Three ways to enjoy Century Eggs

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Hey guys, a few notes: 1. If you’re using a green vegetable (e.g. watercress, choy sum) for the Cantonese dish, quick word that if you charge forward with the recipe as-is, the soup will have a slightly greenish hue. Not the end of the world, but if you’d like to preserve the milky color of the soup, you can separately pre-blanch your vegetable, and add it in at the very end. 2. The first recipe is a bit on the salty side, so I’d suggest eating it alongside some plain starch - e.g. white rice. I actually liked munching on it with a side of toast. 3. Perhaps one day we’ll go over how to make century eggs? Already there’s a few tutorials online, though. AmandaTastes has a solid overview here (Eng CCs): kzbin.info/www/bejne/aXfTho2elrCJedU There’s not a ton of resources in English that go over the traditional way of making them, so perhaps that’d be the route we’d take if we ever do it. You can see the traditional process (Chinese) here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nqjQequXiZ2kb9E 4. And to preempt the inevitable: as you should be able to see from above… no, Karen, Century Eggs aren’t made from horse urine. Christ. Century Egg’s gotta be the food that the Anglosphere internet’s historically been the MOST melodramatic about, beating out even Durian. Even the most maladjusted expats I’ve met here have been completely fine with century egg. 5. For the pounded chili dish, we used one of those cool fancy Hunan mortars with the little ridges (excellent purchase), but feel free to use a bog standard mortar. If you don’t have a mortar, you could even likely just mince everything up on a chopping board. That’s all I can think of for now :)

[@cfgp]

4. I've never heard of that, which is probably good. It means I haven't been too much on the lunatic side of the internet. 3. Yes, please.

[@BenjiSun]

for canto version i love a mix of both century egg and salt duck egg, aka gold and silver egg. it's often done with spinach but yeah, napa cabbage FTW.

[@testdasi]

4. I always thought century egg to western folk is like blue cheese to eastern folk. I even managed to "convert" a few of my friends by telling them it's like strong blue cheese wrapped in jello (and they agreed!). Also in term of melodramatic, century egg aint no comparison to balut! :D 5. Love the pounded chily dish!

[@catnip202xch.]

Who tf thinks that Chinese people use horse urine to make century egg

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

@@testdasi "Also in term of melodramatic, century egg aint no comparison to balut! :D"

[@a_pet_rock]

I really enjoyed the "here's a few recipes for one ingredient" approach here. Sometimes I end up buying things for one recipe and then have no idea what to do with the rest of it.

[@kungfuman82]

YES. If I love one thing about cooking, it’s versatility of recipes and ingredients.

[@Gwyllgi]

I feel like that's probably how people used to eat. They'd go to a market when a certain few crops were in season and use them for different recipes throughout the week.

[@Saulibarra1111]

Google?

[@crewmatewillthrowthesehand7600]

Burmese Century egg salads. Thank me later

[@monolyth421]

Basically Iron Chef

[@meredithwagner989]

Due to a translation issue, I managed to order to order century eggs at a Shanxi restaurant. The dish was absolutely amazing. Soft, creamy and all kinds of awesome. 10/10 would buy again.

[@juanbrits3002]

What dish did you end up ordering?

[@meredithwagner989]

@@juanbrits3002 sadly, not one of the ones shown here. The menu said it was duck egg with peppers. I assumed it would be like scrambled eggs with peppers, I was surprised to find century eggs and jalapeños with a spicy sauce when I got home. I do not regret the order because it was really good.

[@kospencer1]

@@meredithwagner989 sounds like you’re describing 剁椒皮蛋 /duo jiao pi dan/， or maybe it’s just a generic thousand year egg salad 凉拌皮蛋, which every restaurant have a different way of presenting it.

[@boi2805]

Wait 山西 or 陕西？

[@kospencer1]

@@boi2805 probably 陕西， 山西 cuisine would be a very rare find outside of China.

[@TheSamueljg]

A weird (but delicious) way my Chinese mom who immigrated to Canada taught me to eat these: In a sandwich with mayo and spam/luncheon meat. Toast the sandwich bread, slather with mayo (or margarine/butter if you are so opposed), add slices of egg and spam. Serve with kimchi/labaicai/any pickle-y condiment on the side. Sounds culturally confused and wrong, it is delicious.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

I uh... I’m going to need to give this a try. Any sort of pickle preferable?

[@redblack9618]

That sounds delicious and exactly like the sort of thing my Malay roommate would eat the hell out of.

[@testdasi]

That's not just your mom. :D My dormmate fed me this once as well. Toast + butter + spam + century egg + pickled mustard green.

[@TheSamueljg]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified I like more vinegar-y pickles like kimchi with it rather than salty ones, but the choice is yours :)

[@Jumpoable]

@@testdasi Was said dormmate of Chinese descent?

