Centennial eggs - extravagant food from China, specific, unlike anything, with a fancy spicy taste. In the eyes of the average European, this food is not a delicacy at all, like, say, a fried tarantula from Cambodia, larvae of ants floating in the broth, from Mexico, the beating heart of a snake that has just been killed (Vietnam), raw Korean octopus (tentacles wriggle directly in a plate). On the globe there are many incomprehensible (sometimes terrible, sometimes beautiful) dishes for the look and taste. How can I make an egg? Cook, fry, eat raw, shake for an omelet - that's traditionally like that. And how in the Middle Kingdom approach this issue?
Chinese centenary eggs: what is it?
It is a canned product of long storage. The cooking process is as follows: a fresh egg (traditionally duck, but can be chicken, goose, quail, turkey) must be kept for a sufficiently long time (naturally, not a hundred, and especially not a thousand years) in a specially created highly alkaline environment without air. This process can be carried out in many ways, but the result is always the same - dark, almost black eggs with a gel-like (often transparent) protein structure and a yolk of a greenish (sometimes gray) color in a creamy state.
As a result of a complex of biochemical reactions, we get Chinese canned delicacies - centennial eggs, the taste of which changes radically in the process of preparation (preservation), additionally filling with a specific, as Europeans say, rotten smell. The yolk begins to smell like hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, and the black protein becomes almost transparent and salty in taste.
Traditional names of centenary eggs from China
In the country, this delicacy is called 皮蛋 in pinyin (transmission of sound in English - pidan, i.e., pidan), canned eggs, centenary eggs, millennial eggs, millennium egg.
In the process of canning (this is done with the help of special techniques), small crystalline patterns appear on a black squirrel, in general resembling a pine branch, which gave birth to another name - sunhuadan (Songhua - translated from traditional Chinese “pine flowers”, a tribute - translated “ egg "), pine-patterned egg. These eggs are called imperial, or the eggs of the Ming Dynasty.
Appearance story
Despite the unusual appearance (like an archaeological find from distant antiquity) of such a delicacy as black eggs, their appearance does not belong to ancient times (like almost everything in China). The method of preparation (preservation for long-term storage), which has come down to our time, was first recorded about six centuries ago, in the era of the Chinese Ming Dynasty.
This happened in Hunan. One homeowner found several duck eggs in a dried-out pool of slaked lime. They lay there for about two months, from the start of construction, when the lime was still liquid. He tried them and came to the conclusion that the product was unusual, most importantly edible, but the cooking process requires the addition of salt to improve the taste. Residents of the country believe that canned centenary eggs appeared that way.
Cooking methods
The most traditional and oldest in China is considered the following: lime is poured into the hot infusion of strong black tea, then table salt and fresh wood ash. Everything is thoroughly mixed to a pasty state. The mixture was allowed to cool overnight. This paste is carefully coated with eggs in several layers, rolled in rice chaff (husk) so that the layer is dense and thick, and left for five months.
Naturally, the process of preparing such a delicacy “in Chinese” as centenary eggs was constantly updated over the next six centuries.
What is pidan and sunhuadan today
In the Celestial Empire, extensive experience has been gained in the preparation of this product under production conditions, with all documents confirming the food authenticity of pidan and sunhuadan eggs. Although in the markets of any city, traditionally, right under the rays of the burning sun, centennial eggs, covered with rice chaff, made by hand according to the traditional method, are sold in large special baskets.
In stores in China, this product is sold in foam containers, the eggs there are already peeled from the outer layer, it remains only to wash them and remove the shell.
In the recent past, the content of lead in these products was limited at the legislative level in the country. Where is the lead from? It turns out that in modern conditions, eggs do not need to "mature" for so long if, when cooked at the right time, they will come into contact with lead oxide.
Experienced tourists already know that you need to buy pidan and sunhuadan only if there is a special symbol (without lead). Although experts say that the amount of lead contained in one egg will not be harmful to health - after all, no one eats this delicacy in dozens and does not (fortunately) feed the younger generation with such exotics in large quantities.
How to eat and serve these unusual products?
After washing under clean water and cleansing of a sufficiently hard shell, after making sure that it is whole (without cracks and chips), you do not need to hold the egg in your hands for a long time (if possible), give a little (although some experts advise up to fifteen minutes) lie to him so that the smell of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide is less strong, then cut into quarters.
Songhuadan eggs will be with a beautiful pattern, they are usually presented as surprises and gifts. In this case, it is useful to know that the more beautiful and more patterns on the egg, the traditionally higher its quality.
In Chinese restaurants (as in restaurants in most Asian countries), centenary eggs are never served in their pure form. The recipe for home cooking can be simple - pour the cut product with hot soy sauce with grated ginger or mix it with rice porridge. In these cases, the severity of taste and aftertaste will not be so strong (and unpleasant if you try them for the first time).
Shanghai Homemade Recipe
Ingredients:
- Pidan Eggs - 2 pcs.
- Sugar - 0.5 tbsp. spoons.
- Soy sauce (tender) - 2 tbsp. spoons.
Cooking process:
- Wash the eggs, remove the shell. Gently transfer the pidan onto a flat plate, cut into eight parts (the thinner the easier the Europeans are), beautifully decompose. You need to cut with a very thin knife, because the consistency of the yolk is oily-cream, sticks to the knife.
- Pour the eggs with soy sauce, sprinkle with sugar beautifully.
The dish is served cold, but can also be warmed, with rice.
Recipe for home cooking in the northern (almost European) style
Ingredients:
- Pidan eggs - 3 or 4 pieces.
- Bean curd (cheese) tofu - 0.5 kg (traditional packaging with a bar).
- Sesame oil - 1 teaspoon.
- Soy sauce - 1 tbsp. the spoon.
- Monosodium glutamate - at will and taste.
Cooking process:
- Wash the pidan eggs thoroughly, remove the shell. Carefully transfer them to a flat plate, cut into eight parts (as already mentioned, the thinner, the easier this dish is).
- Drain the brine from tofu by placing it on a strainer. Cut into neat cubes, the size of a centimeter, rinse in cold water, wait until the brine drains.
- Gently transfer the cut eggs into a shallow bowl, combine (very gently mix) with cubes of tofu bean curd, pour over soy sauce and sesame oil.