May 1, 2005
Chinese preserved eggs

Published in American Chamber of Commerce Wine and Dine Magazine - Taipei Feb 2005

Century and Salted Duck Eggs

A quirky new ingredient for food fashionistas ?

The Chinese art of preserving eggs by alkaline fermentation is one of the most unique styles of food preservation documented . Eggs, used globally in both western and Asian food are of particular importance both nutritionally and historically but are admired by culinary experts in east and west for different reasons. To discover that eggs, so eagerly employed in the west for their ability to foam, emulsify and bind are praised in Asia for their symbolic similarity to the moon and as a symbol for luck and fertility makes the humble egg gain street credibility. The food culture of east and west are so profoundly different but this adds a fascinating dimension to living and eating in the region. So strange to newcomers in Asia are the dark brown translucent ‘whites’ of Thousand year eggs with their greenish black globular yolks that they are often rejected without sampling. This seems mainly to do with the color as some eggs in poor light especially look almost black. This is not normally an indication that the food will be safe to eat. Eggs that are old also have a well earned reputation for smelling and tasting bad if they are even slightly off. The name suggest an age a lot older than the actual fermentation process of around one hundred days.

Preserved eggs for sale in a Balinese food market

Although alternative methods of preserving eggs can be found in other cuisines like drying and freezing these are relatively recent. Shelled boiled hens eggs, pickled in vinegar and sold as a beer snack in the British Isles are fading in popularity as the market is flooded with new snack products. Although the preparation of eggs worldwide has many variations and themes it is the Chinese who have come up with the most unique product of all. It must be assumed that years of starvation, hard winters and poverty drove people to push boundaries with food preservation and as eggs were plentiful in season and their nutritional contribution to the diet understood they were an ideal food to preserve. The Chinese have a unrivalled history of eating so many different animals and parts of ( chicken feet, ducks tongues, fish heads, roots even earth have been included in the diet in times of food shortage. Their ingenuity with eggs is perhaps a throw back to that era.

Whilst in the west many of the preserved foods made traditionally before refrigerators and freezers were developed have been modified to suit a modern diet ( less sugar and salt ) it seems that little has changed in the preservation of eggs.

Even though many homes here are equipped with fridges and freezers the Chinese are still avid consumers of preserved eggs. In many cultures where traditionally food was preserved for basic human survival especially in winter months the flavors of those foods become so entrenched in the diet that they continue to be eaten even though they are available fresh year round. Their taste and texture adding welcome diversity to the diet.

There are two distinct types of preserved eggs found in stores in Taiwan, salted duck eggs which can be purchased either raw or cooked and thousand year or century eggs. Other styles of serving whole eggs such as red-braising or simmering in tea are also common but do not preserve the eggs in any way.

Xian dan - Salted eggs

Preserving duck eggs in a brine solution was discovered to be a safe method for increasing their useable life and made them easier to transport. Duck eggs are naturally higher in pathogenic (microorganisms which cause food poisoning) bacteria and spoil quickly even when freshly laid. Hens eggs which have gained in popularity because of their lower fat content are also used nowadays but this is a recent trend. To prepare Xian dan eggs are soaked in brine for more than a month, some are soaked for a shorter time and then encased in salted mud and straw.

By soaking the eggs in brine the whites became firmer and the yolk denser as water is drawn out of the eggs by osmosis. Because of the natural bacteria in eggs they must still boiled for ten minutes before eating or used raw in dishes that will then be cooked. After this many recipes will just take the cooked crumbled yolk as form of seasoning as in pork dumplings and the white will be discarded. Preserved duck eggs are still very popular still in Taiwan and used extensively for cake fillings for mid-autumn moon festival. There are many different fillings but those containing duck egg yolks are favored. These are often combined with a sweet red bean paste that will counter the saltiness in the egg but also adds a smooth creaminess to the crumbly yolk. In recent years moon cake vendors compete for new and innovative fillings and ideas to gain the most business but a cake without the duck egg yolk, considered by many to be a scandal. The popularity of these eggs perhaps dwindling with younger more cosmopolitan Taiwanese but are still very much part of the diet here. In any traditional market wherever fresh eggs are sold, so will preserved, and the same is true of more contemporary supermarkets. New gourmet food stores like Jason’s also stock preserved eggs such is the demand for them in the local diet. When trying these for the first time a newcomer will find salted eggs to have an unusual flavor that marries well with other ingredients. The white although perfectly safe to eat is often discarded in preference for the yolk. The whites take on a slightly rubbery texture during the preserving process is considered to be quite tasteless and is rarely used. Once the eggs have been salted they will keep for several months. Salted eggs are sold raw or cooked by vendors.

Pi Dan - Thousand year eggs

These eggs belong to a unusual group of alkaline fermented foods that are mostly found in Southeast Asian and African countries. Almost black in color and with a gooey greenish yolk these eggs are often avoided by westerners who dislike the color, smell and texture they develop during fermentation. The color, translucency and texture of the yolk which especially when raw looks most unappetizing is improved when the eggs are boiled. They do in fact have an attractive mild creamy flavor hence their popularity.

Bad press
If you mention Thousand year eggs, Century eggs or Pi dan the three names by which the same product is known as you may get a common response that these eggs are cured in mixture of horse urine and mud. Research reveals this is simply not the case. It may well be that disreputable traders may have tried this out. The contamination of foods by producers trying to make a quick buck is common worldwide. The first UK law to protect consumers from food adulteration was passed way back in the 12th Century. Here to assure skeptics is a recipe for these eggs using easily obtainable ingredients.