[@Kavino]

I still see articles claiming century egg is a "delicacy" when it's a perfectly ordinary and cheap ingredient.

[@oldcowbb]

delicacy just mean exotic food for westerners now

[@trol_8889]

@@oldcowbb yep.

[@OptimusWombat]

@@oldcowbb not even. I can find it at my local "white person" grocery store, lol.

[@n0etic_f0x]

I was told they are suposed to cost 500 dollars. Here it is in bloody KFC.

[@OptimusWombat]

@@n0etic_f0x they're dirt cheap.

[@fafddzfaf]

My favorite way is similar to your second recipe (veg soup), but with THREE different types of eggs: century, salted, and regular. The Chinese restaurant near my house in Ha Noi would make it with amaranth green (rau dền). One of the few things I miss about Ha Noi, oddly enough!

[@BenjiSun]

in Canto we call Amaranth "yeen choi", the salty duck egg+century egg version is common here too

[@Jumpoable]

Is it considered a Chinese dish or a Vietnamese dish? Are most Hanoians familiar with century eggs?

[@g3tWhr6]

@@Jumpoable I am Northern VNese, century egg is not popular in the North, maybe it will be sold somewhere in the provinces which have border with China or in Hanoi but I still dont think that we Northern are familiar with this dish. We prefer balut, addled, regular eggs and salted egg yolk.

[@adriennefloreen]

I make a salad with the century eggs, salted eggs, and regular eggs that have been hard boiled. Everyone loves it because alone the century and salted eggs can be overwhelming for some people.

[@ericale9700]

@@Jumpoable I live in saigon (southern VN) and century egg is pretty normalized here. certainly not popular, but it's something I think everyone knows about. plenty of hotel breakfasts have century egg porridge on offer

[@michelhv]

We are all hoping for a First | Longyau T-Shirt this Christmas.

[@daudabdulhakimnaufal9832]

that will be a perfect merch

[@arthas640]

I'm not sure I want to wear a red hot shirt that's been swirled in oil

[@homeboy510]

I like the eggs as an appetizer by cutting into eighths then with pickled ginger and/or pickled pearl onions.

[@wang78739]

Fantastic video about a really underrated/overlooked ingredient! :) As for the Taiwanese "Pidan tofu"/皮蛋豆腐 you mentioned a minute in, it is so simple I'd hardly call it a recipe but: 1. Plop a block of cold silken tofu on a plate (use nice tofu for this) 2. Peel 1-3 refrigerated century eggs, cut in half and place somewhere on the same plate. 3. Add oyster sauce/soy sauce (or both!) to taste, plus a hint of sesame oil or chopped up green onions if you have any. Serve cold as a salad/appetizer & enjoy*! *If you are feeling fancy, you can slice/cube the tofu, cut the century egg into wedges/dice it, or add stuff like pork floss, crispy minced garlic, chillies/chilli oil, cilantro etc, but it is honestly not necessary and the whole point of the dish is that its a quick light thing you eat before the main meal. If you are making it just for yourself, I wouldn't even bother dirtying up a knife, just use the edge of your spoon to chop up the ingredients as you eat :P Another nice simple dish is "Three colored egg"/ 三色蛋, so 3 raw chicken eggs, 2 diced century eggs and 1 diced salted egg plus some water/stock mixed well in a bowl that you place in the steamer basket insert of your rice cooker when you make rice. Add some veg in the steamer basket while you are at it, and you have a complete meal in the time it takes to make rice. It's one of the first things I was taught to cook as a kid, since it just involves more chopping/mixing as the rice cooker does all the hard work and you can't really screw it up unless you try! XD Honestly, I think the reason why most people don't like century eggs is that they try to eat them unadorned and at room temperature when really you want to go either cold or hot with them. It's kind of like a regular boiled egg - sure you could eat it at room temperature straight out of the shell, but they are so much nicer when cold (just in general but also like in egg salad, deviled eggs, etc) or hot (like as a scotch egg, in a bowl of ramen etc). So once you keep that in mind, the ingredient becomes as versatile as most other eggs!

[@adriennefloreen]

I'm gonna make the three colored egg thing you described because I actually have one salted egg, a few century eggs, and chickens that lay eggs. I'll make it with my kids because your mom did well teaching you to make something like that as your first recipe. It's simple and delicious, but many years later now that KZbin exists it's also now something that if you cook up people will think you are a gourmet Chinese chef. I took a screen shot of your recipe because it will not let me select the text with Chinese in it to copy it.

[@garlock007]

When I went to Hong Kong there was a lot of food I wanted to try but I told myself Century Egg was outside my comfort zone. It took me three days to realize I had been enjoying it every morning in the hotel's congee.

