The 100-year egg taste test

[Deleted]

I have been passing by the "century eggs" in the Chinese stores for many years, as they appeared to be only moderately appealing. I remember seeing a scene in the Belgian film Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea 20 years ago where Stephen Rea, stranded on a bankrupt cargo ship in the port of Hong Kong, orders century eggs in a local greasy spoon. At first they are hesitant about serving him. "Do you really know what these eggs are?" But he does, and he eats them with gusto.

The name comes from the idea that they were buried in caustic lime in the back garden for 100 years before being eaten. This was actually not the case, since they were normally buried for only a year or so. In later times, the process of preparation has changed. There is the "traditional" method of wrapping them in a plaster of clay, wood ash, calcium oxide and salt. Gloves must be worn by the preparer to prevent one's skin from being burned off, but in any case they are ready after only a few months.

The "new" method is the one that I presume is used for what can be found in the stores here. It just uses salt, sodium carbonate, calcium hydroxide. You soak the eggs in this for about 10 days and then you age them for several weeks wrapped in plastic. In any case, the same chemical magic takes place.

A common misconception is that the eggs are prepared in horse urine. This has arisen from the fact in the Thai and Lao languages, the name for century egg is "horse urine egg" but that is merely because of the aroma of the finished product. In fact, horse urine does not have nearly enough chemicals to create the desired effect, so don't try it.

Well, it was time for me to finally buy some, imported from China. The photo already makes your mouth water, doesn't it?

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In the package were 6 individually wrapped eggs. They do not require refrigeration and are good until January 2017, so I can bring them on picnics and to dinner invitations easily.

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I decided that I would have just two of them today. No need to be a glutton.

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Excitement was building as I peeled the first one.

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So, here they are. I rinsed them to get any shell fragments off, hoping that I would not wash away any special flavour.

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Almost ready to be savoured for lunch.

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I sprinkled a little fleur de sel on them to make the experience more French.

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Bon appétit!

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[Deleted]

I suppose I should add that I found them completely wimpy so probably not at all authentic. They did not smell bad, and they did not have a strong taste. Although it is completely authorised to eat them plain the way I did, they are apparently better sliced, served with pickled ginger, black radish or other items. Well, I have four left...

[Deleted]

Uh, no.

[chexbres]

My dog might enjoy those...

[htmb]

Your dog might get the chance...

[Don Cuevas]

The first time we purchased 100 y/o eggs, I had to wash off a thick, black ash-like coating. Then I gingerly broke the shell with a knife. There was an ominous hiss ...

I carried on and despite a mild ammoniacal odor, cut the egg into wedges for serving. IIRC, we had them with soy sauce and minced fresh ginger.

They weren't bad, but not neither wonderful. The dark brown albumen was like coffee gelatin in color. The soft, richer tasting yolk something like overripe avocado, with a whiff of fishiness.

A number of years later, we repeated the experiment, but I enjoyed them even less.

I went on to enjoy other odd foods, of which a good menudo is my current favorite.

[Deleted]

The modern version doesn't even have an ammonia smell.

[Don Cuevas]

Aug 10, 2016 6:02:50 GMT kerouac2 said:

The modern version doesn't even have an ammonia smell.

Last time I ate any was by surprise, in a bowl of congee, at Jing Teng Restaurant in Mexico City."Oh. This isn't zucchini ..."

[Deleted]

Well, I had two more eggs today, sliced with pickled ginger and fresh lime juice, and I thought they were much better than the first time -- really quite good. It is just a shame that they are so ugly.