Michael Sieburg

My favorite Next Iron Chef contestant Chef Cosentino tries Balut (known as Trung Vit Lon in Vietnam). And judging from his reaction, I don’t think we’ll be seeing it featured at Incanto anytime soon. Balut risotto perhaps? Or asparagus topped with poached balut?

I gave fertilized duck egg a go back in 2001. Bought for me by a local friend, I couldn’t turn down his generous offer. Nor did I really want to. I’m always up for trying foods but fertilized duck egg (or more attractively referred to as, duck fetus egg) is not an easy bite. Of all I’ve eaten in my life, this was the hardest to swallow. The crunch of the beak, the gooey texture, and the juice at the bottom of your bowl; it’s not easy. If you close your eyes and only eat the yolk, you can briefly pretend it’s a more common hard boiled egg but once you chew into the leg, well, you remember what you are eating.