Viking Soul Food’s savory pickled eggs
Ordinary eggs meet an explosion of flavor in this recipe from Portland’s Nordic food truck
Photo: Daytona Strong
These eggs get their vibrant color from beets.
Daytona Strong
Norwegian American Weekly
In a cluster of food carts in Portland, Oregon, sits Gudrun, the Streamline trailer housing Viking Soul Food. From their cozy mobile quarters, Megan Walhood and Jeremy Daniels serve up a variety of Scandinavian-inspired foods, headlined by lefse wraps stuffed with Norwegian favorites like meatballs or smoked salmon.
Their side dishes range from “Troll snack”—a spread of Jarlsberg cheese and roasted shallot on rye crisp—to pickled eggs, the recipe for which they’re sharing with Norwegian American Weekly readers.
“We had leftover pickling juice that still had great flavor and we wanted to use it for something,” said Walhood. “We had a few wacky ideas, but this pickled egg worked out to be the best one. We always liked the idea of serving hard boiled eggs in some way and this preparation sated our interest.”
Viking Soul Food is currently located in the Good Food Here on Belmont and 43rd Avenue, a pod of over a dozen food carts. But watch for a change in the coming months as Good Food Here makes way for condos, as reported by The Oregonian. Walhood says that they are looking for a brick and mortar space.
Photo: Daytona Strong
Viking Soul Food’s pickled egg with black pepper mayonnaise and caviar
1/2 dozen large eggs, preferably pastured eggs from chickens that are allowed to forage
1 red beet, peeled and grated
1/2 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup water
1 bay leaf
approximately 1/2 tsp. freshly ground caraway seed
freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon
salmon caviar (preserved in a jar, available from many fishmongers and IKEA)
1/2 cup of mayonnaise
about 1 cup finely shredded green cabbage, for serving
For the eggs:
Place the eggs in cold water in a pot over high heat. Bring to a boil and watch carefully. As soon as they begin to boil, pull them off the heat, cover with a lid and set a timer for 7-8 minutes depending on how hard cooked you prefer your eggs (we like them to have just a bit of softness in the middle). As soon as the timer goes off plunge the eggs into ice water to stop their cooking. Peel and set aside.
In a medium pot combine the grated beet, sugar, salt, vinegars, water, bay leaf, and caraway. Bring to a boil, turn down, and allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes. Pour the brine through a strainer and cool. Pour the cooled brine over the peeled eggs and refrigerate 24 hours before eating. The eggs will keep for a month or more, but the longer they stay in the brine, the darker their color and the stronger the flavor will become.
For the mayonnaise:
Mix together the mayonnaise, about 1 tsp. black pepper depending on preference, and 2 tsps. freshly squeezed lemon juice.
To serve the eggs, cut them in half and place on a bed of shredded green cabbage. Put a teaspoon of the mayonnaise on each half and spoon about 6 or 7 salmon eggs over each.
These eggs make a wonderful addition to a smørgåsbord.
This article originally appeared in the July 10, 2015, issue of the Norwegian American Weekly.
