"Balut" Wins Again

On GQ's February 2006 issue, GQ correspondent Alan Richman wrote an article entitled: "Waiter, there's a Cloven Hoof on my Plate", about his search of the weirdest food in New York City. Of the 10 dishes that he tasted (these includes veal testicles, spicy beef penis, chicken assholes, duck tongues in wine sauce...), guess which one took the cake?

An excerpt of his article:

Dish: Balut

Cuisine: Philippines

Mark Ronquillo who is half Filipino, told me this disturbing account of a visit to the Philippines with his father: "I was probably 7 years old, and saw him eating these eggs at a backyard party. When I saw what was inside, I was horrified. I ran away." What could be inside an egg that would evoke such dread? What else but the unborn? Ronquillo and his wife, Ivy, had joined me at a tiny Manhattan cafeteria called *Elvie's Turo-Turo (turo-turo means "point-point"). The balut, boiled and looking harmless, sit atop the counter in a bowl. They're actually fertilized duck eggs in which the embryo has been allowed to develop for a little more than two weeks. Inside each egg is embryonic fluid. Drink up. Dig into the solid contents, which vary in appearance, depending on the stage of development. Ivy suddenly stopped picking at hers and gasped, "Oh jeez, I got a feather. No, I got a whole friggin' wing." Mine seemed to contained a marbleized fetus, an impressionistic duck. As I ate, the juice ran down my arm and over the pen. I tossed the pen. I didn't know what to do with the arm. The juice was not awful. It was mild, ducky and eggy. The flavor of the barely formed creature within was reminiscent of egg, too. In the Philippines, balut is a snack food. To some, it's an aphrodisiac. To me, its tradition run amok, probably the weirdest dish on earth.

(Angel's Note: *Elvie's Turo-Turo is located at 214 1st avenue.)