Whether you call them century eggs, hundred-year eggs, millennium eggs or whatever, these outlandish ova are a Chinese delicacy dating back centuries to the Ming Dynasty. The boastful name suggests these eggs take forever to make, this is a misnomer. Century eggs take about 4-5 weeks to make, a few minutes to work up the courage to open, and a few seconds to eat.
Traditionally century eggs were made by preserving chicken or duck eggs in a mixture of salt, lime and ash, then wrapping in rice husks for several weeks. During this time the pH of the egg raises transforming the egg, the chemical process breaks down some of the proteins and fats into smaller, more complex flavours. After curing the yolk of the egg turns a dark green and has a creamy consistency, while the white turns amber and is gelatinous.
I chose a more modern method to achieve the same results: a salt and lye pickling solution, and encasing in modelling clay. After about a month my eggs were ready, and I'm happy to say they turned out perfectly!
Want to make your own? Of course you do!
Enough talk, let's make some eggs!
Traditionally century eggs were made by preserving chicken or duck eggs in a mixture of salt, lime and ash, then wrapping in rice husks for several weeks. During this time the pH of the egg raises transforming the egg, the chemical process breaks down some of the proteins and fats into smaller, more complex flavours. After curing the yolk of the egg turns a dark green and has a creamy consistency, while the white turns amber and is gelatinous.
I chose a more modern method to achieve the same results: a salt and lye pickling solution, and encasing in modelling clay. After about a month my eggs were ready, and I'm happy to say they turned out perfectly!
Want to make your own? Of course you do!
Enough talk, let's make some eggs!
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There's plenty of other foods that are made/prepared with lye, but use caution and common sense.
Always use pure, 100% lye (sodium hydroxide).
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Whats about bacteria like salmonella? Are they gone?
Lye itself is corrosive but if it's used in the right amounts and carefully it is perfectly safe for preparing food (it is such a high pH base that it kills bacteria, similar to pickling with vinegar -- a low pH acid)
But most dry "Drain Cleaner" usually contains bits of aluminum. The lye (NaOH), when it becomes liquid in water, reacts with the aluminum and creates:
- (A) bubbles,
- (B) heat... and lots of it. Enough to cause heat burns (I've seen it melt plastic bottles!). and then
- (C) the bubbles are likely pure Hydrogen -- thus, flammable or explosive!!
As a Biology teacher (hence the "BioT" name) I made these in class but I also had to teach some Chemistry. I used to use this Lye + Water + Aluminum to show that it would make hydrogen. I collected the gas in a balloon in class. Then to prove it was Hydrogen I'd have someone ignite the balloon with a match at the end of a yard/meter stick. BOOM!
SO, I'M JUST SAYIN' -- #1. Don't use Draino, drain cleaner, etc... use plain old Lye (NaOH), and #2. Don't use the Lye if it might come in contact with Aluminum... the catalyst that causes it to release Hydrogen gas!
Other than that, have fun and enjoy your eggs. They're good. As I said, we made these in my Biology class, too. But only a couple students were "gutsy" enough to try them. ;-)
(It's the ammonia.)
Here in thailand, these "kai yeow maa" (horse piss eggs) are used in a few dishes.
I would say the best is "kai yeow maa gaprow grop" which translates to horse piss eggs with crispy basil.
Simple recipe:
1. Heat oil in wok and flash fry basil leaves until crispy. Here we use holy basil which is slightly spicy. The fried basil loses most of its flavour though so any basil will probably do - it's for colour and texture anyway!
2. Quarter horse piss eggs and deep fry until outsides are a medium brown. Drain or put on paper to soak up excess oil.
3. Make a sauce using soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, chilis (optional but gooooood!), then corn or tapioca starch in water to thicken the sauce. Heat and simmer to thicken the sauce. Add basil leaves (lots) in the last 30 seconds of cooking.
Put the eggs on a plate, pour sauce over them, then sprinkle the fried leaves over top.
YUM!
try eating them steamed. it takes the "edge" off the taste. Also, great steam with egg and salted egg!
To have this in Fear Factor, eating it will be a piece of cake...
Great stuff in sharing the "Recipe"....
See comment by submark on Step 1 page.
You don't mention your gloves. Is that to protect you from the brine or the eggs from contamination?
As for "Step 5 Encase" - plastic wrap, modeling clay, and a resealable bag? Gosh, what happens if you don't do this well? Do the eggs go bad? Please define "bad." :-)
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Sorry about the screaming, but this IS IMPORTANT.
A relative boiled a lye solution in an aluminum pot to make soap and the pot dissolved and caused severe chemical and heat burns to her.
Stainless steel or porcelain clad steel or iron are best and wooden spoons work really well with lye. A teflon coated aluminum pot with no scratches might be OK, but why chance it?
It would be best to heat the solution just enough to ensure that the lye/salt mixture dissolves completely. You are not sterilizing anything and boiling lye can spatter.
I thought it was the minerals from the mud that infused the egg thru osmosis that caused the color and flavor/smell.... ?
I have also eaten them back home in the UK, where they were described as the blue cheese of the east!
The worst thing about them is the texture, especially the yolk with can stick to your mouth, they taste pretty good.
Either way I'm gonna make these. My colleagues already think I always eat weird stuff and this will be a great way to keep them freaked :D
(Also just to get this straight it is 1000 year eggs if you use abit of translation but most Chinese people won't penalize you for it.
I don't know what the natural foodies would say about eating eggs pickled in drain cleaner.
Now I just get them when I get porridge...no more trying to tough my way through 6 of those babies at a time :)
My hat is off to you sir!
The pictures in this one are great, they really capture the detail of the changed egg. Excellent instructable!
They smell like amonia dont they?
sunshiine
I don't know much about lye so this may be a dumb questions but do you think I could substitute actual ash for the lye? I have chinchilla dust bath powder that says it's natural and I feel like if it's safe enough for my pet to bathe in then it's probably ok to use in prepping these eggs.