Chinese duck eggs

[Kerouac1964]

Hi gang!

I've recently purchased preserved duck eggs, and I'm unsure on how to prepare them.

I did find some information that preserved eggs should be steamed for 10 min, and salted eggs (soft) should be hard-boiled for 15 min. Are these guidlines correct?

Also, any recipe ideas would be appreciated!

[SobaAddict70]

Use them as a topping for congee.

Preserved duck eggs, chopped scallions, white pepper, sesame oil.

Cheers,

Soba

[Louisa Chu]

No need to cook preserved duck eggs. They're cured so they're ready to eat. Typically in Chinese cuisine they're just sliced and served as appetizers. Or as SobaAddict70 suggested with congee. Let me think about this one too because I've always loved them and thought there could be more interesting ways to serve them. They're very earthy with a rich texture but subtle flavour.

[tissue]

Slice them and serve them with soft tofu, cold. Sprinkle some scallions and drizzle soy sauce.

If you want, you can add bonito flakes.

[torakris]

my MIL loves these, I have to admit it took me a couple years to get to that point .

Everyhting I use them for has pretty much been mentioned,

congee

cold tofu topping

plain

also salady type dishes with and/or

tomatoes

cucumbers

jellyfish shreds

[tonkichi]

Some Shanghainese restaurants have fresh river prawns in a creamy salted-egg sauce. Lovely...

[Shiewie]

Steamed Triple Egg Custard

Ingredients

1 tbsp minced garlic

2 tbsps canola oil

1 preserved duck egg (thousand-year old egg or "pei tan"), coarsely chopped

1 salted duck egg, yolk only, coarsely chopped

3 large eggs

1 cup water

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp ground white pepper

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp chopped scallions (green onions)

Directions

1. Heat oil in a pan and fry minced garlic in oil until golden and crispy. Remove from pan and set aside.

2. Scatter chopped preserved egg and salted egg yolk on the bottom on a heat-proof dish (approx. 8-inch).

3. Beat eggs lightly in a medium bowl. Add water, salt and white pepper and stir to blend (the custard should not be foamy). Pour the custard over the ingredients in the heat-proof dish.

4. Prepare a wok for steaming. Set the dish into steamer basket, cover the wok and steam until custard is firm, about 10 to 15 minutes.

5. Combine fried garlic and oil with soy sauce and pour over steamed custard. Garnish with chopped scallions and serve.

[tissue]

Make spinach with gold/silver egg sauce. It's very delicious.

[cabrales]

Use them as a topping for congee.

Preserved duck eggs, chopped scallions, white pepper, sesame oil.

Soba has described my favorite method for sampling preserved ducks' eggs. In the congee, an optional additional ingredient might be salted pork (sometimes with a sheddy-type texture).

The simplicity of the congee base facilitates a sampling of the gelantinous-type texture of the egg "white" portion (the color is not white, of course).

[Jon Tseng]

As an aside, the yolk of preserved eggs has a wonderful gooey-crumbly texture which I haven't seen anywhere else

they're lush!

J

[tonkichi]

Use them as a topping for congee.

Preserved duck eggs, chopped scallions, white pepper, sesame oil.

Soba has described my favorite method for sampling preserved ducks' eggs. In the congee, an optional additional ingredient might be salted pork (sometimes with a sheddy-type texture).

The simplicity of the congee base facilitates a sampling of the gelantinous-type texture of the egg "white" portion (the color is not white, of course).

another optional ingredient is the "pei tan" or century egg. I think the black and white colours of the salted and century egg are so appealing.

Edited April 7, 2003 by tonkichi (log)

[davidthomas8779]

Are preserved duck eggs supposed to smell strongly of ammonia? I picked some up at my local market and they smelled like urine. Couldn't get past the smell to appreciate anything about the taste.

[tonkichi]

Are preserved duck eggs supposed to smell strongly of ammonia?  I picked some up at my local market and they smelled like urine.  Couldn't get past the smell to appreciate anything about the taste.

i don't remember the smell of ammonia, but usually someone does the cooking, i just enjoy the end result.

