Red Beet Eggs, Kelda Edition

RECIPE

2 cans 15oz sliced beets, saving the juices

1/2 cup dried onion

1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp whole cloves (about 30)
1 tsp salt
33 eggs
2-3 cups water
2 cups apple cider vinegar

• Boil and peel 3 dozen eggs. Donate three eggs to science!  Or have them explode in the pot, because one always commits sepuku.

• Combine the juice from the beets and all the spices and bring to a simmer.  Let sit until onions are reconstituted.

• Alternate layers of sliced beets, eggs, and onions in a gallon pickle jar, trying to get a decent distribution.

• Pour remaining onion mixture, water, and vinegar into jar.  Add some water if you need to reach the shoulder.  Flip lightly a few times to get the liquids mixed in.

• Place in a pot of water (on a stand so the jar doesn't touch the bottom) and heat up until egg mixture is almost boiling, with the lid OFF.  Once hot, remove from heat and replace the lid, let cool at room temperature.  This will help create a vacuum seal once it cools down, after which you can store in the pantry or fridge. 

SCHPIEL

What, the recipe at the beginning?  BURN THE WITCH!

Yeah, it pisses me off when I can't find how to make something until scrolling through seventy three pages of memories and pictures.  I can just add them at the end.

Like I recently posted, I've been getting back into the SCA quite a bit and will be feastocrating a vigil this Pennsic for my friend Kelda.  I saw her at Crown Tourney three weeks ago and was complaining that I had hardboiled 90 eggs and very few were eaten at the event because it was so freakishly hot for early May, so I was thinking about pickling them.  Luckily, she said she loves pickled eggs, so now I've made five dozen for her this week!  The last three dozen are in that beet jar, and the first couple went into Pickled Ramp juice that I got from Astrid at Aethelmeark War Practice a couple of weeks ago.  She said she mostly followed this recipe and they were beyond amazing!  Should do a good job with eggs, too.

After complaining to a coworker about peeling them, he suggested I steam the eggs (I normally bake them when in large quantities) and then tumble them in the bowl after they are cold to lightly "bruise the shells".  This apparently makes even the freshest eggs come off very easily.