Homemade Salt and Sugar-Cured Egg Yolks

Salt and sugar-cured egg yolks are an easy and delicious way to add a rich, umami flavour to almost any dish – including pizza. After several days of curing fresh yolks in salt and sugar, this homemade condiment achieves a cheese-like texture and savoury aroma. Because it’s cured (i.e. preserved) it can also be stored in your fridge for several weeks, making it a convenient add-on for an extra kick of taste. The condensed richness of the fatty yolks, combined with the salty and slightly sweet cure also makes them a delicious substitution for grated parmesan.

Eggs, salt and sugar are all it takes to cure your own yolks, plus some planning ahead. In only four to five days, the salt and sugar mixture covers and dehydrates the yolks, leaving them bright yellow in colour and firm to the touch. Grate a yolk (or two) over your next pizza, a luscious plate of pasta or a simple salad and wow your guests with this unexpected culinary addition.

Difficulty

Servings

4 cured egg yolks

Prep Time

5 minutes

(plus 4 to 5 days for curing)
Cook Time

2 hours

By Jelena Lozo

Homemade Salt and Sugar-Cured Egg Yolks

Note

If stored in the fridge in an airtight container, these cured egg yolks can last up to 4 weeks. It's important to prioritise food safety by curing the yolks at a temperature of 4 °C (39 °F) or lower and always including a cooking step before or after curing, unless pasteurised shell eggs are used. Need some recipe inspiration? Give our Pizza Bianca with White Asparagus, Sliced Potatoes, Ham and Cured Egg a try, or Marco Quintili’s Pizza Carbonara with Marinated Egg, Pecorino Romano Cream and Italian Guanciale.

1. Measure out your salt and sugar using a digital scale.

In a medium bowl, mix the salt and sugar. Put ⅔ of the salt and sugar mixture into a medium airtight container. Using a spoon, create 4 yolk-sized indentations in the surface.

two hands holding a cracked open egg and separating the yolk from the white over a small white bowl

2. Crack the eggs, separate the yolks from the whites and carefully slide the yolks into the indendations.

Pour the rest of the salt and sugar mixture into the container. (The yolks should be completely covered.)

Egg yolk in a salt and sugar cure in a glass jar next to egg shells on a plate.

3. Close the container and place in your fridge for 4 to 5 days.

4. When the yolks are cured, preheat your home oven to 60 °C.

5. Take the cured yolks out of the sugar and salt mixture.

Rinse them quickly under cold water, then pat dry with a kitchen towel. 

6. Put the yolks on an oven rack and let them dry in your preheated oven for 2 hours.

7. Take the yolks out of the oven, and let them cool; use immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Jelena Lozo

Self-taught chef Jelena Lozo has a passion for gastronomy, top-notch ingredients, true craftsmanship and a slight obsession with dough and fermentation. Whether it's breaking down a wild boar from scratch, fermenting kimchi by the gallon, inventing the perfect pizza dough recipe or picking grapes in the Moselle valley, Jelena loves food and shares her enthusiasm online 

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