Those unlaid eggs ...

... are so awesome.

They're firmer than the yolks of laid eggs.  They look like raw yolks at first, but press on them and they're as firm as gum drops - I guess from whatever it is that would eventually develop into the shell.  Cooked, they're like rich egg yolks - they reminded me of the creaminess of duck egg yolks, though these are from chickens.

What we made was a sort of pho.  I simmered the upper body (breasts, back, and wings) of a small leghorn chicken with about half a pound of chopped okra and a pound of Chinese watercress, for six hours.  The next day, I cooked that stock down until it was just enough to fill two bowls, and seasoned that with salt (don't skimp), ginger, and culantro recaito (culantro, cilantro, onion, and garlic, minced in the Cuisinart and then cooked in a little olive oil).  We put unlaid eggs and chopped black garlic in the bowls, poured hot broth over them to cook the eggs, and then topped with chopped ngo orm ("rice paddy herb," with a musky sort of cumin-lemon flavor) and bean sprouts.

Delicious.  Seriously, just ... a hell of a successful soup.  Certainly the stock helped - the okra and watercress contributed not only the green color you see there, but a lot of rich vegetal flavor, without overwhelming everything - but the eggs were great. Little orbs of yolk, soft enough to burst, but rich and creamy instead of runny and thin.

There aren't photos of dinner last night: spare ribs, pork belly, and Chinese broccoli braised with culantro, garlic, cilantro roots (which have a strong cilantro flavor), holy basil, chile, and cincalok (a Malaysian fermented shrimp paste - think of it as a substitute for fish sauce or miso, that's all), and then shredded, sprinkled with lime juice, and served on pita bread like tacos.