Preserved Duck Eggs (thousand Year Old Eggs)

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Title: PRESERVED DUCK EGGS (THOUSAND YEAR OLD EGGS)
Categories: Eggs, Chinese
Yield: 12 servings

2 c Tea, very strong black
1/3 c Salt
2 c Ashes of pine wood
2 c Ashes of charcoal
2 c Fireplace ashes
1 c Lime*
12 Duck egg, fresh

*Available in garden stores and nurseries.

Combine tea, salt, ashes and lime. Using about 1/2 cup
per egg, thickly coat each egg completely with this
clay-like mixture. Line a large crock with garden soil
and carefully lay coated eggs on top. Cover with more
soil and place crock in a cool dark place. Allow to
cure for 100 days. To remove coating, scrape eggs and
rinse under running water to clean thoroughly. Crack
lightly and remove shells. The white of the egg will
appear a grayish, translucent color and have a
gelatinous texture. The yolk, when sliced, will be a
grayish-green color.

To serve, cut into wedges and serve with:

Sweet pickled scallions or any sweet pickled vegetable

Sauce of 2 tablespoons each vinegar, soy sauce and
rice wine and 1 tablespoon minced ginger root.

Preserved Ancient Eggs

These are often called thousand-year eggs, even
though the preserving process lasts only 100 days.
They may be purchased individually in Oriental markets.

The description of the whites turning grayish
isn't quite accurate from the ones I've seen. They're
more a dark blackish amber color-- quite attractive
actually.

From "The Regional Cooking of China" by Margret
Gin and Alfred E. Castle, 101 Productions, San
Francisco, 1975.

Incidentally, this is an excellent book. It's
written by Maggie Gin of commercial Chinese sauce
fame. If you can find an early edition, get it. The
later editions have been integrated into her marketing
strategies and may not be as complete as this one is.
They also call for whatever the sauce ingredients are
or "Maggie Gin's Such and Such Sauce".
per Stephen Ceideburg
Submitted By SAM WARING
<SAM.WARING@382-91-12.IMA.INFOMAIL.COM> On MON, 20
NOV 1995 145845 GMT

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