Tea eggs Yunnan style 茶叶蛋

[abcdefg]

@Jellyfish --

 

The Tea Egg Task Force will eventually prevail and give the world a superior snack! Onward and upward!

 

But first, we need to select a battle banner...

 

[Alex_Hart]

Was inspired by this post to make some tomorrow - will try doing it with 普洱茶 to see if I can taste any difference. Have a 勐海熟茶 that isn't on the top of my drinking list, so I will not mind using it for the sake of experimentation! If results differ, I'm wondering if I should then try it with other teas.  Perhaps a new world of tea eggs will be opened to me?!

 

I have actually rarely found well done tea eggs in China. Of the dozen places I've tried near my home, only one compares to home. I think the others often fail to crack the eggs enough, or do not soak the eggs long enough. Then there are the ones like the 包子 lady on my first floor who start a ginormous pot boiling at 3 in the morning and still have it boiling when you head out at 10 am to buy the eggs - rubbery more than delicious. The chain stores also often sell them having boiled eggs then dropping them into the boiling liquid just minutes before selling - makes for an unattractive and messy plain boiled egg. The one place that I consider worth buying them from is a 油条 and 鸡蛋饼 store - still slightly rubbery, but sauce is delicious. She boils the eggs and cracks them, soaks them in the brine overnight, then brings back to a boil in the morning. Spices are also spot on.

 

I know the marbling is beautiful (and transportable!), but I find it messier and less tasty for habitual munching - especially if you generally consume them at home like myself. 

 

EDIT: I want an egg on the banner!

[Jellyfish]

@Alex_Hart Interesting! I had been wondering if maybe the fact that I was eating them cold played a role (obviously it did, flavours always come out stronger in warm food, but it can't make that much of a difference I'd think?). I've still got a couple left from my first attempt, maybe I'll try and bring the rest of the brine back to a boil tonight and heat up the eggs a bit (and hopefully infuse them more, too). I'll report on my findings!

 

Also: Yes! Egg banners! Egg banners for Team Tea Egg!

[Alex_Hart]

I've found it works better, but perhaps your results will differ. As I rarely wake up on time to get to class, I often end up just grabbing them out of the fridge as I run out the door. I find these far less tasty than when I have time to bring them up to a very slight simmer just enough to heat them up as the whole point is that I'm trying to avoid the rubbery texture of the street-side ones. I also store them in far more brine than I need. I don't bring them all up to heat every time I cook them, but rather siphon off some brine and just use that. Sometimes there isn't enough - ah well. It might also be that I simply prefer hot eggs.

[Jellyfish]

Update on tea egg experiments: I've done what I'd intended and warmed up one of my remaining tea eggs in brine. It did improve the flavour but not as much as I'd been hoping. I'm pretty sure now that the fault is with the brine, too though. I tried some again and it's not as strong as I'd like it to be. So I'll work on that in the future.

I've also made another discovery, and ok, full disclosure: I didn't just heat up my tea egg. I boiled it for a while. Quite a while in fact. And it turned a bit rubbery. AND: I didn't actually mind it that much. I guess I'm an egg philistine! I hardly (if ever) eat hard boiled eggs, unless they come in tea egg shape (/flavour). So I suppose that probably all street vendor tea eggs I gobbled down in China were what you both refer to as rubbery and overcooked, I just had no idea and nothing to compare them to. In fact, I kind of like the firm whites and crumbly yolks I'm worried I might get expelled from the Tea Egg Task Force for this statement (I sense a strong bias towards the softer egg variety) but there you are. I'll now experiment with eggs cooking on a long slow simmer so you don't have to haha. Will definitely also try Alex's method of soaking them peeled. It all looks pretty promosing to me!

[Alex_Hart]

No, not at all. Everyone has their own preferences! I spent years perfecting my egg boiling method as I had them near daily, and found my sweet spot was past what people would call "barely set" and long before "well done." My mother and grandmother are both in the "well done" camp - calling mine "half raw." My girlfriend prefers them well past "well done" and seems to think the green circle is a sign of a well made egg, while I think that means it's far beyond where it should be. C'est la vie!