[@Jumpoable]

Ignorance is bliss.

[@uwu-qb1cj]

Century eggs in congee with pickled vegetables or kimchi is my favorite way to have it. The acidity and spiciness goes soooo well with the richness of the egg I recommend people try it!!

[@worldview2888]

I LOVED this the very day i ate this for the very first time as a child. I am that one person that CANNOT understand those who have any problems with the "taste" it has a very unique and decent taste to it. The flavor of it just fills me in many different areas that i felt was lacking in a dish. I even ate the egg many times as it is and i love it so much.

[@faithkerns1626]

nobody is talking about how pretty century eggs are. That deep red-amberish colour is gorgeous.

[@youraftermyrobotbee]

Century egg is definitely one of my "bucket list" foods. Always thought it was so neat how a cross section of the egg looks a bit like a geode.

[@sparkeyjones6261]

Why bother even putting it on a list.... just pick some up at a local Asian market tomorrow. lol

[@brokenglassshimmerlikestar3407]

And they have snow flakes in them! In the translucent jelly part that used to be the egg white. Use them in congee, they're less strong that way and beginner-friendly

[@olly123451]

@@sparkeyjones6261 I think that might come down to wanting to eat it in a way that it's prepared by someone who knows how to use it, so yeah I could go and buy some, but if I mess it up, I'd think that I don't like it even though it might just be on me.

[@sparkeyjones6261]

@@olly123451 You're right, sorry, I didn't mean to sound condescending. I've been eating them for over 25 years, and never really understood people's reluctance to try them. Try a little piece with a bit of shredded fresh ginger, dipped in soy sauce. If you can get over the appearance, the stuff is wonderful. Lol

[@olly123451]

@@sparkeyjones6261 I can totally understand that viewpoint, especially if it's not something unusual to you! ☺️

[@abydosianchulac2]

"But, Chris told me if I tell you this, then you'll all be obsessive." The Internet has never been more seen

[@MidoriMushrooms]

literally just called out all of Reddit at once lol.

[@abydosianchulac2]

@@spanqueluv9er thanks

[@spanqueluv9er]

@@abydosianchulac2 Gotcher back.👌

[@Robertc-lv4gs]

Writing from Oxford, UK. Just made first recipe for part of lunch. Didn’t have tofu to hand, so subbed in a bashed up cucumber (slice cucumber into two halves; clobber with rolling pin; slice into small bits). Came out top notch! Thank you for these recipes.

[@pingho8287]

clever recipe! pi dan, a rich flavor food goes really well with refreshing mild taste garnishment, like here, the cucumber. yum...

[@Trassel242]

Seeing century eggs used as an ingredient in dishes makes them make more sense for me. It’s just like my own country (Sweden) and the surströmming (a fermented fish dish): foreigners do reaction videos gagging because alone the taste is overpowering, and it smells extremely bad, but you’re meant to use a little bit and combine it with other ingredients. I guess it all comes down to what you’ve grown up with and what you’re used to, in the end. I wonder, do Chinese youtubers do reaction videos where they eat European moldy cheese and gag? I imagine that one must seem pretty weird and gross if you’re from a culture that doesn’t use much dairy.

[@Jumpoable]

Most Chinese (not from the modern cities) would probably find stinking rotten coagulated cow's (or even worse---sheep or goat; eeeew) milk to utterly repulsive. LOL.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Ha, we tried the whole surströmming thing with a few friends at a local bar back in 2015. Felt like we should try to give it a fair chance and eat it proper (though was lazy and just got the Tunnbrod from Ikea). It was pretty solid? Surströmming's not really much more funky than shrimp paste, a little saltier than similar fermented fish in Asia, but I could see the dish being very tasty with some quality, freshly baked Tunnbrod. Re Chinese reacting to Western foods, there's not much of a genre. People *like* cheese here. In my personal experience, I find if people here hold negative views of Western food, you usually hear stuff like "it's too rich/filling" or "it's boring/better for children" or "it's too expensive".

[@elleem3951]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified or its to sweeeeeet!

[@circa134]

There’s stinky tofu?

[@brianmcgarry1632]

@@Jumpoable your bias is showing

[@k1r10n]

A fusion restaurant nearby makes scotch eggs with isan-style sausage mix and century egg. It's amazing.

[@silverdawn813]

my mom doesn't actually like the jiggly ones in her congee and would boil it quickly first before peeling to make it like a hardboiled century egg. it's also easier to slice.

