This is a little bit unusual... ok, so it’s really unusual. Duck embryo egg mightn’t sound too promising if you’re not used to the concept but you’ll see it all through Vietnam, where it’s considered a delicious snack – as it is in the Philippines, Thailand and Cambodia, too. It’s been eaten in these countries for centuries. The usual way to eat the egg is just boiled, peeled and with a little bit of Vietnamese mint as an accompaniment, but the place I frequent on Cô Giang does an egg embryo stir-fry, which I much prefer. The cooking process masks the look of the egg, which I’ll admit can be a bit confronting. But the flavour is unlike anything else I know. For the stir-fry, the egg is first boiled and cracked, then put into a pan with tamarind, sugar and crushed peanuts and everything is cooked together, with the tamarind and other juices forming a thick sauce for the egg pieces. You have to try for yourself to know how good this tastes. If you want to cook this recipe at home, hunt down your embryo eggs at a Vietnamese greengrocer.