Though considered common eats among many Filipinos, there are still those who have yet to pluck up the courage to try balut. Balut is a fertilized duck egg, either 16 or 18 days old, which has been boiled and is eaten with salt or vinegar. Though the almost-fully-formed duckling inside the egg can be off-putting to some, balut is a tasty afternoon treat all over the Philippines.
How to Make Balut
1. Select eggs that are fit for incubation. Eggs should come from mated flocks, and be not more than five days old. They should have thick shells without any cracks.
2. Preheat the selected eggs under the sun for three to five hours.
3. Heat some unpolished rice in an iron cauldron or vat until it reaches a temperature of about 42 to 42.5 degrees C (107 to 108 degrees F).
4. Put 100 to 125 eggs into a large cloth made of either abaca (sinamay) or nylon.
5. Place a layer of heated rice at the bottom of a cylindrical bamboo incubator basket (45 cm in diameter and 60 cm deep), and place a bag of eggs on the rice. Alternate the bags of eggs with the bags of heated rice. Eight bags of eggs will fit into the basket. Bamboo baskets can be arranged either in a single row along the wall of the balutan, or in double rows placed in the middle of the balutan. Rice hull is firmly tamped down between baskets as an insulator.
6. Turn the eggs at least two or three times a day.
7. Heat the rice in the morning and in the afternoon on cool days.
8. Candle the eggs on the 7th, 14th and 18th day to select infertile eggs; D1 (dead embryo on first candling) and D2 (dead embryo on second candling). The infertile eggs, both D1 and D2, are removed, hard-boiled, and sold as a snack.
9. Eggs containing a normal embryo candled on the 16th to 18th day should be hard boiled and sold as balut
If you go in the Philippines, dont forget to try this food.