Tea eggs Yunnan style 茶叶蛋

[Alex_Hart]

abcd, wonder if you have tried soaking in a cold brine? Even my eggs in a shell were very flavorful - you can undercook them a bit and then reheat when eating.

[lips]

5 hours ago, Alex_Hart said:

soaking in a cold brine

Soak duck eggs in 白酒 first, then in brine, you'll get 咸蛋！

[abcdefg]

 

11 hours ago, lips said:

Soak duck eggs in 白酒 first, then in brine, you'll get 咸蛋！

 

I sometimes buy 咸蛋 in the market; like the flavor a lot; had no idea how they were made. The longer I live here, the more I understand about how to draw the line between what foods I should be trying to make at home and which ones are better to buy outside already done, relying on the pros with special know-how and equipment.

 

17 hours ago, Alex_Hart said:

abcd, wonder if you have tried soaking in a cold brine?

 

Yes, I've tried that and it works well. A good suggestion!

 

Yesterday afternoon I made tea eggs using quail eggs. They came out good. I'll post a full report a little later this morning.

[iekkim]

It isn't really Chinese but, I also like eating Ajitama (on its own or with ramen) and I believe the process for these (except the ingredients) should be the same. They also use soft boiled eggs for this so the yolks are absolutely delicious, in my opinion.

[abcdefg]

22 hours ago, iekkim said:

They also use soft boiled eggs for this so the yolks are absolutely delicious, in my opinion.

 

I have not tried that, but it sounds good!

[abcdefg]

On 6/8/2017 at 7:18 AM, abcdefg said:

Yesterday afternoon I made tea eggs using quail eggs. They came out good. I'll post a full report a little later this morning.

 

Here's a link to how to do that. 茶叶鹌鹑蛋。

 

https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/54342-quail-tea-eggs-鹌鹑茶叶蛋/#comment-417368 

[amytheorangutan]

Inspired by @abcdefg I gave tea egg a try.  

[abcdefg]

Amy, the final result looks beautiful. Did they taste good? How was the texture? 

 

Your post made me realize I've been missing tea eggs. Haven't made any in several months. Need to remedy that situation this week. Thanks for the inspiration! 

[amytheorangutan]

The flavour is very very subtle compared to nitamago even though the smell is amazing. I boiled them for 6 minutes, cracked the shells, then left them several hours (5 hours) in the cooling “marinate” then shimmer them for 30 mins before we ate them. I didn’t want my egg to be overly done. It was still done but not too much, the white was not tough and the yolk was still fluffy. Because I used so much seasoning ingredients and the smell was so fragrant, my brain expected a stronger flavour 

[abcdefg]

1 hour ago, amytheorangutan said:

Because I used so much seasoning ingredients and the smell was so fragrant, my brain expected a stronger flavour 

 

I've had that same experience. The only way I've found to accomplish that without the egg becoming tough is to use very low heat a long time in my rice cooker. Using small quail eggs instead of chicken eggs also helps, but I realize those are not readily available everywhere. 

 

In any case, Amy, you now have earned membership in an elite group: The Tea Egg Taskforce. Congratulations! You can proudly display our banner next time you gallop to the market on your warhorse. 

 

 

 

[amytheorangutan]

I gladly accept the honor ? I will definitely give those a go. I still have 4 eggs to be slowly cooked tomorrow and I’ll try quail eggs next time.