Thursday, July 29, 2004
Preserved Eggs
My sister came round today and she brought with her 90 duck eggs she got bought from the wholesale market. My dad is going to steep them in salt water for a month, which preserves them - making their yolks turn deep orange, solidifies them and they ooze this golden oil. Salted ducks eggs are very good to eat with boiled rice, though their whites can be so salty that it can taste bitter. Mum puts the yolks into rice parcels that are wrapped in bamboo leaves - traditionally eaten around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival and the yolks also go into Moon Cakes - eaten during the Moon Festival (which is around the time of my birthday - so when I was a kid, I used to get moon cakes instead of birthday cakes).
There is also another type of preserved eggs that the Chinese like to eat - thousand year old eggs (sometimes called hundred year old eggs) which are preserved using potash (not sure what that is) but it turns the inside of the raw eggs black and the yolks a bluish colour. Now these eggs are an accquired taste but they go very well with pork congee (a savoury porridge made from rice instead of oats) - one of my favourite dishes that I like to eat when I go back to Hong Kong.
Now in I have recently discovered pickled eggs - apparently prevelant in English fish and chip shops - which is the first time I ate one from. These eggs are boiled and then steeped in vinegar - which naturally makes them rather sour. Timmy seems to like these eggs quite a lot - but I am more amblivient towards them - though if you chop them up and add some mayonnaise or salad cream and a handful of chives, they can do as a very quick sandwich filling.
There is also another type of preserved eggs that the Chinese like to eat - thousand year old eggs (sometimes called hundred year old eggs) which are preserved using potash (not sure what that is) but it turns the inside of the raw eggs black and the yolks a bluish colour. Now these eggs are an accquired taste but they go very well with pork congee (a savoury porridge made from rice instead of oats) - one of my favourite dishes that I like to eat when I go back to Hong Kong.
Now in I have recently discovered pickled eggs - apparently prevelant in English fish and chip shops - which is the first time I ate one from. These eggs are boiled and then steeped in vinegar - which naturally makes them rather sour. Timmy seems to like these eggs quite a lot - but I am more amblivient towards them - though if you chop them up and add some mayonnaise or salad cream and a handful of chives, they can do as a very quick sandwich filling.
