Century Egg

The first thing that I decided to eat is something that I've been meaning to try for a while now: preserved duck eggs, also known as century eggs, thousand year eggs, or pidan. These are eggs that are soaked in a lye and salt (and sometimes tea) brine for several days and then covered in anything airtight from mud to plastic for several weeks to several years. This results in eggs with a coffee-colored albumen (I would say egg white, but then... it's not really white at this point, is it?) with the consistency of really thick Jello and a green yolk, ideally with increasingly dark strata.

Okay, so the description sounds horrifying. But so does the description of cheese. (Take milk. Allow to sit in a cool, dark place until chunky. Drain. Optional: Allow to get moldy before serving. Enjoy.)

The eggs that I got were preserved with lye and salt only and were hermetically sealed in individual plastic wrappers. They were also the only ones at the store that were labeled lead-free and weren't from China. I'm told that these are in fact two things you want to look out for.

Oh, before I start my review, if I may make a suggestion to all two people who will ever read this: don't try century eggs for the first time on an empty stomach. It's not the flavors, it's the colors. You may find yourself with a churny stomach, unable to finish one.

So, the outside of the egg looks pretty. The eggs are a little more oblong shaped than a chicken egg as well as a little larger, and they're blue with brown specks. Then you may notice that the eggs have the distinct aroma of fish sauce or anchovies. When you peel off the shell, you may notice a snowflake pattern on the eggs. Some have more, some have less, some have none.

The albumen, as I stated before, has the consistency of extra-thick Jello or over-cooked hard boiled eggs. The flavor is extremely mild, basically no different from hard boiled egg whites. None of the fishy flavor that I was expecting based on the smell.

The yolks in my eggs were not fully set in the center. I'm not sure if this is normal, but I haven't contracted food poisoning yet, so I'm going to assume it's normal enough. Anyway, the egg yolks were also pretty mild in flavor, with the consistency of medium-boiled eggs and just a hint of fishiness, but with a fairly unpleasant aftertaste. Even with some food in me, my stomach was doing some rolling about.

These eggs can definitely stand up to some strong flavors and honestly, if I eat these again instead of throwing the last two out, it will be with a heavy dose of garlic or ginger. Or possibly both.

Ooh, definitely both.