Do not

You can argue all you want about it, but until you've tried one your no expert.

Theyhatch the egg for 18-20 days, soft boil it, and allow it to ferment. When you crack the shell, you'll actually hear the Psssssst as the gas escapes.
Thats when the tables and chairs get tipped over.

The stuff they have here (they call it trứng vịt lộn) is partially hatched and soft boiled. Whether it's fermented or not I don't know, but it is fairly nasty and there is something about crunching down on a beak that just seems bad. Salt and alcohol is an asset when eating.
 
Alright, here's one of the PI links further down:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/05/travel/how-to-eat-balut/

I love it half the Philippinos don't even like it: I quote :
The 18-day-old fertilized duck egg has revolted even the most daring foodies with its carnal textures, earning it lofty rankings on many a "most disgusting/strange/terrifying food" list.
While food journalists commonly label balut as the Philippines' "much loved delicacy," in reality Filipinos are decidedly split over their nation's oft-sung snack.

Nasty? Yes.
None of the references say it is rotted or fermented for 90 days as originally asserted.
The 90 day rotting period is probably for something else he may have had, maybe "1000 year old eggs".
 
Nasty? Yes.
None of the references say it is rotted or fermented for 90 days as originally asserted.
The 90 day rotting period is probably for something else he may have had, maybe "1000 year old eggs".
You have two choices, believe the internet, or go see for your self.
 
You have two choices, believe the internet, or go see for your self.

Think I'll go with the salty old sailor who was there in the 60s. I remember things from my time in Korea and Germany when I was in very clearly. ****ing civilians! :D
 
You have two choices, believe the internet, or go see for your self.
Tom- you are the one who posted the references. You seem to have conveniently forgotten that. Either your references (all of them) are wrong, or you are.

I have experienced it. Tom, I could make a comment similar to yours about other's reading comprehension*, but I prefer not to get nasty in that fashion. I'll repeat my post for your convenience.
A friend had some in Taiwan, at a night market. I didn't have it.
None of your google references mention a 90 day rotting period- just the incubation time to get the embryo.
His snack didn't smell nasty or rotted, I really didn't care to crunch on beaks, feet, and bones. For the same reason, I haven't tried the duck/chicken feet one can buy at Asian food stores. I did notice the smell due to the stinky tofu from a nearby stall, so my nose was working. That stuff smelled like a water treatment plant, but thankfully, it doesn't taste like that. I did see for myself, and my experience was nothing like yours.

*https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/com...ircraft-maintenance.97838/page-3#post-2132773
https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/com...hit-by-a-prop-today.96349/page-7#post-2094264
 
Tom- you are the one who posted the references. You seem to have conveniently forgotten that.
You don't seem to realize I don't give a damn a what you believe.
 
Think I'll go with the salty old sailor who was there in the 60s. I remember things from my time in Korea and Germany when I was in very clearly. ****ing civilians! :D
Exactly ! But OMG I gave a link, just so they would know what we were talking about, now I'm the bad guy. Sheech!
 
His snack didn't smell nasty or rotted,
Ever stop to think, that they may be catering to the tourist? unlike what was being served in 1965/6/7/8/9 in the PO?
 
Ever stop to think, that they may be catering to the tourist? unlike what was being served in 1965/6/7/8/9 in the PO?
Did you ever stop to think I go to these places for business, not tourism? My hotels tend to be near the customers or dealer office so we don't spend a lot of time in traffic. I rarely go to the tourist areas, or I have only a short time in the tourist areas if I have to stay part of a weekend. I doubt they make a "nice" version for the single American in the area. It's nice this way- I get to see how the people really live. If there is something I like, I can buy it at their local markets rather than the over-priced shops at the airport.

You don't seem to realize I don't give a damn a what you believe.
Sure you do. Otherwise you wouldn't bother replying :)

Exactly ! But OMG I gave a link, just so they would know what we were talking about, now I'm the bad guy. Sheech!
Oh yes, it's all those alternative facts on the internet, none of which mention a 90 day "rotting period". :)
The internet is all wrong! All those web pages you cited and none of them mention a 90 day "rotting period"!
I'd almost think you were practicing to run for president, or something :)

IMO, balut is nasty enough without adding an imaginary 90 day rotting period just from what's in it.
 
IMO, balut is nasty enough without adding an imaginary 90 day rotting period just from what's in it.
Stop and think,,,, a great majority of the People of the RP din't have refrigeration in the 60s. what's to stop the fermentation ?
yes they are rotten duck eggs.
 
Stop and think,,,, a great majority of the People of the RP din't have refrigeration in the 60s. what's to stop the fermentation ?
yes they are rotten duck eggs.
Tom- That's why I think you confused it with something else, such as "1000 year old eggs" (or another variant on the name, such as century eggs). Those are preserved eggs and the preservation process does generate hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, which you could smell some distance away and would be a way to store eggs without refrigeration. They are also left several weeks to be preserved (again, consistent with your description of a 90 day preparation), but there is no fermentation involved. If they want to preserve the eggs, they would go through this route rather than letting bacteria turn them rotten. They also pickle them in vinegar as well. It's also possible that someone had a balut that wasn't eaten in a timely fashion and figured they'd play a joke on the visiting servicemen.

