"Song Hua Dan" or "centennial egg"(English) Century egg; name variant - "thousand year egg" ) is popular spicy snack Chinese food and countries with historically strong Chinese cultural influence (Southeast Asia, to a certain extent Japan and Korea); is an egg aged for several months in a special mixture without air access.

"Sun Hua" in Chinese means " pine needles”- and indeed, crystal patterns appear on the surface of the eggs during the cooking process, which to a Russian person is more reminiscent of frost on glass. Well, the poetic Chinese - pine branches. It is believed that the more such patterns on the egg, the higher its quality.

Probably, the prototype of the "centenary eggs" was the eggs, which, in order to long-term storage covered with alkali clay.

It is believed that the consumption of "centenary eggs" treats high blood pressure and relieves bad appetite.

Recipe

For the preparation of "centennial eggs", as a rule, duck eggs are used, but as an alternative, you can use goose, chicken, turkey and quail eggs.

There are a number of ways to prepare them, but they all boil down to immersing the eggs in a highly alkaline environment and completely isolating them from air. Fresh duck, chicken or quail eggs are smeared with a mixture of tea, lime, salt, ash and clay, then rolled into rice husks and straw, placed in baskets and buried in the ground. AT living conditions for the preparation of an alkaline coating, it is recommended to use alkali - sodium hydroxide, and for insulation from air - a polymer film.

As a result chemical processes egg white and yolk become strongly alkaline - their pH rises to 9 and even 12 (this is approximately the same as for soap). The process of preparing eggs takes about 15-20 days depending on the season (longer in winter), but often the eggs are kept for 3-4 months.

In properly cooked eggs, the protein turns into a jelly-like elastic translucent substance and becomes a dark brown color. The yolk becomes creamy, dark in color (from light gray to almost black with greenish tint) and emits a strong ammonia odor. On the surface of the shelled finished egg often you can see frost-like patterns on the window, which are formed by microscopic crystals of substances released from the egg. This was the reason for a different name for this snack in Chinese- “pine eggs”, or “pine needle eggs”.

« centennial eggs» are characterized by good storage stability - if they are left in the coating, they can be stored for up to several years.

Traditional cooking method:

Ingredients:

• fresh duck eggs - 12 pcs.;
• strong decoction of black tea - 500 ml;
• salt - 85 ml;
• coniferous ash - 500 ml;
• wood ash - 500 ml;
• fireplace or stove ash - 500 ml;
• lime (calcium oxide) - 250 ml;
• rice husk - 350 ml.

Cooking method:

1. Mix tea, salt, all ash and lime.
2. Cover the eggs tightly with the mixture to block air (about 125 ml of the mixture is used per egg).
3. Then roll each egg in rice husks.
4. AT clay pot pour garden soil or clay (preferably use red soil).
5. Lay out the eggs and cover tightly with the same soil on top.
6. Leave the pot in a dark, cool place for 100 days.
7. After 100 days, take out the eggs and rinse well with water.

Fast cooking method:
This method allows you to reduce the cooking time of eggs by four times.

Cooking method:

1. For 1 liter of water, 72 g of sodium chloride (NaCl) and 42 g of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) are used.
2. The mixture is brought to a boil and then cooled to room temperature.
3. Fresh duck eggs are immersed in the liquid mixture and stored at 15-20°C for 10 days.
4. After 10 days, the eggs are removed from the solution, washed with water and allowed to dry.
5. Then, the eggs must be tightly wrapped with an airtight material, such as PVA (polyvinyl acetate) or covered with red earth mixed with the solution in which the eggs were located.
6. Roll the eggs in rice husks and leave for another 2 weeks in a dark place.
7. After 2 weeks the eggs are ready to eat.

Note: the difference between centennial eggs aged traditional way and accelerated, can often be determined by the presence of beautiful patterns on the egg itself, resembling frost on the window. Patterns are formed during the preparation of the traditional method.

Use

Usually "centennial eggs" are eaten without further cooking, i.e. as independent dish. Most often they are served cut into slices as a separate snack. Before serving, pour over soy, fish or oyster sauce and sesame oil. A few petals of pickled ginger are placed on the edge of the plate.

Sometimes "centennial eggs" are used as a component of salads, vegetable snacks and others complex dishes. So, finely chopped eggs in China and Southeast Asia are often added to rice porridge.

Photos of "centennial (millennium) eggs":

• trinixy.ru — 10 photos;
• altfast.ru — 6 photos;
• hrenovina.net — 1 photo.