[torakris]

Are preserved duck eggs supposed to smell strongly of ammonia?  I picked some up at my local market and they smelled like urine.  Couldn't get past the smell to appreciate anything about the taste.

the ones I am familiar with do have an ammonia odor, it some time to get used to that.

[tonkichi]

i would also like to add that traditionally, the eggs were preserved in horse urine. Nowadays horses are not common, so they may have just substituted an ammonia-containing solution.

[tissue]

For the salty duck eggs, you can make a meat dish:

Mix with ground pork and garlic and steam the whole thing.

[tonkichi]

For the salty duck eggs, you can make a meat dish:

Mix with ground pork and garlic and steam the whole thing.

remember to stir water into the egg mixture before steaming.. otherwise the dish will be dry.

[Ruth]

The best preserved duck eggs I have ever had were simply quartered and served as

an appetiser at the Yang Kee restaurant in Hong Kong (famous for its roast goose). They had a distinctive and quite strong aroma but I detected no ammonia. On the few occasions I tried them in New York's Chinatown they had an unpleasant soapy flavor. I would love to know if there is anywhere in New York where one can buy a really good preserved egg.

Ruth Friedman

Edited April 12, 2003 by Ruth (log)

[tonkichi]

msg deleted

Edited April 12, 2003 by tonkichi (log)

[Kerouac1964]

Hi all ~

I just wanted to thank everybody for the serving suggestions. I finally got brave enough to try one, and sampled the first one plain.

It was wonderful!

the gelatinous texture of the white (which was a very curious opaque dark amber, that looks black from a distance). Not over salty, just the right amount.

The best part was the rich, creamy tasting yolk.

I can't wait to try one in my morning bowl or congee or Pho.

[soyamiso]

I have two recipes for making salty eggs (eggs soaked in brine). My question is: should I put a tight sealing lid on the jar or just cover the jar with cheese cloth? One recipe suggests the cheesecloth. The other recipe did not say.

Also, under what topic is this preserved egg thread posted? I came here directly from Yahoo Search. I'm a newbie and would like to know how to navigate this site.

[Gary Soup]

Hi gang!

I've recently purchased preserved duck eggs, and I'm unsure on how to prepare them.

I did find some information that preserved eggs should be steamed for 10 min, and salted eggs (soft) should be hard-boiled for 15 min.  Are these guidlines correct?

Also, any recipe ideas would be appreciated!

Here's just about all you need to know about preserved eggs (pidan):

Egg Preservation in China

Note the statement "The eggs are eaten without cooking". (This is from a scientist).

The only ways of using preserved eggs (a.k.a. "1000 year old eggs") I know of are as a topping for zhou (congee) or cutting in quarters or eighths lengthwise and served as an appetizer for eating from hand (or chopsticks).

The stuff about "horse urine" is an old canard, IMHO.

[Gary Soup]

I have two recipes for making salty eggs (eggs soaked in brine).  My question is:  should I put a tight sealing lid on the jar or just cover the jar with cheese cloth?  One recipe suggests the cheesecloth.  The other recipe did not say.

Also, under what topic is this preserved egg thread posted?  I came here directly from Yahoo Search.  I'm a newbie and would like to know how to navigate this site.

Oops, I mistakenly responded to an older post (see immediately above). I think the same linked information might be useful to you. Note that for salty eggs (simple method) it says to SEAL the container.

[soyamiso]

Thank you Gary Soup.

[trillium]

I have two recipes for making salty eggs (eggs soaked in brine).  My question is:  should I put a tight sealing lid on the jar or just cover the jar with cheese cloth?  One recipe suggests the cheesecloth.  The other recipe did not say.

Also, under what topic is this preserved egg thread posted?  I came here directly from Yahoo Search.  I'm a newbie and would like to know how to navigate this site.

Hi there and welcome. The easiest is to just put them in a container with a lid. We just did our first batch of salted duck eggs and added a bit of ti kuan yin leaves (oolong tea) to the brine because we were told that it helped make the yolks oilier. I don't know if this is really true, but they're delicious.

To figure out how the site is organized you can click on above on egullet.com and that will take you to the front page for all of the discussion catagories.

regards,

trillium