The eggs taste salty and tart, Cikowski says, and smell oddly like coffee beans. She and Kulp used them two ways, sticking to what they know best: fried chicken wings. For a Thai twist, they made a fish-sauce caramel with jalapeño, red onion, garlic, lemongrass, and sugar cooked together until sticky; after being fried the wings are glazed with the caramel and tossed with ant eggs and fried garlic bits. On top goes a garlicky aioli made with lemongrass and ant eggs (crushed together with a mortar and pestle, which Cikowski says makes the eggs smell like cumin), egg yolk, and the oil in which the garlic was fried, plus a bit of salt and vinegar.
Ant-Egg Mayo 1 teaspoon lemongrass, soft inside leaves only, minced 1 teaspoon dried ant eggs 1 egg yolk ½ cup garlic oil (from ant-egg crumble recipe) 1 cup rice bran oil (or other neutral oil) 1 teaspoon rice vinegar Salt to taste In a mortar and pestle, combine the lemongrass and dehydrated ant eggs and grind until the ant eggs are combined with the lemongrass into a paste. In a bowl, combine the ant egg and lemongrass mixture with the egg yolk and slowly trickle in the garlic oil and rice bran oil while whisking vigorously to create a mayonnaise. (Add a splash of water if the mixture becomes too thick.) Add the vinegar and season with salt to taste.