Information sources:

• cookownfood.blogspot.ru - article "Century Eggs", a recipe for their preparation;
• podrujka.com - how to cook "centennial eggs";
• bolshoyvopros.ru - how to cook a Chinese delicacy: "thousand-year-old egg";
• otvet.mail.ru — [email protected]: solved question “Have you ever tried a “centenary egg”?”;

The names of this culinary Chinese food there are a lot of eggs: imperial eggs, Chinese black, hundred-day, centennial eggs - among foreign tourists they are known as "Rotten eggs".
Chinese culinary dish from eggs do not look very presentable when peeled.

The correct name in Russian is sunhuadan. In direct translation from Chinese, "songhua" means "pine flowers" ("tribute" - "eggs"), because. after being shelled, hardened and translucent, they show mesh patterns resembling pine needles. The richer the pattern, the higher the quality of the eggs. And even in displaying patterns on rotten material, the Chinese were able to use the quality of the dish as an additional factor.
In cooking, only duck eggs are used to prepare real songhuadan. By folk recipe they are soaked in a mixture of quicklime, salt and water. Duck eggs are stored for a couple of months in clay, salt and sand, until the proteins turn into jelly, and the yolks, in turn, turn dark green. Usually served with noodles and rice.
AT modern recipe cooking eggs are left for 40-60 days in a liquid consisting of caustic soda, salt and tea leaves.
There are many recipes for how to "kill" eggs. But the essence is the same - sunhuadan.
Some foreigners are squeamish about trying this wonderful Chinese dish.
Ready-made canned eggs are on sale. The eggs are soft, smooth, but at the same time elastic, the yolk is dark and gelatinous. Due to the sodium hydroxide and ammonia released by eggs during the cooking process, songhuadan can have a slight alkaline odor and be viscous in taste.
A small amount of a mixture of vinegar, ground ginger root and soy sauce will help to slightly soften the odors and improve the taste of the dish. A traditional recipe for "imperial eggs".
Eggs are coated with a three-centimeter layer of mixed on tea infusion thick paste from the ashes of mulberry trees with lime, soda and salt, rolled in rice husks and kept in large tightly closed vats or in the ground for exactly 100 days. After such processing, they do not deteriorate under normal room temperature for several years. The yolk becomes dark green and the white turns amber. Their taste also becomes quite specific - very spicy, slightly similar to baked cheese.
Another recipe for making centennial eggs.
From the ashes of mulberry trees, pea stalks, raw lime, drinking soda, salt and juice of tea leaves prepare a thick mass. Washed duck eggs are coated with this mass with a layer of 2-3 cm. Then the eggs are rolled in rice husks, placed in a vat, tightly closed with a lid and stored for 80-100 days. Hence the name - "centennial". canned eggs can be stored for several years, if the integrity of the coating and shell is not violated.
Sunhuadan - imperial eggs.
Coat raw eggs with a mixture of earth, salt, lime and soy sauce and bury in the ground. After 60 days, dig it out and make sure that the yolk has turned dark green and the white has turned black and transparent. Now you can serve.

Canned eggs are a decoration Chinese table. Fresh duck and chicken eggs are placed in an earthenware vat on wheat straw and covered with bamboo dust. Then a decoction is made from soda, tea, salt, pine needles, which is mixed with clay, ash and lime. Eggs are poured with a chilled broth and kept warm for more than a month.
For the Chinese, this dish is a delicacy, as for the French, blue cheese. Foreigners sometimes consider these eggs rotten, but they are delicious. nutritious dish with blue-black protein - one of the delicacies of Chinese cuisine.
In a good way, eggs should be duck, but if there are no Chinese nearby, a slightly corrected recipe and prepare a dish of quail or chicken eggs won't offend anyone.
But I still have not had a desire to try such exotic eggs, although I really love various delicacies. I haven't been to China yet, but even if I do, I won't be able to "step over" my traditional culinary habits.
Is in Chinese cooking no less strange dish - Soup from bird's nests.

Recently, the American broadcaster CNN, with the help of its so-called citizen correspondents, compiled a list of the most disgusting dishes in the world. The main terrible delicacy was called "centenary eggs" - a traditional dish Chinese cuisine. A few days later, the Chinese themselves reacted to CNN's insolence - they were offended by the television company, accused its employees of ignorance and demanded an apology.