Asia doesn't have a monopoly on nasty food. I haven't, nor shall I, try casu marzu or it's relatives.
 
I haven't, nor shall I, try casu marzu or it's relatives.
Oh dear god, I wiki'd it. Important takeaway: "Some people clear the larvae from the cheese before consuming while others do not."

Nauga,
who knows time's fun when you're having flies.
 
I think the whole partial hatched egg thing, there are a lot of variations to it. I can tell you that the places that do serve them do not cater to tourists. Downtown Ho Chi Minh is littered with foreigners, but get out of the main city and you will then be cast in a sea of restaurants that ain't never seen no white boy.

Same thing with the fried bugs. It is fairly uncommon to find them in restaurants but you do find them. We had a meeting at Dalat once, and fried grasshopper-like things were the first thing to come to the table. I wasn't quite drunk enough for that. Then, out came a plate of the weirdest looking and tasting meat I had ever tried. I asked what it was. They said 'rabbit.' a) I do not believe rabbits are indigenous to Southeast Asia (I could be wrong but I have yet to see one here) and b) I've eaten rabbit. That wasn't no damn rabbit.
 
I think the whole partial hatched egg thing, there are a lot of variations to it. I can tell you that the places that do serve them do not cater to tourists. Downtown Ho Chi Minh is littered with foreigners, but get out of the main city and you will then be cast in a sea of restaurants that ain't never seen no white boy.

Same thing with the fried bugs. It is fairly uncommon to find them in restaurants but you do find them. We had a meeting at Dalat once, and fried grasshopper-like things were the first thing to come to the table. I wasn't quite drunk enough for that. Then, out came a plate of the weirdest looking and tasting meat I had ever tried. I asked what it was. They said 'rabbit.' a) I do not believe rabbits are indigenous to Southeast Asia (I could be wrong but I have yet to see one here) and b) I've eaten rabbit. That wasn't no damn rabbit.
They actually are indigenous to Southeast Asia (note the year of the rabbit in the Chinese calendar system). Note, however, that the Vietnamese calendar substitutes cat for rabbit- maybe rabbits aren't there? (https://www.vietnamonline.com/culture/vietnamese-zodiac.html). I'm also not sure how you define SE Asia either. I remember I tend to include areas as being part of Asia that you don't.
I personally know 2 people (one in Suzhou, another in Bali) who kept pet rabbits. I don't know how often they are eaten in either place, though my Bali friend says any rabbits tend to "disappear".
 
I used to live near a place that had a huge FIlipino fair every year. They had a balut-eating contest that looked pretty popular. Sure, make me strong like bull, but just put that zero on my score right now and I'll get back to the lumpia.

Nauga,
who can do the occasional offal but draws the line at embryo
 
They actually are indigenous to Southeast Asia (note the year of the rabbit in the Chinese calendar system). Note, however, that the Vietnamese calendar substitutes cat for rabbit- maybe rabbits aren't there? (https://www.vietnamonline.com/culture/vietnamese-zodiac.html). I'm also not sure how you define SE Asia either. I remember I tend to include areas as being part of Asia that you don't.
I personally know 2 people (one in Suzhou, another in Bali) who kept pet rabbits. I don't know how often they are eaten in either place, though my Bali friend says any rabbits tend to "disappear".

China does have them yes. Of note is that Myanmar, which is considered part of Southeast Asia, borders China very far to the north. I suppose they might have rabbits there, at least in the northern provinces. I spent three weeks in Yangon, and just like Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, I've never heard nor seen anything resembling a bunny rabbit to date.

For the record, Myanmar is kind of a hellhole. It takes heat and humidity to a new level. And it's just physically hard to get around, traffic is horrible, and you have to step over open sewers to get anywhere. And the girls are, how can one best describe, unfriendly and stand-offish.

The food however, isn't bad. The Burmese like their barbecue. They have one specialty, grilled fish stuffed with green chili paste. It's blazing hot as in spicy, but really good.

Vietnam has lot of cats. They generally aren't eaten, but you can find restaurants that do serve dog.
 
All I know is when I was in Korea I didn't see any dogs or cats, rats, yeah. Now what I was actually eating for a meat...maybe that's the reason no doggies or cats ya think? :dunno:
 
All I know is when I was in Korea I didn't see any dogs or cats, rats, yeah. Now what I was actually eating for a meat...maybe that's the reason no doggies or cats ya think? :dunno:
I've never seen a fat dog in Olongapo either.
Southeast Asia wasn't a port of call in the 60s (much that is). :) Hong Kong my favorite liberty back in the day. one USD got 8 HKD, 1 Tiger 18 oz was 1 HKD
 
I've never seen a fat dog in Olongapo either.
Southeast Asia wasn't on the port of call in the 60s much that is. :) Hong Kong my favorite liberty back in the day. one USD got 8 HKD, 1 Tiger 18 oz was 1 HKD

Yup, think we got 400 or 800 (don't recall which) Won for a dolla, and Germany in'70 about 3 1/2 Marks for a dolla. :ihih:
 
Yup, think we got 400 or 800 (don't recall which) Won for a dolla, and Germany in'70 about 3 1/2 Marks for a dolla. :ihih:
Remember the rate of exchange? my 1966 President Hotel bill for 10 days was 2500 USD. All I have to show for it was a sports coat I would not wear to a dog fight.
 