[Jellyfish]

Right, tea egg update! As announced (/threatened), I tried to use more of everything and boil it all for longer. I did - I upped the spices, tea (not by much), dark soy sauce, salt and sugar and I added a dash of vinegar to balance the sugar. I brought everything to the boil all in one go, tasted, adjusted sugar and salt levels, then immediately added the eggs as I'd been planning on cooking them on a long, slow simmer anyway. Cracked the eggs after about 20 minutes. I also pierced them in places because I felt like the sort of tough skin that surrounds the eggs is preventing the liquid from actually adding any flavour to the egg itself. Kept everything on a low simmer (the lowest setting I have on my ancient hob) for about 4h. Then put it in the fridge and left it there over night.

The result: success! This is exactly how I like my tea eggs. Not as pretty as my first attempt but so much more flavoursome. The marbling disappeared wherever I pierced the eggs (kind of makes sense), instead the eggs were a nice dark colour there which then faded and turned into marbling in other places, where the egg wasn't pierced. The darker parts tasted better, the marbling looks pretty, I feel like I got the best of both worlds there.

I'm happy now and next time I make them I'll try to write down amounts, exact cooking times etc so I'll find it easier to redo/tweak the recipe in the future. I'm terrible for slowly perfecting a dish I like, then being satisfied with it and not making it again for months, by which time I need to start again from zero because I never take notes.

Will post pictures (Alex might want to avert his eyes as it's green circle galore!)

[Jellyfish]

[abcdefg]

2 hours ago, Jellyfish said:

I'm terrible for slowly perfecting a dish I like, then being satisfied with it and not making it again for months, by which time I need to start again from zero because I never take notes.

Will post pictures (Alex might want to avert his eyes as it's green circle galore!)

 

Haha! Glad I'm not the only one with that tragic failing! "Oh, of course I'll remember it's one teaspoon salt and one tablespoon sugar and not the other way around." Famous last words a month or six weeks later.

 

So happy to see you "cracked the puzzle." I will try making some tea eggs your way this weekend. Puncturing the inner membrane was a bold move; I had wondered about doing that.

 

I have been looking at a recipe that called for cooking them on low all night in the rice cooker. That appealed a lot because my stove's gas burners are hard to tame enough to get a steady low heat. Will let you know if I pursue that avenue.

 

The Tea Egg Task Force has prevailed! Tada! Maybe @roddy will come out with some sort of prestigious award for you, @Jellyfish. He has been known to occasionally even go so far as to give a free one-year subscription to Chinese Forums!

 

[Alex_Hart]

Looks great, @Jellyfish! Agree on writing down the recipe - I've never quite mastered the art of getting the same dish twice. It always ends up different, but I suppose that's part of the fun. Still, have been disappointed when cooking for friends and something ends up "not quite as good as last time." When cooking for myself, it's part of the fun.

 

Glad you liked the mix of marbling and flavor! MIght need to try your method next time.

[Jellyfish]

@abcdefg Teehee delicious tea eggs are all the reward I need!

@Alex_Hart I'm really happy with it - if you do try it, let me know what you think!

[chenyswhite]

Very detailed sharing. But I think the cooking time can be longer, and the color and taste will be more profound.

[abcdefg]

Yes, I think you are right @chenyswhite. I made them again today with stronger seasonings, as suggested by @Jellyfish, and they still did not have as much taste as I would like. I've been trying to find a way for them to have deep flavor and good coloring without becoming tough. Next time I will simmer them slowly overnight in my rice cooker and see what effect that has.

 

Will post more on this tomorrow.

 

Have you made tea eggs at home? Would be interested in your method. Welcome to the Tea Egg Task Force!

 

[Alex_Hart]

Greetings Tea Egg Task Force!

 

I'm busily studying for my upcoming HSK and ended up delaying my tea eggs until this week, but have just put the batch into the fridge. My method this time:

 

Wash eggs (very well!) and soak in a little bit of salt water to kill any leftover yuckies - I bought them covered in a mix of mud and chicken poop from a lady who rides her bike into Hangzhou from a neighboring 农村 on the weekends. While I have had rather bad luck with the "egg lady" at the local wet market, and even worse luck with the Walmart eggs, I tried this bike lady's eggs last week and they were rather delicious. She convinced me (by pushing them into the bag and she told me how great it was) to buy some of her ginger and garlic as well.

Bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and cover the pot. Let sit for 10 minutes, then put eggs into cold water to stop cooking (ice water is preferable, but I have no ice here). My girlfriend forgot to take the eggs off the boil immediately so I'm worried they might be overcooked - c'est la vie.