[@UraniumFire]

I have a texture aversion to gelatinous foods. It probably comes from having Midwestern aunts and grandmas sneak vegetables and fatless cottage cheese into perfectly respectable dessert Jell-O. I hate to think I'm missing out on a wonderful flavor, like stinky tofu. I will work on my aversion. Eventually.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Ha, fair enough. A good 'gateway century egg' dish is the old century egg & pork congee recipe that we linked at the very beginning of the video :) Simply skip the additional century egg that we use for garnish.

[@UraniumFire]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified I'm on it. I adore congee.

[@torymiddlebrooks]

I don't have the history but I have the same aversion... It makes me sad that I can't engage with the full range of delicious. I empathize with you.

[@onthemark19]

Yeah, the most common complaint I get from pidan virgins is the texture, and the smell of raw century egg can be off-putting as well.

[@alicia1463]

I have the same problem with gelatinous food. I tried century egg in congee a while back. Tasty as heck, but the texture...

[@francesarpaia]

Love century eggs! I was studying in Hangzhou in the early aughts and we went out to rural Zhejiang where I was served a homestyle dish of century egg and pumpkin. I still think about that dish.

[@dalewatt6277]

That Hunanese dish is so interesting! Totally unlike the Chinese-style food you see in the West, it seems more like a stereotypical Indian or Mexican dish.

[@Nathan-gs5tw]

I thought it looked like guac hahaha

[@Jumpoable]

Yes, Hunan has different culinary techniques. Also uses a lot of fresh, dried &/or fermented chillis as Indians or Mexicans do.

[@BZY-bu9wr]

I had a really long journey with pidan. I HATED it when I was a kid, now it's my go-to ingredient if I need to whip up a tasty weekday lunch in between classes.

[@arthas640]

Every year my stepmom makes me whatever I want for dinner as a birthday present and almost every year she makes me a special form of larb (thai stir fried ground pork with chilies garlic and lime juice) that she adds deep fried crispy thai basil, smoked rice powder, and taiwanese century egg that she deep fries whole so they soak up more juice from the larb. Its orgasmolicious.

[@shinymuuma]

In Thai cuisine, century egg is treated like other strong odor ingredients. Cook it with a strong taste and herb. Similar to the 3rd recipe. If you can't enjoy anything as a plain ingredient, don't force yourself to. Serve it with your strong sauce. Try it with herbs and spices. Maybe it'll work for you that way.

[@Iranda_]

That's something I have been really looking for! I looooove these eggs, with a little soy sauce and chopped chives, nothing is better, but I will be happy to try other recipies. I would appreciate a recipe how to make them, I made some before and they came out OK, but a little different than the ones they serve in restaurants.

[@GreatKeny]

I feel the “soft” tofu sold in the west are typically not soft enough. You really need to use “silky” tofu to be the softness we have in Shanghai. Although not authentic, I also like to use dashi to replace MSG.

[@connorleonard4047]

Dashi is msg

[@GreatKeny]

@@connorleonard4047 I know. It's flavored MSG.

[@connorleonard4047]

@@GreatKeny no its a fish and seaweed broth but dehydrated. Msg is a naturally occuring chemical found in seaweed, fish, meat, mushrooms, and tomatoes

[@holyxbord]

@@connorleonard4047 ure getting it kinda wrong. Dashi HAS msg, and can be used as the salt agent in your food. But you are right that its not MSG

[@connorleonard4047]

@@holyxbord i'm not getting it wrong. You're being pedantic.

[@AntoniusTyas]

Just had my first pidan today. Been interested since I knew of its existence 18 years ago but never pulled the trigger. Had it as a companion for chicken porridge and youtiao... and I am not disappointed. Would order again next time.

[@Jhud69]

I love these. I usually just have them with soft tofu and green onions. As long as they're cut into bite sized pieces they're absolutely delicious. I need to try these other serving options though!

[@cindi86rai]

I just made chicken and century egg congee using a pressure cooker and it was amazing! First time I tried century egg. Had no idea I'd love it.

[@kleinebre]

I experimented a little bit with century eggs - the simplest process I came up with that (VERY REMOTELY) resembles them is - Have a BBQ, keep the ashes. - Mix the ashes with a minimum of water into a jar, add a whole raw egg in there, submerging it in the ash water. Leave at room temperature for at least 6 weeks. - After this, hard-boil the egg. Peel. Eat. Mind that while this does result in a century egg flavour profile, it is obviously an extremely crude version - mine turned out cloudy, rather than transparent, and there weren't any surface crystals. A typical store-bought century egg, if you can find it, will have a much nicer appearance.

[@rotenhoko]

As much as I'd like to say I love century eggs, I think I can only eat them in 皮蛋瘦肉粥, which has the same effect as chicken noodle soup for me during flu season. Never tried them in other recipes though. My favorite juk of all time is still 鯪魚球粥, but I've never found this type of fish balls in the states. They're also delicious for hot pot.

