The Century Egg: Also known as the hundred-year egg, the thousand year-egg, the millennium egg, or the horse-urine-egg.
When you first look at a century egg your initial question may be: “WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY EGG!” That’s fair. It smells like sulfur and looks like something formed in the deepest, darkest pits of Mordor by the Dark Lord himself; But relax! It’s just been preserved.
According to legend, a farmer discovered eggs that a duck had laid in some building-mortar near his house, so he ate them. Maybe not the smartest thing to do, but hey, that’s a farmer for you. Anyway, he liked the taste and then shared the recipe with his friends.
It makes sense if you think about it. Some of the best foods were invented while trying to preserve things: Pickles, Beer, Jelly. Chinese people will eat anything and this is probably one of the tamer things on a Chinese menu.
Unlike the name suggests, century eggs are not preserved for an entire century. The Chinese usually preserve these eggs for weeks or months at a time in a mixture of clay & ash (basically mud) and salt & lime. The finish product looks like a nest from the film “Where the Wild Things Are”.
Next, you stick it on a shelf for a while and wait. Over time, the yolk will turn to dark green and the PH levels will slowly rise. The egg-white turns translucent and looks like the amber stone in Jurassic Park.
When you first look at a century egg your initial question may be: “WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY EGG!” That’s fair. It smells like sulfur and looks like something formed in the deepest, darkest pits of Mordor by the Dark Lord himself; But relax! It’s just been preserved.
According to legend, a farmer discovered eggs that a duck had laid in some building-mortar near his house, so he ate them. Maybe not the smartest thing to do, but hey, that’s a farmer for you. Anyway, he liked the taste and then shared the recipe with his friends.
It makes sense if you think about it. Some of the best foods were invented while trying to preserve things: Pickles, Beer, Jelly. Chinese people will eat anything and this is probably one of the tamer things on a Chinese menu.
Unlike the name suggests, century eggs are not preserved for an entire century. The Chinese usually preserve these eggs for weeks or months at a time in a mixture of clay & ash (basically mud) and salt & lime. The finish product looks like a nest from the film “Where the Wild Things Are”.Next, you stick it on a shelf for a while and wait. Over time, the yolk will turn to dark green and the PH levels will slowly rise. The egg-white turns translucent and looks like the amber stone in Jurassic Park.
Once they are done they may look like sin, but they are apparently taste not-so-bad. The good news is that you don’t even have to cook them! You just plug your nose and down they go! Century Eggs are served at special occasions including weddings. You can also make tofu out of them… that’s fun.
So there you go. I’m putting this on my list of things to eat in China and if its good… expect Century Egg to be the first course at my wedding reception.
I think it would make me more than a little skeptical to be faced with a comestible called a "horse urine egg."
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