Cured egg yolks sit comfortably in the Venn diagram overlap of dishes which are a) easy to make b) beautiful to look at and c) brimming with flavour. They've been enjoyed for centuries in parts of Asia, but they've taken on a newfound popularity here, with fine dining chefs using them to garnish dishes and their pop of vibrant amber making them perfect for social media.

Curing egg yolks is pretty straightforward; the goal is to draw out the water, transforming the texture until it's jammy and spreadable or completely firm, deepening the colour and intensifying the flavour. Once cured, the yolks can be used to finish dishes (perhaps grated, like in our carbonara recipe, which also includes steps for those new to curing) or eaten raw on everything from toast and rice to kale pesto courgetti (an Amy Elles recipe which includes a speedy hot brine method).

You might have already tried curing eggs in salt, a simple process which involves making wells in a layer of salt, dropping in the yolks and covering them with more salt, before leaving them to cure for a few days. But there are all sorts of liquids that will not only do the same job, but also infuse their unique flavours, whether that's spicy and sweet or funky and fermented. Wet cures are also often speedier, sometimes needing only a few hours, and usually create a softer, fudgier texture. A couple of quick tips – make sure your yolks are fully submerged in whichever liquid you plump for, and use large egg yolks, as they'll shrink as they dehydrate.

Salty soy sauce will perhaps be the most familiar cure on this list – it's a go-to for chefs and easy to recreate at home. The yolks take on the umami and fermented notes from the soy and become incredibly savoury. It's also an easy way of introducing more nuance into your cure; Masaki Sugisaki adds mirin and sake to soy sauce before letting his yolks sit in the mixture for just a few hours (he then uses them to top Wagyu beef), while Nud Dudhia takes a similar approach for his beef tartare tostadas, swapping mirin for sugar. Garlic, ginger, chilli and kombu would also work well.

The punchy spicy-meets-sweet balance of hot honey with the creamy richness of egg yolks makes for a winning combination, as far as we're concerned. The condiment has become hot stuff of late, with chefs and home cooks alike reaching for it – for more on how to make the most of it, head this way. Simply submerge your yolks in hot honey and wait for the magic to happen – in our recipe above, we've put them on top of chive cottage cheese on toasted sourdough (a recipe you're big fans of, it seems – our video on Instagram has been watched by over three million people so far).

The fermented saltiness of fish sauce makes it ideal for curing; it imparts a pungency that turns the yolks into discs of earthy, savoury flavour. To balance out the saltiness, heat the fish sauce gently with sugar before letting it cool again and covering the yolks. Perfect enjoyed simply on a bowl of hot rice.   

If you've got a head for heat, infusing your yolks with hot sauce is the way to go – why not try giving them the distinctive, garlicky hit of Sriracha, or the tang of a vinegar-based sauce. Once they've reached your preferred texture, enjoy them with the flavours that you'd usually pair with the sauces, whether that's a coriander and spring onion-heavy rice dish, or crispy fried chicken bites.

As though egg yolks weren't full of enough umami goodness, curing them in Worcestershire sauce takes things up another notch, delivering an intense savouriness which is hard to beat. Use them to finish a beef tartare, create a next level cheese toastie or add an extra layer of flavour to a Caesar salad.

The funky saltiness of miso will give cured yolks a lovely depth of flavour. Follow the steps that you would with salt – create wells in a layer of miso paste, place the yolks in them and then cover them with another layer of miso. Be careful to make sure your paste isn't so heavy that it weighs down and breaks the yolks.

The effort to reward ratio is pretty positive when it comes to curing egg yolks – all it really takes is a bit of patience. After more curing inspiration? Head this way.