[@n0etic_f0x]

I had one of these and the guy that gave it to me was so sad that my reaction was "Woe, that is delicious, I should top grits with this or something" I could not have known how close to traditional my western brain got. Grits are porrage Congee is also porrage Have to try the last one for sure.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Century egg grits sounds... genius.

[@soysprouts]

Wait I’m slightly confused, why was he sad? 😂 Because you liked it, or because you suggested grits?

[@n0etic_f0x]

@@soysprouts He thought it was supposed to be gross, it was a weird time. It looks like a rotten egg so it is a rotten egg! We just can not believe that it isn't even in the face of proof.

[@SandraNLN]

Not a criticism here, but just in case you want to know: "Woe" means sadness. What you wanted to type was "Woah" as in surprise. They are pronounced the same though. Also, it's "Porridge", but I get why you wrote the way you did.

[@n0etic_f0x]

@@SandraNLN my phone is dumb? Idk

[@k.ebartlett1830]

It's kinda wild how like, aesthetically appealing the century eggs are. They *look* rich and kinda glassy like a really good beef stock.

[@tiredoftheliesalready]

Grown up? Have you seen people's behavior this year? LOL I really enjoyed century eggs in my pork congee that I got in Chinatown, Toronto, ON back in 2019. It was my first experience, but I definitely enjoyed them. My partner was not a fan, sadly, but she is welcome to be wrong 🤣

[@ANTSEMUT1]

Century egg in porm congee is one of my favourite comfort foods.

[@M-A-Y-H-E-M]

For appetizer nothing beats "Jelly fish" salad topped with Century Egg - the ultimate "BEST" . . . 💯% 👌🏽 ✅️

[@Clawdragoons]

I literally just bought century eggs and was trying to decide what to do with them. This video could not have come out at a more perfect time!

[@Christinaanncat]

Steph, thank you for mentioning the jiggle factor of a century egg. I’ve never had one so I would have been wary of a jiggly/wobbly feeling in what, in my mind, looks like the consistency of a hard boiled egg. Chris, you know us too well. Armed with a my new knowledge of the desirability of jiggliness, my first time buying century eggs would have certainly included obsessing over the amount of wobble. 😃

[@LygarZeroX]

I throw one in my ramen. it brings a whole new level of experience.

[@manfaitang5577]

Haven't seen it mentioned here yet, but my favorite way of enjoying it (and a bit of a guilty pleasure) is in a desert/snack!! Flaky pastry and red bean paste wrapped around a whole century egg, a HK classic. The savory pastry and sweet red bean paste balances out the flavors nicely, but it's a messy eat and the smell is almost as bad as durian or eating a peanut butter sandwich in a packed train...

[@spanqueluv9er]

How is a peanut butter sandwich smelly in a bad way or any way at all we wonders?🧐🧐

[@alkm96]

I'm glad that pidan is getting destigmatized, because it's honestly an amazing addition to so many dishes. Also, as a zealous proponent of glutinous rice cakes, I would love to see you guys tackle 炒年糕/年糕汤.

[@oftheone1856]

It did not get destigmatized at all. As a people so accustomed to energymanipulation, I'm rather surprised at how it is lacking in recognizing it in foods. Fermentation is an energy of decay, a negative chi, meat is fear most of the time, also a negative energy, unless the animal was completely docile and unafraid during slaughter.. something accomplished rarely by very devout Jewish and Muslim performers of animalslaughter.. and not many either. At any rate, these energies are bad for a human to consume.

[@dolfinsbizou]

I've made the pidan doufu shown in this video a number of times for myself and for friends, it's always a hit. Probably one of very favourite chinese dishes, definitely on the top 10.

[@TioOlavoDoBaralho]

I love how you introduced the video with like: “It’s 2021, folks. We’re all over the omg century egg react video nonsense, right?”. But there are still people out there like “eww food that looks and smells unfamiliar to me!” To these people I can only say: I feel deeply sorry for you, ‘cause century eggs are delicious!

[@octagonseventynine1253]

I feel deeply sorry for people who eat garbage when they could eat healthier more nutritious food that isn’t gelatinous amniotic slime for desperate peasants of centuries past

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

@@octagonseventynine1253 Sounds like a classist.

[@BenjiSun]

nice. our home version of "shanghai style" is so much simpler. tofu diced, century egg diced, sprinkle on salt, pour some sesame oil, done. sometimes add some finely chopped "toon shoots" (香樁頭), and or tiny dab of grated ginger. that and some lightly stirfried doumiao or deep winter takecai(must need frost/snow to sweeten), flavoured only with shaoxing wine and salt, and i can eat so much rice with only these 2 dishes.

