged frame in the lower roof. However, after an intense bout of puzzling, I settled on a solution. Because of some unforseen material height discrepancies, the hinged frame ended up being made up of 2x3s, with a 2x2 serving as the mounting point. I'll try and get a picture of this soon.

I ended up using 5/8"x5-1/2"x6' cedar fence pickets for the siding and cedar 1"x2" for the battens-- From a practical standpoint, fence pickets can be cut to size with a miter saw and don't require wrestling with plywood sheets. And aesthetically, cedar ages well in the weather. The galvanized tin roof will last longer than the structure will.

I finished the door a couple of days ago, but a flurry of snow has prevented me from getting out there and hanging it. I should have the muck door and the battens finished out this weekend. I'm still making up my mind about a shutter for the south opening and a proper door for the duck-sized entrance. More pics coming soon.


Flickr Slideshow-- Click Here