I ate my first solei in Hamburg.

In a pretty dark bar somewhere in the Schanzenviertel.

I had no idea what was floating in the big jar on the counter, at first glance it looked like a preparation someone had stolen from pathology.

My buddy had to persuade me first - but then it happened to me.

What a great salty and spicy snack at three thirty in the morning after a half dozen or more beers!

Peter Badenhop

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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I don't have such opportunities to satisfy the classic craving for alcohol that often anymore.

On the one hand I rarely make it to half past three, on the other hand the glasses with the salt eggs have become quite rare.

In the pubs there are at most a few chips, and the young people prefer to go to the kebab shop.

But there's nothing wrong with making the glass pub snack that was once widespread almost everywhere in Germany available in your home kitchen from time to time - preferably in an updated version, which I have to thank the author and food blogger Stevan Paul for.

He produces cookbooks non-stop, and last year he presented the recipe for a soy egg in one of them.

I've changed it up a bit in the meantime and would now like to recommend it to all salt-bathing friends.

The list of ingredients is short:

You need four medium eggs, water, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, light and black sesame seeds, watercress, wasabi and sushi mayonnaise, and trout caviar.

And a bit in advance, because the eggs have to soak for two days if possible.

So, first boil the eggs for seven to eight minutes, rinse and let them cool in cold water.

Then boil 100 milliliters of water with soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and syrup and also allow to cool.

Finally, peel the eggs, put them in a large glass filled with the brew and put them in the fridge.

Before serving, toast the sesame seeds in a pan without fat and chop the cress.

Put together in a bowl and mix.

Then take the eggs out of the broth and roll them in the sesame-cress mix while they are still wet.

Now carefully halve the eggs and place four halves in a deep plate, mix the wasabi and mayonnaise and put a dollop on the egg yolks, drape the caviar on top and serve, if you like.

These brine eggs 2.0 go very well with sushi and Japanese-spiced cucumbers, but they also taste great with very lightly toasted toast.

If you want it colorful, you can use the same amount of heavily salted beetroot juice for the broth instead of soy sauce - this not only makes the eggs red, but also gives them an interesting, earthy-sweet aroma.