[@macris7626]

What a genius invented the lei dishes third one,cazing delicious. Completely change my impression of pidan

[@barrett5195]

ive had that same type of tofu dish at Auntie Guan's on 14th st Manhattan thank you for posting the recipe, i don't live there anymore and miss it.

[@Xaervai]

you dont know how happy i am to see this video. I knew that enjoyed dishes with pi dan but i never really knew how to make them. seeing this in my notifications makes me happy beyond words!

[@georgerustic3817]

i loove century egg especially with congee love eating it during the winter times🥣😋😋❤️

[@Ottovonostbahnhof]

gem this is gem I am telling you! Even for a local, you have done great job

[@MintyFarts]

I really needed this episode. i have some in my cupboard I've not been knowing how to use since my first attempt with them. i honestly think i just had too much of it on rice rather than using it as an ingredient in something. the ammonia smell is not something I'm used to either in food but ive seen around the world from savory to sweet...

[@helloitismetomato]

I don't really get why people disliking century egg is such a meme. I've had it one time with beer with a friend and it's pretty good. I think it's a good drinking side dish

[@christopheryep8459]

My family uses peidan (chopped into pieces a little bigger than Skittles) in steamed eggs. Hard to evenly distribute before cooking, but worth it :P It's also a favourite "I'm hungry and too lazy to cook" snack, lol

[@livelaughloaf519]

That pounded chilis dish looks awesome and so easy to riff on (im imagining making one with little chopped bits of lap cheong and green onion along with the roasted chilis/garlic), I would love to see a whole video on that style of dish.

[@jts1702a]

When I first saw that I seriously thought of guacamole. I wonder how century eggs would fit in a guac? Probably could work.

[@hehe88hehe]

A bowl of steaming congee with century egg and freshly fried youtiao is one of my top 5 comfort food

[@ianmansfield68]

The 3rd one is really brilliant, I've had it lots of times in my 3 years in Guangdong. We pound it up even rougher than you guys ;-D There's also a great way to serve Pidan as a snack with a simple sauce that takes about 1 minute: quarter the eggs and cover with a dressing of soy sauce, black pepper, chilli sauce and finely chopped garlic (you can use that jarred garlic chilli sauce from Lee Kum Kee if you like for the last part!). As a beginner in China this was my first taste of Pidan and I still love it!

[@mizomint4197]

I would absolutely love to see MANY pounded dishes... I can't seem to find them anywhere in a Google search, maybe I'm searching for the wrong things. But I feel it would be an awesome easy to make meal I could prep that could last days in the fridge and just add to fresh steamed rice.

[@kevinmiller1356]

They’re common in Hmong and Yunnan cuisine (many Hmong live in Yunnan, where they’re called MiaoZu) as well is in Bengal/ Bangladesh. Bengali pounded dishes are called Bhurta/Bhorta/Vorta. Lots of recipes for those dishes online. You can find Hmong cookbooks published in English from the Hmong community in Minnesota.

[@mizomint4197]

@@kevinmiller1356 Interesting. So my spelling was way off. Appreciate the info. I'd still love to see these two make videos on it and show their take on it. I'll use the info you gave me for sure though. Appreciate it very much!

[@fapraiderfapraider3928]

In Thailand , We fried them with oil until crispy ,take it out and put them in basil stir-fried *Tips if you eat them with basil leaf its make the smell stronger ( and i like it) , another thing is the shell . People dye century eggs shell in pink to notice them.

[@spotswoodmiller811]

Thank you so much for the smashed green pepper and century egg recipe. I've been caving it since I left Hunan a few years back and most of the local stores don't sell it.

[@misterguts]

6:55 "Mom, I must be the luckiest dog on KZbin!" A Chinese friend once let me try tea-eggs and salt-eggs, and I loved those. She let me try pi-dan, and I have to say it tasted like soap. Should that flavor be notable or muted in a good pi-dan?

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

I'd say that while you *can* enjoy them straight up, it's definitely not the best introduction. If you're looking for an excellent 'gateway century egg' dish, the best would be century egg and pork congee (you can check out our old recipe which we linked as a card in the video... probably one of the better recipes out of the first year of the channel, which was a bit all over the place compared to our current standards). The second and third recipes in this video would also be good introductions. This might be a bit of a weird analogy, but think about century egg kind of like... garlic? Like, you *can* - and people do - like eating it straight up, raw, but if you were new to the ingredient there'd be less affronting ways to taste it at first.

[@misterguts]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified I love roasted garlic spread as a paste on Italian bread, and my wife has to leave the house! I like steamed onion with Parmesan cheese, and my wife has to leave the state! So I can be open to pi-dan in a gateway dish. Thank you!

[@Sincyn241]

I wonder if the dog had peanut butter? My pups lick the roof of their mouth when they get some.

