Salted duck eggs are a common ingredient in Chinese cuisine, cured in brine or charcoal. They are usually served steamed or boiled hard and have a salty egg white and creamy yolk center. Similar Filipino dishes use clay, water, and salt. They are often served with fresh tomato or in soups. The century egg is a similar dish packed in ash and lime, but it is less popular.
A salted duck egg is the cured egg of a duck. This type of egg is usually packed in brine or charcoal for the cure. This food is a common ingredient used in many Chinese foods, including stir-fries, soups, salads, and meat dishes. They are generally served steamed or boiled hard, alone or as part of another dish. The process of salting the raw egg before hard boiling results in a markedly salty egg white with a creamy, rich, and lightly salted yolk center. These eggs are an important part of Chinese moon cakes.
Chinese salted duck eggs are made by either soaking the eggs in a bath of slightly warm, extremely salty water or by packing individual eggs into a paste made from charcoal and salt. The charcoal-rich form of the salted duck egg is becoming less common over time, but pickled duck eggs are still a nearly ubiquitous food in China. Although the food commonly known as salted duck egg is Chinese, a similar Filipino dish called pateros cures eggs using a paste of clay, water, and salt. The clay on the egg turns it a bright red color.
This food is raw, but the eggs are cooked before eating, usually by hard boiling. Before salted duck eggs are packed for care, they are thoroughly washed to remove any dirt or contaminants. Once cleaned, they are placed in a slightly warm, highly salted brine or packed in salted charcoal. While many eggs can be liquid salted in the same container, salted charcoal paste is used to pack each individual egg. The layer of salted char on the egg is usually slightly thicker than the width of a standard pencil.
A common accompaniment for salted duck egg is fresh tomato. A popular way to serve salted duck egg is in a salad of sliced fresh tomato and salted duck egg. It is also often prepared in soups flavored with peppers, pumpkins or berries.
The preparation methods used to make a charcoal-rich salted Chinese duck egg is somewhat similar to another famous seasoned Chinese duck egg called the century egg, except the century egg is packed in ash and lime in addition to salt and clay. Although they are often mistakenly thought to be duck eggs soaked in horse urine, there are actually many varieties of eggs. They are not filled with horse urine, although they may smell similar, as the cure egg turns black over time and takes on the scent of ammonia and sulfur. Affinity for century egg is quite rare in China, while salted duck egg is a common and popular ingredient.
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