Ingredients
2 cup tea, very strong black
1/3 cup salt
2 cup ashes of pine wood
2 cup ashes of charcoal
2 cup fireplace ashes
1 cup lime*
12 duck egg, fresh
Directions
*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
145845 GMT
Servings: 12 servings
Preserved Duck Eggs (Thousand Year Old Eggs) Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Duck; Egg; Meat; Poultry
The History of Recipes
We can trace the history of written recipes back into distant history, at least as far into history as early Egypt, and maybe even further. Interesting though that maybe, in the main part, these ancient cook books were just simple hieroglyphic recipes for meal preparation.
Interestingly, the most ancient recipe in existence, according to historians is a collection of ancient tablets in the Sumerian language which recount the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making anyone who drank it feel wonderful and blissful. Progressing into The time of the romans around 25BC a roman called Apicius wrote some documents which described recipes prepared by his fellow Romans. He describes how the meals were divided into starters, entrees and afters, a very modern way of dining. He also recounts how the Roman cooks made use of a wide range of herbs and spices, including a few that are still present in modern kitchens such as bay, mint and dill. Later, in the 15th century, people returning from the crusades brought back many new foods and herbs from Arab cooking, including coriander, parsley, and basil. The introduction of these new tastes was responsible for a surge in manuscripts on food, the majority of which still exist in private libraries. During the next few hundred years, the powerful and wealthy houses tried to serve the most exotic meals, and as a consequence, the best cooks and their recipes were much in demand. Notwithstanding that, it was during the 1800s that formal cookery and cookery books really came of age. The Famous Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Farmer in the US, dedicated the best years of their lives to assembling, verifying, and recording popular recipes of the day. By the advent of the 1900s, cook books are increasing in popularity mostly as a result of more people being able to read, people having increased free time and having more money. |
We hope you enjoy this Preserved Duck Eggs (Thousand Year Old Eggs) recipe.