[@Maiasatara]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified - I notice you didn’t deny the soap description but how would you describe the flavor? I’ve got a solid Chinese pantry now (thx to a local-ish market and Amazon) but there are always new things to try. Salted Duck Egg, Tea Egg, and Century Egg are on my list in that order. I’m legitimately obsessed with anything “dry” (not soup) over rice so I’m in with #3. I’m afraid to admit I’ve never had congee as every recipe sounds like watery, unseasoned rice. A hundred descriptions of “great food when you’re sick” don’t help lol. Anyway that’s the long way around wanting a flavor description. And to @cbmira01yt - I’ll be over any time you’re eating garlic, onion and Parmesan, lol. If you’ve never made Soubise it’s a MUST. Check Julia Child and Mark Bittman but basically a small amount of rice cooked in a massive amount of sliced onion (no liquid) and garnished with Gruyere and heavy cream. Light as a feather!

[@Maiasatara]

@@misterguts - mention you in my other reply within your comments but you weren’t highlighted so I tagged you here so you’d be notified.

[@yny13xx]

Also great as appetizers. In Thailand, we eat the eggs with sliced pickled ginger and sriracha chilli sauce for dipping. It's part of the chinese banquets' course of menu here.

[@Jumpoable]

Good quality pidan can be eaten with just pickled ginger. That's a standard Cantonese fine dining amuse-bouche but the addition of Sriracha is totally Thai. LOL. I might want to try that next time!

[@yny13xx]

@@Jumpoable l saw some elders eat it with black viegar.But yes, the added Sriracha suace is definitely a Thai-taste contribution. We just can't live without a tad of spiciness.

[@GuagoFruit]

In Malaysia/Singapore we have pei dan gao, a wontonish dumpling (gao) with a slice of century egg and meat wrapped in wonton skin. It seems very rare and I miss it a lot.

[@Kelly-yz3ll]

Just made the first recipe, it's delicious! Thanks!

[@The8merp]

Acknowledging Taiwan in a video is kinda ballsy, I respect you guys even more.

[@elleem3951]

I actually find century eggs pretty 😂 I am always fascinated with the snow flake like patterns that appear on the protein part of the egg. It looks like a black crystal.

[@pingho8287]

the “snowflakes in the transparent dark” are really poetic and romantic 🙂

[@spiceherder5823]

Yes! Can't wait for the Lei dishes. My fiancee is Hunanese. I've made your golden egg coins, and now the Lei La Jiao. We love them both. My mortar is small. I'm investing in a larger one like yours just for more Lei dishes - or maybe a mocahete so I can also do guac at the table? Let's gooooo!!1!!

[@khokhonger3789]

with the second recipe i managed to coincidentially turn these eggs into an awesome vegetarian duck soup, even those who didnt like these eggs were amazed

[@mochiman6307]

"You have to try it at least once" Charlie Smiling friends

[@jh4277]

As a Chinese person, that absolutely love century eggs, i would never just eat it by itself.

[@deadseptette]

i love centry egg, but i’ve only ever made congee!!! (like years ago!) i wanna make these! thanks so much guys, i’m so exited to try!

[@abh6967]

Thank you! I'm chinese and I don't get the hatred towards pidan. It is ordinary and delicious

[@rita7070]

the soup is amazing, it's so good I ended up using it as noodle soup base

[@alx123094]

The mexican in me swears I just saw salsa get made with soy sauce and century egg

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

I was randomly about to comment how well I thought these would go with tortilla chips, but then I started to wonder if people in Mexico eat tortilla chips+salsa too? Or is it an American thing?

[@xZOOMARx]

Vietnamese people are probably the closest to Mexican cuisine given our love for jalapeño, cilantro, lime, and chili

[@alx123094]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified im mexican American. But when I go visit chips and salsa are definitely a thing in Mexico. They call chips totopos. But the way you made this is super similar to the way my grandma makes her green salsa.

[@stevenlk]

擂辣椒皮蛋 is just fantastic

[@iEGeek]

Pickled ginger. I can have century eggs with just pickled ginger. Really good as a palate cleanser, sweet, sour, salty and creamy. This has been my go to way to eat century eggs.

[@Athrunwong]

Let me guess, you're from south east asia? I had one of those in singapore, i don't like it the first time. but i don't waste meal, so i try to eat everything. to my surprise, the more i ate, it grows on me. Weird but delicious that i still miss today.

