# Ever Try a 1,000 Year Old Egg? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 22, 2003, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-try-a-1-000-year-old-egg/183547 "2003-06-22T04:03:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-try-a-1-000-year-old-egg/183547/21 "2003-06-22T18:53:44Z")
Quite obviously, there is a wide quality range among 1KYOEs. The ones I had were not slimey in the least and the yolks were creamy like in a properly hard boiled egg. I’ve had ordinary refrigerated eggs that produced worse flatulance. In fact, I do not recall the 1KYOEs I had resulting in _any_ gas at all. Does anyone have the skinny on **tea smoked eggs**? The crackled shell permits a beautiful spiderweb of tea leaf dye to color the cooked egg white’s exterior. I’m thinking of using those today instead of 1KYOEs because I know most of the honkies attending the party I’m cooking for will be grossed out by the real thing. I suppose I should be looking for leaf wrapped or mud encased 1KYOEs at the Asian market today. Any other hints for this novice 1KYOE shopper? What about those **purple** dyed eggs I see all of the time? Are those some Sino equivalent of Philippine _balut_? For the record, authentic _balut_ are duck eggs that have been incubated half to two-thirds of the way to hatching. They are touted as a marvelous hangover cure and virility enhancer. Supposedly, nibbling down the partially formed chick’s beak is a real treat. The hangover cure portion of the equation I can completely understand. All I know is that the vomiting this would induce for me would cure even the _worst_ of hangovers in a New York second. [insert vomiting smilie \>here\<] So, anyone have some pointers for me when I go shopping later? ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-try-a-1-000-year-old-egg/183547/22 "2003-06-23T04:53:00Z")
Hmm… I never liked tea smoked eggs since they required huge amounts of boiling to get that spiderweb so they invariably came out very overboiled IMHO and tasted dry and powdery with that gree stuff on the yolk. Then again, I never liked hard boiled eggs that much anyway. so YMMV ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-try-a-1-000-year-old-egg/183547/23 "2003-06-23T05:17:54Z")
tea smoked eggs are a staple in every convenience store, park, supermarket, snack shop in China. A big old pot of them simmering away on the counter for about 10 cents each. Basically, they are just a fancy hardboiled egg. The outer skin is brown owing to the tea/sauce it’s boiled in. Not quite sure what the sauce is but I’m assuming that tea leaves and some soy sauce are key ingrediants, with maybe some star anise, fragrant tree bark and the like also added. The inner part is pretty much like any other hard boiled egg. I get 'em every once in a while. They taste pretty much like a hardboiled egg. China bambina loves them. As for “honkies” – most people from Hong Kong love the thousand year old eggs. 🙂 But yes most Americans would probably prefer the tea eggs over the thousand variety. Fun fact, the thousand year old eggs in the mud, and their cousins the duck eggs in mud, can really make a gnarly mess when used for vandelism purposes. Make sure the egg yolks are on the runny side for maximum effect. In the Jim Jarmusch movie Mystery Train, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins gets a thousand year old egg from the Japanese couple and eats it in one big bite. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-try-a-1-000-year-old-egg/183547/24 "2003-06-23T05:22:53Z")
Sorry, **Cina Guy** but tea smoked eggs are nasty. I tried 'em in Taiwan and was thoroughly unimpresssed. Now fried broad beans. . . yum! ---
**Author:** ![peri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/67e7ee/32.png) [@peri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peri)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-try-a-1-000-year-old-egg/183547/25 "2003-06-23T06:50:34Z")
**Zenster** , around here those purple eggs are khai kem, salt-cured eggs. They are kept in a heavy brine for a month or more, then boiled as needed. I’ve had them made with duck and chicken eggs. I prefer the duck eggs. For the record, I will NEVER try a tea-smoked egg. My downstairs neighbors used to make these for local restaurants. With tea and star anise. Eighteen dozen eggs boiling for hours on hot summer days. Condensation rolling down my kitchen walls. Boiled-egg smell in the stairways that lingered for days. The thought of these eggs still makes me gag. