Century eggs. Recipes of Chinese cuisine

Century eggs - extravagant food from China, specific, nothing like that, with a bizarre sharp taste. In the opinion of an ordinary European, this food - and not a delicacy at all, like, say, a fried tarantula from Cambodia, ant larvae floating in broth, from Mexico, the beating heart of a snake just killed (Vietnam), raw Korean octopus (tentacles coil straight in a plate). On the globe there are many incomprehensible (otherwise terrible, sometimes beautiful) for the sight and taste of dishes. How can I make an egg? Boil, fry, eat raw, shake for an omelette - that's traditional. And how in the Celestial Empire approach this issue?

Chinese Centenary Eggs: What is it?

This is a preserved product of long-term storage. The process of preparation is as follows: a fresh egg (traditionally duck, but can be chicken, goose, quail, turkey) should be maintained for a sufficiently long time (naturally, not a hundred, let alone thousands of years) in a specially created high alkaline environment without air access. This process can be multivariate, but the result is always the same - dark, almost black eggs with a gel-like (often transparent) protein structure and yolk of a greenish (sometimes gray) color in a creamy state.

As a result of a complex of biochemical reactions, Chinese canned delicacies are obtained-century-old eggs whose taste varies radically during the process of preparation (preservation), supplementing themselves with a peculiar, as the Europeans say, a rotten smell. The yolk begins to smell of 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 pinyin (the transmission of sound in English - pidan, i.e., pidan), canned eggs, century-old eggs, thousand-year-old eggs, the millennium egg.

In the process of canning (this is done with the help of special techniques), black crystalline patterns appear on the black squirrel, generally resembling a pine branch, which gave rise to one more name - sunhuadan (sunghua - translated from the traditional Chinese "pine-tree flowers", tribute - Egg "), a pine-patterned egg. These eggs are called Imperial, or Ming dynasty eggs.

History of appearance

Despite the unusual appearance (like an archaeological find from a distant past) of such a delicacy as black eggs, their appearance does not belong to the extreme antiquity (like practically everything in China). The method of preparation (conservation for long-term storage), which has survived to our time, was first recorded about six centuries ago, during the era of the Chinese Ming dynasty.

This happened in Hunan Province. One landlord found several duck eggs in a dried puddle of hydrated lime. They lay there for about two months, from the beginning of construction, when the lime was still liquid. He tried them and came to the conclusion that the product turned out to be unusual, most importantly - edible, but the cooking process requires the addition of salt to improve the taste. Residents of the country believe that canned hundred-year-old eggs appeared exactly this way.

Methods of preparation

The most traditional and the most ancient in China is the following: in the hot infusion of strong black tea lime is poured, then the salt and fresh wood ash. All is thoroughly mixed until the pasty state. The mixture is allowed to cool overnight. This paste is gently smeared in several layers with eggs, rolled in rice chaff (husk), so that the layer is thick and thick, and left for five months.

Naturally, the process of making such a delicacy "in Chinese", like a hundred-year-old eggs, was constantly renewed during the next six centuries.

What is Pidan and Sunhuadan today?

In the Middle Kingdom, a great experience has been accumulated in the preparation of this product in production conditions, with all the documents confirming the food authenticity of the pidan eggs and suhuadan. Although in the markets of any city, traditionally right under the rays of the burning sun in the large special baskets are sold centennial eggs covered with rice chaff, made by hand according to the traditional method.

In Chinese shops, this product is sold in foam containers, eggs have already been cleaned from the outer layer, it remains only to wash them and remove the shell.

In the recent past, the level of lead in these products has been limited at the legislative level. Where does lead come from? It turns out that in modern conditions, eggs do not need to "lie down" for so long, if they are in contact with lead oxide when they are cooked at the right time.

Experienced tourists already know that you need to buy pidan and suhuadan only if there is a special symbol (without lead). Although experts say that the amount of lead that is contained in one egg does not hurt health - because no one eats this delicacy in dozens and does not feed (fortunately) the growing generation of such exotic things in large quantities.

How to eat and with what to serve these unusual products?

Wash it under clean water and clean it off from a hard enough shell, after making sure that it is whole (without cracks and chips), the egg does not have to be kept in hands for long (if possible), give a little (although some experts advise up to fifteen minutes) Lie down to him, so that the smell of ammonia and hydrogen sulphide is less strong, then cut into quarters.

Sunhuadan eggs will be beautifully painted, 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 well as restaurants in most Asian countries), never give in their pure form centenary eggs. 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).

Recipe for home cooking in Shanghai

Ingredients:

1. Eggs pidan - 2 pcs.
2. Sugar - 0.5 tbsp. Spoons.
3. Soy sauce (tender) - 2 tbsp. Spoons.

Cooking process:

1. Wash eggs, remove shell. To transfer gently the pudan on a flat plate, cut into eight pieces (the thinner, the easier it is for Europeans to eat), beautifully to decompose. To cut it is necessary very thin knife as the consistency of yolk is oily-cream, sticks to the knife.
2. Sprinkle eggs with soy sauce, sprinkle with sugar.

The dish is served cold, but it can also be heated, with rice.

Recipe for home cooking in the northern (almost European) style

Ingredients:

1. Eggs pidan - 3 or 4 pieces.
2. Soy cottage cheese (cheese) tofu - 0,5 kg (traditional packing with a bar).
3. Sesame oil - 1 teaspoon.
4. Soy sauce - 1 tbsp. a spoon.
5. Glutamate sodium - at will and taste.

Cooking process:

1. Wash the eggs thoroughly, remove the shell. Transfer them carefully to a flat plate, cut into eight pieces (as already mentioned, the thinner, the easier this dish is).
2. Drain the brine from the tofu, shifting it to a strainer. Cut into neat cubes, the size of a centimeter, rinse in cold water, wait for the brine to drain.
3. Gently transfer the cut eggs into a shallow bowl, combine (very gently stir) with tofu cube cubes, pour on soy sauce and sesame oil.