[@RayMak]

The best most nutritious egg ever

[@batotskie3744]

Yes

[@xertul2865]

I found you

[@ElemXCR]

I love eating these with congee or mixed together with regular eggs in a dish and steam it. Sometimes I mix it with salted hard-boiled eggs too to have more texture and extra flavors. I ate century eggs when I was around 4-years old. I didn't know what it was but I really liked it. By the time internet became a thing... I've learned that people can't handle "black eggs" which I found out it was called "century eggs". I was already used to the flavor, just like durian fruit. It's really enjoyable. I think the stigma and the part where the brain is telling you to cough it out, is the part where it is a "century year old" egg. That's entirely false. I can only imagine that alcohol-sealed bottles can last for years. No other foods can. As far as I'm aware and eggs are certainly not one of them.

[@nicoleluo6692]

you know Chinese food much better than I do. 👍

[@SkeeterMcBeater]

That last recipe sounds banging.

[@jolee2987]

Love how the unflavoured zha cai is “kid zha cai” 😏

[@Livanskoy]

Hello! I love your videos and learned a lot from them, thank you for such a great content =) I really liked the knife you are using on 2:39 and want one for myself, can you tell me where can i get those or how they are named?

[@Natadangsa]

My favourite way to eat this is with soy sauce, or with congee and white cut chicken (Bak Chit Gai/Pek Cam Ke) at my favourite congee restaurant at Mangga Besar here in Jakarta.

[@nathanr.9507]

My grandma loves this stuff, she always eats it with her porridge

[@bigredradish]

i got pidan on a whim a month or so ago and i finally decided to try a dish with them in--i went with your leilajiao century egg recipe and i am honest to god shocked that it tastes as good as it does. i'm definitely going to have to try more pidan dishes at some point!

[@domsjuk]

You got me a real challenge here. First time I had those was during my first stay in China years ago. I got myself some 皮蛋豆腐 for a quick dinner, and according to old tradition, since this dish had the highest percentage of characters I knew at the time, it would be my choice! (And I love everything doufu-y and eggy, so how bad could it be... Restaurant was a decent dongbei place in Wuhan) And...man, the eggs were just awful, and I hated them ever since. Put them on my list for a second-chance, thanks to you. Cheers

[@thatonedude5357]

My absolute favorite snack! By it self with a little hot rice and some lao gan ma

[@asturias0267]

Your dog going mlem at the end was so cute.

[@AudreysKitchen]

I bought some of these the other day (intending to put them in congee) but wasn't sure and was wondering what else I might like doing with them. This video came out at just the right time for me! Super excited to try this out! Thanks guys!

[@vyvoomvoom9641]

Love toubgits and how your wife ends it with the Pup!!!🥰😘🥰

[@TabbieDearest]

haven't watched, hoping for long yao edit: LET'S GOOOOOOOOO

[@cowsaysmuuuu]

The sichuan classic charred chills with pidan (烧椒皮蛋) always hit the spot for me.

[@keeperofthegood]

My very first century egg (not really) was at a restaurant 16 years ago. The waiter could NOT believe I ordered Congee with Century Egg. He felt SO strongly that I would not like it, that he served me Congee with Salted Duck Egg instead. Not being wise at the time I just dug in and fully enjoyed it. I make that myself now with home made salted chicken eggs (duck eggs have gone from 2 dollars for a 6 pack to 6 dollars on the low priced end which is just unacceptably expensive). Now, not to be incomplete in life, I did get century eggs and I made Congee, and I added the egg in, and I never did that a second time ever. :) They LOOK phenomenally pretty (love the colours and mix of transparent to opaque) but are a pass for me.

[@megumim6795]

I LOVE century eggs!!!!

[@doperagu8471]

I love that you cook unabashedly with MSG 😍

[@Onion_Knights]

century egg, salty egg, my favourites

[@Talk2WandaVision]

Nice, thanks for presenting this so matter-of-factly and not like "ooooh it's so weird".

[@higashirinchiah1013]

In Singapore/ Malaysia, there is dish called 3 egg spinach. Basically it's century egg, salted egg and regular egg stir fried with royal stock and spinach. Not sure if it originate from China or South East Asia in origin, but it's one of my favourite way to savour century egg with rice

[@pingho8287]

put disced century egg and disced salted egg yolk in a mixture of salted egg white, regular egg and water, then steam it like simple steam eggs dish. this 三色蒸水蛋 also goes well with rice.

[@arthorim]

I got century eggs and ear mushrooms congee for the first time, btw congee was cooked with pork bones and I couldn't get enough! it was so delicious that reminded me the flavor of Mexican white pozole🍲🤤🤤 so that people that are just trying ethnic food disrespectful for views are despicable and ignorant.

[@foodyumaroma]

It's really looking so yummy and your presentation too good Absolutely fabulous century egg recipes

[@evapetrone8380]

One of your best yet. Your content is top tier! Looking forward to more pounded dishes!!

[@mayorbeetlejuice4841]

My dad loved eating them