I have had  a love affair with the pickled egg ever since I saw a huge jar of them sitting on the counter of The Kitchen Bar in Belfast.  This is/was your typical ‘old duffers’ pub where entering strangers would be met with Wild West gun-slinger squints from the smokey darkness.

My reason for being in this place is entirely suspect but me and pickled eggs where on a destiny collison course.

Me: What the frig are those things in the jar franks, pets!?

Frank: Pickles

Me: Pickles? What, did you pickle golf balls?

Frank: Eggs

Me: Pickeled eggs?! You trying to kill off you regulars?

Frank: try one

Me: Nah, I value my health

Frank: Chicken poofter

Me: OK, sling one out

Frank: here you go……

Me: (bite, squelch, swallow) Frank….I love you….

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 Large jar of beetroot (minus beetroot – just the juice)

1 tbs white sugar

6 free range eggs

HOW YOU DO IT

Do not burn the eggs. If your hard boiled egg has  a grey film around it….burnt.

So cook them using a timer – it’s the only way to do this with any exactness at all. Cool the eggs and peel under running cold water.

 

If you want you can use a kilner jar for this – just transfer the pickling liquer to it, add the sugar then dump in the cooled eggs. Turn upside down a couple of times to ensure the beetroot juice covers the eggs entirely then leave to pickle up for about 2 days – any longer and the beet juice will stain the whole way through the yolk.

That’s it – nothing new in terms of pickling but a very different twist on the styling!