What do you do when you have one or more egg yolks leftover from a recipe that only uses egg whites? Cure them! Here’s the original version of this recipe.

Now, what do you do with cured egg yolks? They add a nice touch of umami to your dishes. You can grate them on top of pasta, dissolve shavings into soup or sauce to add a little body, crumble over veggies, add shavings on a dish that could benefit from a pop of color, or maybe even use as seasoning on a fried egg if you’re feeling meta. If you like eggs, give this one a try!

The trick to this is to keep the yolk(s) whole. If a yolk breaks, you’ll just have to do something else with it like make scrambled eggs or brush it on bread dough.

1 3/4 cups kosher salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 large egg yolks
Nonstick vegetable oil spray

If you just have one yolk:
1 egg yolk
.43 c. salt (just under half c.)
1/3 c. sugar

Whisk together the salt and sugar to combine. Evenly spread out half of salt mixture in an 8×8″ glass or ceramic baking dish.

Using a spoon or your fingers, create a depression for each yolk in the salt mixture, spacing evenly. (If you’re just doing a single yolk, you can use a small bowl.)

Carefully place a large egg yolk in each depression. Gently sprinkle the remaining salt mixture on top and tightly wrap the dish with plastic. Refrigerate for four days.

Preheat the oven to 150F. If your oven doesn’t go that low, you can set it for its lowest setting (mine is 170F) and try a shorter baking time.

Brush the salt mixture off each yolk, then carefully rinse under cold water to remove any remaining salt. The yolks will be semi-firm, bright, and translucent. They might be slightly tacky — this is fine; just be gentle. If there is any bit of white remaining attached, you can gently pull it free now. Gently pat dry with a paper towel.

Set a wire rack inside a rimmed baking sheet and grease with nonstick vegetable oil spray. Place each yolk on the rack and set in the oven. Bake until the yolks are opaque and have a texture similar to firm cheese, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. (Alternatively, if your oven doesn’t go that low, you can dry out the yolks in an unheated oven for 2 days.)

Let cool. Place in an airtight container and chill. Use within a month.