Salted Duck Egg substitute

Substitutes for Salted Duck Egg with ratios

1. 2Salted egg yolk powder

   Different texture

   Use 1 tablespoon powder plus 1 teaspoon butter for every salted duck egg yolk

   Sold in Asian shops for exactly the salted egg yolk sauce trend, and by far the easiest route to that flavour if a sauce is what you are after.

   What changes

   Best for

   salted egg yolk sauce for chicken, prawns or crab, salted egg cookies and pastries, seasoning fried snacks, salted egg butter for corn

   The flavour is genuinely right, salty and savoury with the characteristic cured-yolk aroma, and it dissolves smoothly. What is missing is the sandy, granular texture of a real mashed yolk, which is a large part of the appeal in a sauce that is supposed to look and feel like crumbled sand in butter. Bloom the powder in melted butter over low heat for a minute before adding anything liquid, or it clumps. It cannot stand in for a whole yolk in a mooncake, where you need a physical sphere.

2. 3Hard-boiled egg yolks with salt and butter

   Different taste

   Use 2 hard-boiled chicken yolks mashed with ½ teaspoon fine salt and 1 teaspoon butter for every salted duck egg yolk

   The fastest option, using what is already in the fridge, and honest about being an approximation rather than a match.

   What changes

   Best for

   salted egg yolk sauce in a hurry, ensaladang talong, rice toppings, crumbled garnishes

   It gets the crumbly texture and the yellow-orange colour right and the salt level can be dialled in exactly, which is more than most swaps manage. What it does not have is the cured funk: the flavour reads as clean, ordinary boiled egg rather than the slightly oily, faintly fishy depth of a real salted yolk. A quarter teaspoon of fish sauce per yolk closes a surprising amount of that gap. Press the yolks through a sieve for a finer, sandier crumb.

3. 4Grated bottarga

   Different taste

   Use 1 teaspoon finely grated bottarga for every salted duck egg yolk

   Salt-cured pressed fish roe, which is dense, orange, granular and intensely savoury, and therefore an unexpectedly precise match for what a salted yolk contributes to a sauce.

   What changes

   Best for

   salted egg yolk pasta and rice, sauces, grating over vegetables, when you want the effect and not the authenticity

   It is more marine and more insistently savoury than a salted yolk, so a little goes a long way, and it costs considerably more. In return you get exactly the right combination of salt, fat, colour and grit. Grate it fine and add it off the heat, since bottarga turns bitter if you fry it. Not suitable for mooncakes or anywhere the whole intact yolk is the point.

4. 5Feta or aged cotija (for the garnish role)

   Different taste

   Use 1 tablespoon crumbled for every half salted egg

   A swap for the job rather than the ingredient, and a good one specifically where the egg appears as salty crumbled bites on a plate.

   What changes

   Best for

   ensaladang talong (grilled eggplant salad), tomato and onion salads, cold vegetable plates

   It is salty, crumbly and creamy in roughly the same way, and on a plate of charred eggplant with tomato it does the same work of punctuating each bite with salt and richness. It obviously tastes of cheese rather than egg, so the salad reads Mediterranean rather than Filipino. Rinse feta briefly if it is very salty, and do not use it anywhere the egg is cooked into a sauce.

5. 6Fine salt alone (for the white, or the honest minimum)

   Taste and texture differ

   Use ¼ teaspoon fine salt for every half salted duck egg

   The white of a salted egg is doing almost nothing except delivering salt, so replacing it with salt is not a compromise at all.

   What changes

   Best for

   recipes that call for chopped whole salted egg, salads and rice dishes, seasoning a filling

   You lose the firm rubbery cubes of white and a little visual contrast, and nothing else. Where the egg is the whole point, such as a mooncake or a salted egg yolk sauce, salt on its own gives you a salty dish and none of the richness, so pair it with butter and a mashed boiled yolk. This is the swap to reach for when you only need the seasoning and not the spectacle.