"Centenary egg" or as it is also called "thousand-year egg" is a Chinese delicacy. This is a black artificially aged egg that never spoils.

Let's find out how it works...

The eggs are covered with rice husks, clay, salt and ash. The shell of the eggs protects them from exposure to these elements and microbes for several months while they are buried. Eggs have a different texture than their fresh counterparts. The protein turns into a creamy brown jelly, and the yolk into a black powdery substance. It is believed that the consumption of "centenary eggs" treats high blood pressure and relieves poor appetite. Historically they are made from duck eggs, but as an alternative, you can use goose, chicken, turkey and quail eggs.

The modern way of cooking may differ from the traditional one. New methods include soaking the eggs in a very strong alkaline solution. Zinc or lead oxide is sometimes added to soften the yolk of centennial eggs. The main catalyst for the physicochemical changes that occur in buried eggs is sodium hydroxide, which is formed in the paste or solution that coats the eggs. This alkali causes changes in the color and consistency of the egg components.

Centennial Eggs have a smell that is reminiscent of some cleaning products. Hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, which are produced during the fermentation process, give the eggs their distinctive characteristic imprint. Eggs can be used as a side dish or served on their own. Most often they are eaten with tofu or with rice water and pork. Since some cooking methods involve the use of lead oxide, there is a possibility that it will be introduced into the product. You don't have to visit China to try "centenary eggs". In most Asian grocery stores outside the region you can find this delicacy.

The traditions of national cuisines are sometimes very ambiguous: somewhere it is considered commonplace to eat a fried guinea pig for lunch, somewhere they prefer soup from duck blood, well, and in some places, unsightly-colored eggs that have lain in the ground for a couple of months are served at the table. And nothing - people eat. True, for some who are used to, for example, eating cola cheeseburgers, this approach to the diet seems, to put it mildly, strange.

This is understandable - gastronomic traditions have been formed over the centuries in a certain territory, and traveling far beyond its borders is often dangerous and unpleasant. Even today, for example, not everyone copes with the natural disgust that acts as a kind of insurance against an accident in case of acquaintance with exotic food - it would not be very polite on the part of a beginner if he suddenly vomited on the hospitable table of foreign friends.

To try the "centenary eggs", which look like some kind of alien jelly, it is not at all necessary to go to a remote Chinese village. You can just go to the supermarket and buy a package of these ugly, but obviously beloved by the Chinese eggs. Several companies are involved in the production of such products, but the largest of them is currently Shendan, whose employees apparently read CNN Go from time to time.

Otherwise, it is difficult to explain what happened just a week after the publication of the list of disgusting food. Here's what happened: On July 6, the chairman of the board of directors of Shendan and 3,000 of his employees filed a complaint with CNN demanding an apology for labeling centennial eggs as the most disgusting food in the world.

The document, among other things, states that the employees of the American television company made completely unfounded and anti-scientific conclusions about palatability famous chinese snack. And this circumstance indicates that the authors of the note on national dishes showed disrespect for a foreign culture, and also demonstrated their ignorance and arrogance.

On the one hand, comrades from the Shendan egg company can be understood - who will like it if your favorite food is called utter disgusting, which cannot be eaten without tears in your eyes and the urge to vomit. But on the other hand, if you look at the situation a little differently, you can come to simple and obvious conclusions.

The private opinion of a person who bought for the sake of a culinary experiment cannot be called ignorant and arrogant. unusual food. Even if, before taking a sample from “centenary eggs”, the author of a note about them armed himself to the teeth with all sorts of theoretical calculations about the history of the origin of the recipe and about the benefits of the product, he would hardly be able to oppose this knowledge to the reaction of his taste buds.

After all, CNN's citizen correspondent described the sensations honestly, and these vivid emotions of a typical Western person give a better idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe taste of an Eastern product than the phrase "traditional, healthy dish with a rich history." After all, readers are waiting for an assessment, and not for what they themselves are able to read in a culinary encyclopedia.

In a word, before embarking on writing an angry complaint, the Chinese company should not have forgotten that there are really a lot of rather peculiar and strange dishes in the world and their popularity directly depends on the culinary preferences of not only different nationalities in general, but also individual people in particular (those moreover, some of the inhabitants of China speak about the most simple and familiar cheese to most Westerners in much the same way as the author of a short article in CNN Go - about "centenary eggs").

