Century egg

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Century egg sliced open.
Century egg sliced open.

The century egg, also known as preserved egg, hundred-year egg, thousand-year egg, thousand-year-old egg, (Chinese: 皮蛋; pinyin: pídàn; literally "springy egg", or, Chinese: 松花蛋; pinyin: sōnghuādàn; literally "pine-patterned egg") ; (Vietnamese: hột vịt bách thảo) ; (Thai: ไข่เยี่ยวม้า khai-yiew-ma)) is a Chinese delicacy made by preserving duck, chicken or quail eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime, and rice straw for several weeks to several months, depending on the method of processing. The yolk of the egg is concentrically variegated in pale and dark green colors while the egg white is dark brown and transparent, like cola. The yolk is creamy with a strong aroma and an almost cheese-like flavor. The egg white has a gelatinous texture similar to cooked egg white, but has very little taste. Some eggs have patterns near the surface of the egg white which are likened to pine branches.

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[edit] Production

The origin of the method for creating century eggs likely came about through placing eggs in mud made from alkaline clay and water in order to preserve eggs in times of plenty. The clay hardens around the egg and likely resulted in the curing and creation of century eggs instead of spoiled eggs.

Century egg without shell. Note the snow-flake pattern at the tip of the egg.
Century egg without shell. Note the snow-flake pattern at the tip of the egg.

[edit] Traditional

The traditional method for producing century eggs is a development and improvement from the aforementioned primitive process. Instead of using just clay, a mixture of wood ash, quicklime, and salt is included in the plastering mixture, thereby increasing the pH and sodium content of the clay mixture. This addition of natural alkaline compounds improved the odds of creating century eggs instead of spoilage and also increased the speed of the process. A recipe for creating century eggs through this process starts with the infusion of three pounds of tea in boiling water. To the tea, three pounds of quicklime (or seven pounds when the operation is performed in winter), nine pounds of sea-salt, and seven pounds of wood ash from burning oak is mixed together into a smooth paste. Each egg is then individually covered by hand, with gloves being worn to prevent the corrosive action of the lime on skin. Each egg is then rolled in a mass of rice chaff to keep the eggs from adhering to one another before they are placed in cloth-covered jars or tightly woven baskets. In about three months, the mud slowly dries and hardens into a crust, and then the eggs are ready for consumption. The recipe makes around 100 to 150 century eggs.

[edit] Modern

Even though the traditional method is still widely practiced, modern understanding of the chemistry behind the formation of century eggs has led to many simplifications in the recipe. For instance soaking the eggs in a brine of salt and lye for 10 days followed by several weeks of aging while wrapped in plastic is said to achieve the same effect as the traditional method. This is true to the extent that egg curing in both new and traditional methods is accomplished by introducing alkali hydroxide ions and sodium into the egg. Connoisseurs, however, argue that the use of different tea, wood ashes and local clay gives the century eggs a more delectable taste and a characteristic terroir.

Although extremely poisonous, lead oxide is also known to increase the curing speed of century eggs and is thus added to the curing mixture by some century egg producers in China, which is the world's largest producer of century eggs. Most consumers typically request "lead-free" century eggs. Some have even used zinc as a replacement which is an essential mineral in our diets.[citation needed]

[edit] Use

Arranged century egg on a plate
Arranged century egg on a plate

Century eggs can be eaten without further preparation. As an hors d'œuvre, the Cantonese wrap chunks of this egg with slices of pickled ginger root (sometimes sold on a stick as street food). A Shanghainese recipe mixes chopped century eggs with chilled tofu. In Taiwan it is popular to eat century eggs on top of cold tofu with katsuobushi, soy sauce, and sesame oil in a style similar to Japanese Hiyayakko. A variation of this recipe common in northern China is to slice century eggs over chilled silken tofu, adding liberal quantities of shredded young ginger and chopped spring onions as a topping, and then drizzling light soy sauce and sesame oil over the dish, to taste. Century eggs may also be eaten on their own as a side dish. They are also used in a dish called old-and-fresh eggs, where chopped century eggs are combined with (or used to top) an omelet made with fresh eggs.

Many Chinese households cut them up into tiny cubes and cook them with rice porridge to create Century egg congee (Chinese: 皮蛋瘦肉粥; pinyin: pídàn shòuròu zhōu). Rice congee, lean pork, and century egg are the main ingredients. Peeled century eggs are cut into quarters or eighths and simmered together with the seasoned marinated lean slivers of pork until both ingredients are cooked into the rice congee. Fried dough sticks known as youtiao are commonly eaten with century egg congee.

On special events, like wedding banquets or birthday parties, a first course platter of sliced barbecued pork, pickled baby leeks, sliced abalone, pickled Julienned carrots, pickled julienned daikon radish, seasoned julienned jellyfish, sliced pork, head cheese and the quartered century eggs is served. This is called a lahng-poon in Cantonese, which simply means cold dish.

[edit] Myth

According to a persistent myth, century eggs are or once were prepared by soaking eggs in horse urine. However, this is not plausible since urine is usually acidic or very weakly alkaline, and the myth may arise from the ammonia smell created during some production processes.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

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