BALUT! (The Classic)

According to Wikipedia, A balut is a fertilized duck (or chicken) egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell. It doesn't look any different from any hard-boiled egg when it is still in the shell. And when you crack it open, you'll see the surprise or to others: You'll see the Horror! Not all people love this food, actually I'm not an avid fan. I can eat a few of this, but not to the extent of loving it. 

Most people prefer to eat this during the night where there is low light which provides minimal visibility to the balut and what is inside it. Because when you actually see what's inside, you will be disgusted - well to those who doesn't like it anyway.

So while waiting for the multi-cab on our way home at about 8:30PM, a balut vendor passed by and we called his attention. He was riding a bicycle and placed his basket of balut and penoy between the handles of the bike. So he stopped by where we were standing and asked what we liked. My friend told him we'd have balut and three of our other friends ordered penoy - which are plain and not fertilized eggs as described on my past blog. Penoy is for those who are faint hearted and won't accept the challenge of eating a balut. Okay so enough of the swagger and more of the eating part. 

Warning! The next photo will be graphic, and the faint of heart should not see. Well most of my friends who viewed it who doesn't like balut was disgusted and closed my tab instead. 

So I had two that time. I cracked it open. This time there was broth on the balut so as I partially opened the egg shell, I placed salt and vinegar inside  it and sucked the broth and it tasted like what else? Balut. When there was no broth anymore, I opened it and with the low light I looked for the chick and my strategy as always was to munch on the chick first so there would be no problem anymore. Because the light was very dim, I wouldn't see what I'd be eating and that really helped - a lot. I munched on the chick first and chewed it quickly because that was to me, the "gross" part. And when I was finished with the chick, everything was easy. As I finished mine also my friends, so we bought seconds and I did my strategy again. So when we finished eating balut, we went back to school to rinse off the broth that spilled into our hands. We went home and I brought one home so I can take pictures.