It is possible that among the readers of this text there is one fearless fan of "centenary eggs" who prescribes them for himself for big money directly from China and at the same time cannot stand fried potatoes, calling it none other than the most disgusting food in the world. So it would be possible not to pay any attention to someone's "fu" to a large producer of egg products.

So did (at least for now) other manufacturers of those unusual dishes that appeared on the CNN list. In particular, Filipino woodworm larvae in a sauce of vinegar, salt and lime are located after the “centenary eggs” in the ranking. Until it occurred to the Filipinos to write a letter to CNN complaining with arguments in the style of “I don’t consider your stupid hot dog to be food.”

There were no angry letters from those who specialize in the production of fermented soy chips (Indonesia), products from dog meat and offal ( South Korea), fried spiders (Cambodia), fried cicadas (Thailand) and fried frogs (Philippines again). Because, probably, all these people have no time - they are busy with their own affairs, and crazy foreigners driving around different countries and making big eyes at the sight of locusts in sweet sauce, they are not decreed.

And rightly so. Conflicts in which taste is the key are doomed to failure. In the end, such clashes of opinions are about the same as arguing about the beauty of a particular shade of color. Anyway, everyone will have their own opinion. And instead of quarreling over some nonsense, it's better to make yourself huge sandwich with delicious cheese, well, or no less tasty - that's how you like it.

This post is about food, but I would not call it appetizing :)
I want to talk about the "centenary eggs" (or, as they are also called, "thousand-year eggs"). I have heard about one of the strangest delicacies. Or "delicacies", because, according to CNN, such eggs top the list of the most disgusting dishes. But to hear this is one thing ... but before I could not even think that I would try!

To begin with, I will share my impressions, and at the end I will add material from Wikipedia about “Centenary Eggs”.

The shell seemed to me a little rough, and the color is less uniform than that of the usual raw egg. I began to break it - it breaks more difficult, and the feeling that you hit a rubber ball on the table, the egg springs a little. But it was not difficult to remove the shell, it leaves easily. The protein itself was slightly moist, a beautiful tea color. In general, I would compare the protein in appearance with black tea jelly! I sniffed - there is no smell, took a knife and cut it. The smell of ammonia hit my nose ... only the yolk smells, does it come out?

I looked at him for about 10 minutes. Beautiful! But here's the smell and the realization of the fact that the egg is "not the first freshness" interfered with trying the "delicacy".

Exhaling, she pinched her nose with one hand or the other, threw a slice into her mouth ... and nothing! I chew and NOTHING! Like tasteless jelly….the first couple of seconds! And then a sharp hit in the nose, bright taste mold(?), don't know what to compare it to. And the taste began to be felt in the mouth ... whee! No, I couldn't swallow. So I have to share CNN's opinion.
But it's beautiful, isn't it? :)

And some from wikipedia:
"Centenary Egg" (pídàn)— popular snack Chinese cuisine; is an egg aged for several months in a special mixture without air access. There are a number of options for preparing them, but they all come down to immersing the eggs in a highly alkaline environment and completely isolating them from air.
As a result of chemical processes, the protein and yolk of the egg become strongly alkaline - their pH rises to 9 and even 12 (this is approximately the same as for soap). The process of preparing eggs takes approximately 15-20 days depending on the season, but often the eggs are kept for 3-4 months.
On the surface of a shelled ready egg, one can often notice patterns resembling frost on a window, which are formed by microscopic crystals of substances released from the egg. Eggs have good storage stability - if they are left in a coating, they can be stored for up to several years.
Centennial Eggs are a common snack food in China and countries with historically strong Chinese cultural influences. Usually "centennial eggs" are eaten without further cooking. Most often they are served as an independent snack, cut into slices. They can be seasoned with soy or oyster sauce. Sometimes "centenary eggs" are used as a component of salads and other complex dishes. So, finely chopped eggs are often added to rice porridge.

"Centenary Eggs" is a ready-to-use product, it can be consumed just like that, cut into slices and served with light soy or oyster sauces, or make an appetizer or salad out of it. Dishes from "centennial eggs" are consumed immediately, they are not prepared in reserve. unpeeled eggs must be stored in the refrigerator. If the shell has a crack, this is a sign that the egg will soon deteriorate.