Here is a simple recipe for making these eggs

Ingredients

2 cups very strong black tea
1/3 cup Salt
2 cups pine wood ashes
2 cups charcoal ashes from the fireplace
1 cup Lime* (available in garden stores)
12 Fresh duck eggs

Method
Combine all the ingredients together apart from the eggs. Thickly coat each egg completely with this clay-like mixture. Line a large crock (ceramic pot) with garden soil and carefully lay coated eggs on top. Cover with more soil and place crock in a cool dark place. Allow to cure for 100 days. To remove coating, scrape eggs and rinse under running water to clean thoroughly. Crack lightly and remove shells. The white of the egg will appear a grayish, translucent color and have a gelatinous texture. The yolk, when sliced, will be a grayish-green color. To serve, cut into wedges and serve with tofu and soy sauce.
Adapted from the "The Regional Cooking of China" by Margaret Gin and Alfred E. Castle, 101 Productions, San Francisco, 1975.
Pi dan are eaten locally here as a side dish or an accompaniment to a meal. Often served with tofu and soy sauce or simply on their own.
In a modern context

Convinced that these eggs must be used by top chefs here, I asked Johnny Liaou (chef de Cuisine) at the Grand Hyatt’s Shanghai Court Restaurant to cook for me. He prepared two dishes which are on their current menu. The first we sampled was a stunning green crab bought into Taipei from their purchasing department from the waters surrounding the Penghu Islands. These are not prolific and therefore not found in the local markets in Taipei. Described on the menu as ‘wok fried green crab with salty duck egg yolk, chili and fragrant salt’ we asked the chef to run through the preparation method. First the crab was coated in cornstarch and deep fried for barely a minute in soy bean oil in which time it turns a glorious deep red. The crab is then removed from the oil, drained and cut into four sections. In another wok the chef adds very finely chopped ginger, garlic, spring onion and stir fries until soft. The crab goes back in the pan with a beaten raw salted egg yolk which coats all the surfaces now exposed. Then served to customers immediately with a garnish of deep fried onion slivers, coriander spring onion and chili. This crab is so fresh and sweet that it complements the saltiness of the duck egg yolk. Together they develop a creamy mouth feel which is heavenly. As the meat is sucked from claws and shoulder joints the taste is sensational, with food like this I understand why on a Tuesday at 2pm in the afternoon the restaurant is still packed . The chef admits that this is not a strictly traditional dish but a contemporary version of a Shanghai dish using the best ingredients that Taiwan has to offer.

Attention to detail

The second dish we are offered is a simpler affair made with fava beans and one of the most popular vegetables dishes currently on the current menu. Fava beans have a very short season so the Hyatt import as much as they can store when its available from Mainland China, and then freeze for use in the restaurant. Such is the attention to detail that the chef would not even consider substituting a different bean in this dish. The beans are sautéed with spring onion, finely chopped mustard greens and raw salted duck egg yolk. The egg yolk again here forms the seasoning element but when the dish is ready a couple of tablespoons of diced cooked egg yolk is added. The combination of complimentary flavors here again are superb and this dish definitely has the ‘wow factor’.

An unusual method

The third dish we were presented with did not contain preserved eggs but the chef wanted us to try it anyway. Disappointment, that a salted duck or Century egg was not included soon disappeared as our third dish arrived. When the ‘wok fried cod fillet with onions, Yunan ham and egg white sauce’ was placed on the table I could see that this was different. Here a most unusual presentation method of including beaten egg whites had been used. This dish is a classic example of the type of fusion dishes that innovative Taiwanese chefs are currently developing. This dish is traditionally made with a local fish yellow croaker which has very soft flesh and little flavor hence its popularity in sweet and sour dishes. Yellow croaker is inexpensive and hard to sell in a restaurant of this high standard. So the chef uses finest imported cod which has a firmer fuller flavored flesh. First the cod is placed in a classic Chinese marinade of ginger, spring onion and garlic. Drained and coated in corn starch the fish is stir fried with some sliced white onion and then removed from the wok. Immediately half a cup of delicate chicken stock is added to the pan and then the cod mixture is returned along with some stiffly beaten egg whites. This is stir fried over a high heat for a short time, garnished with crumbled Yunan ham and gingko nuts. The dish is so light as the egg white barely sets and in the mouth literally melts with the tender fish flesh.

A rightful place in world gastronomy

Whether or not you are fortunate enough to have already discovered the delights of Chinese preserved eggs I thoroughly recommend sampling the dishes reviewed at the Shanghai Court Restaurant on the 4th floor at the Grand Hyatt Taipei. They are some of the finest examples of modern Chinese cooking to be found.

For me experimentation with these eggs will continue. Already ‘tuna nicoise with seared sashimi tuna with thousand year eggs and sesame dressing’ is now firmly in my repertoire and in future I shall also be using salted duck egg yolks to season and thicken sauces.

Four years ago I couldn’t have written this article but having immersed myself into the delights of Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese ingredients and cuisine I find most of my initial reserve has faded. Instead living here has opened many doors and challenged many organoleptic boundaries. The fusion movement although in its infancy here but with more classic chefs like Liao setting the standards for his protégée with classic ingredients like preserved eggs the possibilities are endless. The fusion of styles here is not simply the classic European mixed with the flavors of Asia it also takes essential elements of Mainland Chinese with Taiwanese and a dose of Japanese - the result ? like nothing you will have ever tried before.

Shanghai Court Restaurant : 4th floor, Grand Hyatt Hotel 2 Song Shou Road, Taipei Tel: (02) 2720 1200
www.taipei.grand.hyatt.com

Shirlee Posner is a freelance food writer and member of the UK Guild of Food Writers. She has been eating and living in Taipei and other parts of Asia for the past four years. If you would like to contact the author you may do so via her website www.shirleeposner.com.