Mix water, soy sauce, dark soy sauce (for added color), Shaoxing, some of that ginger, a few dried chilis, cinnamon, star anise, Sichuan 花椒 (the 麻 in 麻辣), and a nice handful of some 熟普洱 that I had bought over Taobao  I wanted to add fennel seeds which I have used previously in the US, but couldn't find any at the local spice guy. Bring to a boil, lower to a 20 minute simmer. I added too much water so I let it simmer longer. Let broth cool to room temp.

I've done the eggs in a mixed way. I did the traditional cracking of the shell with about half, and simply took the shell off for the other half.

Put them into a bowl that will fit in the fridge (it's hot here now - I think I skipped the fridge when I made these during winter, but there is no heating or anything here so it was always around 2-8 degrees indoors). I put the other stuff in the pot, too, but you can strain it if you want. Too lazy.

I'll wait till tomorrow and try one. My girlfriend (who dislikes green rings and overdone yolks even more than I do) thinks we should do soft boiled eggs next time - may give it a try if my spice mix works out this time. 

[Alex_Hart]

Glad to report that the shell-less eggs were a huge success - the best 茶叶蛋 I've made yet. After tasting one yesterday, I ended up boiling some more eggs and throwing them into the pot. The first batch was overcooked, sadly. The eggs are really tiny and I boiled them the way I normally do my eggs. I'll decrease cooking time next time. Regardless, they're delicious. Haven't compared it to an egg with a shell yet, will do so tomorrow.

[iekkim]

I made this last week, also without shells, and I think my expectations were too high.

 

Disclaimer: I did not follow @abcdefg's recipe. I didn't have all the ingredients.

 

I instead used a mixture of dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, cinnamon bark, english breakfast tea (the only black tea I had), bay leaf, star anise, black pepper, sugar, ginger, and water. I thought it might be quite like my waipo's (I never got the recipe) but it was kind of so-so, in terms of taste. I guess I imagined it to taste quite like Adobo, a Filipino dish mainly composed of meat cooked in soy sauce and vinegar, which my dad usually cooks with boiled eggs.

 

[abcdefg]

3 hours ago, iekkim said:

I guess I imagined it to taste quite like Adobo, a Filipino dish mainly composed of meat cooked in soy sauce and vinegar, which my dad usually cooks with boiled eggs.

 

I really like a savory Phillipine Adobo. What a fine blend of flavors! I like that the dish is a bit more tart than the Spanish and Portuguese versions. Have not tried Adobo eggs, but it sounds good.

 

To be honest, I'm having trouble making tea eggs come out with as much flavor as I'd like. The original recipe I posted is a traditional Chinese one. Next time I cook them, I will do it in my rice cooker and let them keep warm all night. When you take off the shells during cooking, they are no longer traditional Chinese tea eggs 茶叶蛋。They then become stewed eggs 卤蛋，which are also popular here. One can often pay an extra 1 or 1.5 Yuan to have one added to your soupy noodles, right in the same bowl.

[iekkim]

16 hours ago, abcdefg said:

Have not tried Adobo eggs, but it sounds good.

 

If you have tried making adobo, once the meat is cooked, you can add some boiled eggs and let it continue simmering for a few more minutes. I like the keep the eggs buried under the meat and sauce so it can get as much flavor. It usually tastes better when you reheat it (with sauce and all) at a later time, say, the next day. I really like it tart. It's my absolute favourite Filipino dish. Sorry, we've gone off topic with the tea eggs.

 

16 hours ago, abcdefg said:

Next time I cook them, I will do it in my rice cooker and let them keep warm all night.

 

Please keep us posted on this! I'd like to see how it works out.

 

[Alex_Hart]

17 hours ago, abcdefg said:

They then become stewed eggs 卤蛋

Ah, I didn't know this Are the spices the same?

 

My eggs with the shell were good - Jellyfish's method of breaking the skin worked better than just cracking the shell. 

[abcdefg]

Spices are the same; tea leaves are optional.

 

I made some tea eggs overnight last night in the rice cooker. They had lots of flavor, but were cooked too hard, were no longer tender. It seems to boil down to a choice between ideal texture and ideal flavor. So far I have not found a way to have both.