The inhabitants of the Celestial Empire are proud of their fine and refined cuisine, rich in history and traditions. " centennial eggs”, as part of the culinary heritage of the Chinese, are popular not only in their homeland, but also in Vietnamese and Thai cuisines. But among Europeans, regarding this unusual Chinese delicacy There are at least two biases. The first thing that repels Europeans is the very appearance of eggs - the white, which has become elastic, brown and translucent, and the yolk, creamy and greenish in color. And the second is the Chinese, who treat guests with this snack as pride national cuisine, tell how such eggs are prepared. Europeans, by the appearance and method of preparing these eggs, understand that in their homeland such eggs are called "rotten". And here comes the "insight" - cunning Asians want to laugh and feed stale eggs which must smell awful! Not everyone dares to try them. Those who were able to overpower themselves are waiting for two interesting points at once - the first is that the eggs do not have the smell that the taster fearfully counted on, and the second is the taste of eggs. The thing is, they taste almost the same. boiled eggs. And here the brave taster is visited by a slight surprise and even disappointment. Strange looking eggs, so elaborately cooked, taste like boiled.

In the Middle Kingdom they love to eat well and tasty, and they also like to supply their culinary masterpieces legends. So the "centennial eggs" have their own legend. It is believed that this delicacy of national Chinese cuisine appeared during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). According to one version, the birthplace of the "centenary eggs" is the city of Wujiang (Chinese 吴江, pinyin Wujiang), which is in the southeast of Suzhou County (Chinese 苏州, pinyin Suzhou) in Jiangsu province (Chinese 江苏, pinyin Jiangsu). According to the second, this is the city of Yiyang (Chinese 益阳, pinyin Yiyang) in Hunan Province (Chinese 湖南, pinyin Hunan). Be that as it may, the legend says that at one small family hotel there was the same small restaurant, or even a tea house. The owner of the establishment ran everything there. He and his wife had no workers, and they had to do everything themselves. The owner had several ducks, and they liked to lay their eggs in a pile of garbage in the backyard. The owner knew about this "habit" of birds and every time he looked for eggs in the same place. He poured the tea he had drunk into the rubbish heap. There was also a pile of ashes from the stove. Rice husks were also thrown there. The ground in the yard was clayey. The ducks dug holes in the garbage and laid their eggs. The weather changed, sometimes it rained. Well, since the owner did not always find duck “stash”, some eggs came across to him after some time. And then one day the owner found several eggs covered with clay mixed with ash, rice husks and tea leaves. And when he peeled the egg from the shell, the first thing he saw was a darkened protein, and on it was a drawing, like frost on frozen windows. Having tasted the egg out of curiosity, he found that they were not spoiled, but quite edible.

In modern China, there are two ways to prepare such eggs. The first is the old one, according to which the eggs are coated with a mixture of clay, lime, ash, salt, tea and rice husks. After that, the eggs are put in baskets and buried in the ground. And leave for a period of several weeks to several months, depending on the desired density of the protein. The essence of this method is to act on the egg with a strongly alkaline environment without oxygen. At the same time, the pH level rises to 9-12. There is another, modern way. The egg is soaked for 10 days in a solution of salt, calcium hydroxide (slaked lime) and sodium carbonate (soda ash or laundry soda). Then wrapped in plastic wrap and left for the same period as in traditional method for protein aging and hardening. In both cases, the result is the same. Unless in the first case the eggs are in the husk, and in the second they are clean.

INGREDIENTS:

Pidan eggs ("centennial eggs")- 2 pcs., garlic - 2 cloves, light soy sauce- 1 tbsp., black rice vinegar- ½ tbsp., Duojiao seasoning (pickled chili peppers)- 2 tablespoons, green onion - 1 arrow, peanut butter- 1 tbsp (preferably peanut oil, but any other vegetable oil is fine).

Peel the eggs from the shell (“centennial eggs” are not cleaned well, so do not rush and immediately peel off a large piece of the shell, as from a hard-boiled egg, but break it off in small pieces, having previously tapped the shell to cracks) and let them lie in the air for about 30 minutes , during this time the "aroma" unusual for the Russian sense of smell will disappear. I won’t say that flies are dying from it, I would say that this is an exaggeration of people who have never tried these eggs. Peeled eggs emit a subtle ammonia smell, of course, it will be felt more strongly if they are brought under the very nose.

Cut the peeled eggs into slices, say, into 8 parts.

Rinse the green onion and peel the garlic clove.

Finely chop the garlic, and cut the green onion arrow (separate and remove the white part) into rings.

In a wok (or saucepan), heat the peanut butter and fry the Duojiao seasoning in it until fragrant.