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-try-a-1-000-year-old-egg/183547/26 "2003-06-23T06:53:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zenster \* > \*\*I suppose I should be looking for leaf wrapped or mud encased 1KYOEs at the Asian market today. Any other hints for this novice 1KYOE shopper? What about those **purple** dyed eggs I see all of the time? Are those some Sino equivalent of Philippine _balut_? > \*\* I can’t guarantee that they’ll be the same in your store, but in the Philippines, purple means that the eggs that have been immersed in brine for a time. This gives them a salty flavor (natch!). You hard-boil them and eat them with rice and tomatoes for breakfast. The purple dye is just so that you can tell them apart from ordinary eggs. And don’t knock balut. They’re great. Especially after six beers. ---
**Author:** ![godzillatemple](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@godzillatemple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/godzillatemple)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-try-a-1-000-year-old-egg/183547/27 "2003-06-23T13:27:22Z")
I once asked my wife (who is from mainland China) whether she ever ate “thousand-year-old egg.” She had no idea what I was talking about. The next time we were out shopping at a Chinese grocery store I pointed them out to her. “Oh, those,” she replied. “Those are preserved duck eggs – yeah, I used to eat them all the time.” I tried one at a restaurant in China and absolutely loathed it (this was the same place I tried tripe for the first time and almost got violently ill). Maybe I just got a bad one, but I haven’t had the courage to try one again. Barry ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-try-a-1-000-year-old-egg/183547/28 "2003-06-23T20:25:11Z")
Perhaps all of you can provide some more clarification. While shopping for the eggs yesterday, I also saw a tray of peeled and dark tan eggs for sale at the _char siu_ counter. I assume this is one variant of the tea smoked egg. The variety I have had in the past was a slightly over cooked hard boiled egg with a beautiful spider web of dark lines criss-crossing the outside of the white. I assume this was done by cooking the egg three-quarters of the way and then rolling it gently on a hard surface to shatter, but not break, the overall shell. A second immersion in a heavily concentrated tea bath would make the colored network appear as it penetrated cracks in the shell. These other tea eggs I saw yesterday were already peeled and darkened through and through. One had been halved and the yolk was also unappetizingly darkened as well. While I might have to try one sometime, they looked pretty wretched to me. Are these both tea smoked eggs or two wholly different recipes? **peri** and **Terminus Est** , thanks for the heads up about the **purple** brine cured eggs. I’ll have to try one of those sometime. **'zilla** and others, please don’t let the one bad experience put you off of sampling this classic preparation. I can be pretty picky about food and found the 1KYOE eggs I tried to be a fantastic dining experience. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-try-a-1-000-year-old-egg/183547/29 "2003-06-24T10:10:27Z")
I think the ones at the char siu counter are actually simmered in with the pork stew. I get them at home all the time. Chicken egg is first hardboiled, peeled, and then added to the pork stew to simmer with the meat, bamboo, etc. In Shanghai, it is a somewhat sweet sauce. This is different from the tea eggs. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-try-a-1-000-year-old-egg/183547/30 "2003-06-24T11:00:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sotally tober \* > \*\* > > That said, i immediately thought of the ‘ren rou cha shao bao’ incident, where human flesh was cooked and stuffed into buns (by this deranged hawker), then sold to hungry diners(who ignored the name!). > > :eek: What a horrible thought. \*\* I can only sit horrified and wonder just what ‘ren rou cha shao bao’ means. Re-Op They’re on the list of foods I’d like to try. I’d also like to try some kosher haggis. Sheep guts and oatmeal in sheep stomach seem like a natural for Ashkenazic quisine, but I’ve yet to find any. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-try-a-1-000-year-old-egg/183547/31 "2003-06-24T21:55:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by China Guy \* > I think the ones at the char siu counter are actually simmered in with the pork stew. I get them at home all the time. Chicken egg is first hardboiled, peeled, and then added to the pork stew to simmer with the meat, bamboo, etc. In Shanghai, it is a somewhat sweet sauce. > > This is different from the tea eggs. I thought that _char siu_ was a basted and grilled meat, not a stew. What pork dish are the eggs simmered with? I really appreciate this clarification, **China Guy**. If those brown eggs carry the _char siu_ flavor, I may well have to try one. ---