Yup, think we got 400 or 800 (don't recall which) Won for a dolla, and Germany in'70 about 3 1/2 Marks for a dolla. :ihih:

Today it's 1USD for 1000KRW.
Soju still cheaper than water. And flows like water everywhere.
 
Today it's 1USD for 1000KRW.
Soju still cheaper than water. And flows like water everywhere.

Soju, gawd I had a few rough nights with that shet lol. We mixed it w/ some kind of orange drink from the BX. Back when I was there we didn't have a lot to choose from. Now that I think about it, it was 800 Won for a dolla. We actually used American money everywhere until they pulled a quickie and switched over to MPC, think it stood for military *something* currency. A lot of Papasons got stuck w/ American dollars.
 
Soju, gawd I had a few rough nights with that shet lol. We mixed it w/ some kind of orange drink from the BX. Back when I was there we didn't have a lot to choose from. Now that I think about it, it was 800 Won for a dolla. We actually used American money everywhere until they pulled a quickie and switched over to MPC, think it stood for military *something* currency. A lot of Papasons got stuck w/ American dollars.

Yeah, Seoul is still one of the best drinking towns in the world. Cheap, cool people, easy women if you want to partake in that, and everything stays open as long as you feel like drinking.
I hated living there, but I really miss it...
 
Yeah, Seoul is still one of the best drinking towns in the world. Cheap, cool people, easy women if you want to partake in that, and everything stays open as long as you feel like drinking.
I hated living there, but I really miss it...

The Koreans do know how to party. There are quite a few here in this particular location since many of the new high rise buildings are being built by Korean contractors. There are a few bars where the Koreans hang out, and they always seem to be getting in to drunken brawls, and a Korean crashing through the glass storefront on to the street would be a weekly occurrence.

I was staying at one local hotel and these Koreans were in the next room drinking past midnight, and there was quite a bit of yelling and things crashing. They weren't just throwing chairs in to the wall, they were throwing other Koreans in to the wall.

As far as having 'the other thing', e.g. easy women, Vietnam is probably somewhere between Thailand and Korea. More closer to Thailand. I've heard.
 
All I know is when I was in Korea I didn't see any dogs or cats, rats, yeah. Now what I was actually eating for a meat...maybe that's the reason no doggies or cats ya think? :dunno:

Sort of the reason I did not order a meal with meat at the restaurants there....:lol::lol::lol:
 
True but when you're "under the influence", you know, drunk on Soju, surprising what you'll eat.
By time you drank enough beer to eat a balut, you'd be incapable of doing it.
 
....

Then, out came a plate of the weirdest looking and tasting meat I had ever tried. I asked what it was. They said 'rabbit.' a) I do not believe rabbits are indigenous to Southeast Asia (I could be wrong but I have yet to see one here) and b) I've eaten rabbit. That wasn't no damn rabbit.

I think it had a few extra letters in the middle. Did it have a long skinny tail?
 
I swear to god I started this thread in 2016 but the date stamp was 2015. Anyway... improvements posted. Let's start right here.IMG_3507.JPG

Yeah, that's cole slaw, in the rough, this is how it starts out. Fresh from the cole slaw tree. This is a single piece of cole slaw fruit. Oh, and that's a slab of salmon fish, brushed on the skin side with olive oil so it doesn't stick, and on the top with balsamic and Italian spice blend, ready for the oven. I know, it should be put on the grill but I don't have time, this is a school night.

IMG_3508.JPG

Now there is a trick to the preparation. If you peel open the cole slaw fruit, you will find a fleshy rind, you put it in a bowl and extract the cole slaw seed, which has a milky inside okay.

IMG_3510.JPG

And see there we go. Cole slaw. Ready to eat. Good to go.

IMG_3511.JPG

Oh yeah, and of course the salmon fish. What a good compliment to salmon fish.
 
Love me some salmon! Looks delicious Sac.

It was quite good. It was a toss between the salmon and red snapper. I didn't see any salmon when I was in Vietnam. As to the other... (Oh snap, did I really have to go there?)
 
slaw. slaw. slaw.

say it a few times, it is just such a strange word yet at the same time so glorious.
 
It was quite good. It was a toss between the salmon and red snapper. I didn't see any salmon when I was in Vietnam. As to the other... (Oh snap, did I really have to go there?)

C'mon nothing wrong with a little mouth watering snapperrrrrrrrrr! :drool: :blowingkisses:
 
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