**Author:** ![Tarrsk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@Tarrsk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarrsk)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-try-a-1-000-year-old-egg/183547/32 "2003-06-24T22:35:11Z")
I can’t stand _pidan_ personally… something about that oddly chemical smell/flavor. I suppose it’s possible that my mom just bought them from a crappy restaurant, but she seemed to eat them perfectly happily, whereas a mere whiff was enough to make me blanch. Tea-smoked eggs, on the other hand… mmmmm. Could eat those all day (and did, during my last trip to Taiwan… thanks, 7-11!). ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-try-a-1-000-year-old-egg/183547/33 "2003-06-24T22:57:23Z")
Just yesterday I read Douglas Adams’ description of thousand-year-old eggs in _Last Chance to See_. My first thought was “Oh, _that’s_ what the SDMB thread is about!” My second thought, after reading his description of them (he used the word “green” at lest twice) and how they were made, was “I would never, ever eat one!” Adams didn’t like them much either, but he vowed to try them again. ---
**Author:** ![d\_redguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@d\_redguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d_redguy)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-try-a-1-000-year-old-egg/183547/34 "2003-06-24T23:54:17Z")
**raisinbread’s** link was very helpful, but I’m still a bit confused…is the egg hardboiled before burial? Or does one just use a raw egg? ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-try-a-1-000-year-old-egg/183547/35 "2003-06-25T04:59:03Z")
ren rou cha siu bao is human flesh steamed and stuffed dumplings. There was a really crappy HK movie made about this. Just an oddity that made it into urban lore rather than anything common. Zenster, the eggs I get are in a port stew concoction. Where the sauce gets reduced down to pretty much a thick coating on the meat/eggs and a little bit left in the bottom of the pan. You’re right the char siu eggs are probably a little differnent. I’m guessing that they kinda baste in the grease from the char siu process. More flavor than a regular egg. Not exactly something I eat all the time, but certainly not one of those Chinese things I’d walk a mile not to eat. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-try-a-1-000-year-old-egg/183547/36 "2003-06-25T05:53:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by China Guy \* > \*\*ren rou cha siu bao is human flesh steamed and stuffed dumplings. There was a really crappy HK movie made about this. Just an oddity that made it into urban lore rather than anything common. > > Zenster, the eggs I get are in a port stew concoction. Where the sauce gets reduced down to pretty much a thick coating on the meat/eggs and a little bit left in the bottom of the pan. > > You’re right the char siu eggs are probably a little differnent. I’m guessing that they kinda baste in the grease from the char siu process. More flavor than a regular egg. Not exactly something I eat all the time, but certainly not one of those Chinese things I’d walk a mile not to eat. \*\* [Charleton Heston]ren rou cha siu bao is made of people! ---
**Author:** ![Peg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Peg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peg)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-try-a-1-000-year-old-egg/183547/37 "2003-06-25T19:43:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Avalonian \* > \*\*Just yesterday I read Douglas Adams’ description of thousand-year-old eggs in _Last Chance to See_. My first thought was “Oh, _that’s_ what the SDMB thread is about!” My second thought, after reading his description of them (he used the word “green” at lest twice) and how they were made, was “I would never, ever eat one!” > > Adams didn’t like them much either, but he vowed to try them again. \*\* ☹ I wonder if he did get to try them again. I like pidan, but usually only if it’s in congee. Occasionally you’ll see them as first course/cold appetizer plates. Now I’m hungry for tea smoked eggs! Another variation on the preserved egg thing is salted egg. This works best with duck eggs (although I admit I’ve never tried this with chicken eggs) – place some uncooked duck eggs in a jar willed with supersaturated salted water. After a couple of weeks, you have yummy salt eggs for rice. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-try-a-1-000-year-old-egg/183547/38 "2003-06-25T20:12:40Z")
Toronto is North America’s most multicultural city. I have tried authentic thousand year old egg twice at Chinatown dim sums (black yolk, and not quite black yolk). Both times, I found it mediocre. Not unpleasant, not rotten, not something I want to acquire a taste for either. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-try-a-1-000-year-old-egg/183547.md?page=1)