How to Love Century Egg

Three recipes: (1) Shanghai-style Century Egg and Tofu, (2) Cantonese Century Egg Soup, and (3) Hunan pounded roast chilis with century egg. (皮蛋豆腐/皮蛋娃娃菜/擂椒皮蛋)

Ok, so it's 2021. By this point, we're all over that whole oh-my-god-I'm-eating-century-egg shock video craze, I'm pretty sure? Because I mean… century egg are super delicious but also a pretty pedestrian thing at their core - basically just an alkaline cured egg that turns jello-y, gooey and rich through the preservation process.

So given that we've all collectively grown up I think since the mid and early 10s, it's probably about high time to show you a few different ways of how to enjoy them.

Now, of course, the most classic century egg dish is probably pork and century egg congee – like, it's a dish that I happily slurped down all the way back in college in Hong Kong without ever really knowing that the titular pidan was actually the ever-menacing century egg. But.. we did cover that dish a while ago on our channel before, so today we wanted to teach you three other ways that you can cook them up.

First, another absolute classic – century egg with silken tofu. Now, the most well known version of this dish is likely the Taiwanese version, which's a relatively simple affair topped with thick soy sauce. That said, it's been covered pretty thoroughly on YouTube already, so instead we wanted to teach you a Shanghainese version topped with zhacai and chili oil that we like even better.

Then, we'll swing over to Guangdong, and show you a Cantonese way of eating it by using at a base for a simple homestyle vegetables-in-soup, and finally teach you an awesome Hunan dish, which pounds century egg together with roast chilis, and uses it to top over some white rice.

Shanghai-style Century Egg and Tofu

• Silken tofu (嫩豆腐/石膏豆腐), 1 block, ~400g.

• Brine for the tofu:

  Salt, 1 tsp.

  Hot water, enough to submerge the tofu.

• Century egg (皮蛋), 1.

• Zha cai (榨菜), 15g. Preferably unseasoned, but the Sichuanese style appears to be the most available in the west.

• Sauce:

  Soy sauce (生抽), 1 tbsp.

  Water, 1 tbsp.

  Sugar, ¾ tsp.

  Small dried shrimp (虾皮), ½ tbsp. Optional.

  MSG (味精), ~1/16 tsp.

• Scallions, ~1 sprig.

• Cooked oil:

  Oil (preferably peanut), ½ tbsp.

  Toasted sesame oil (麻油), ½ tbsp.

• Chili oil (辣椒油), ½ tbsp.

Process:

Place 1 block (~400g) of silken tofu in a big bowl. In a separate bowl, dissolve 1 tsp salt in hot, boiled water to make the brine and add it in with the tofu. Add enough water to submerge the tofu completely. Let it sit for at least 15 minutes (I usually do ~30).

Peel and slice one century egg into a dice. Mince 15g zha cai. Slice ~1 sprig of scallions.

Prepare the sauce. Mix 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp water, ¾ tsp sugar, ½ tbsp small dried shrimp (optional), and ~1/16 tsp MSG.

Once the tofu is finished with the hot water, pat it dry and slice it into ½ cm sheets. Halve in the other direction, transfer over to a serving plate. Top with the diced century egg and the minced zha cai.

Bring the sauce up to a rapid boil. Leave it that rapid boil for ~15 seconds, then pour it over the tofu/century egg/zha cai.

Sprinkle over the scallions.

Rinse and dry your little pot, add ½ tbsp oil (preferably peanut) and ½ tbsp toasted sesame oil. Heat that up until it's smoking, ~210C, then pour it over the scallions.

Sprinkle over ½ tbsp chili oil.

Cantonese Century Egg Soup with Vegetable

• Napa cabbage (娃娃菜), 350g. Cut into ~1.5 inch slices.

• Garlic, 5 whole cloves. Smashed.

• Century egg, 1. Cut into rough chunks.

• Liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒), 1 tbsp.

• Hot, boiled water, 1 cup.

• Seasoning:

  Salt, ¼ tsp.

  Sugar, ½ tsp.

  MSG (味精), ⅛ tsp.

  White pepper powder, ⅛ tsp.

• Cilantro for garnish.

Process:

Cut 350g of Napa cabbage into ~1.5 inch sections. Smash five cloves of garlic. Cut one century egg into rough chunks.

In a hot wok or pot, swirl in a half tablespoon of oil, and over a medium-low flame add in the smashed garlic. Fry until evenly golden brown, ~5 minutes. Remove the garlic together with the oil it was fried in.

Add in another ~½ tbsp of oil, and swap the flame to high. Add in the chopped century egg, fry until blistered, ~30 seconds.

Swirl over a tablespoon of Shaoxing wine, quick mix, then hit it with 1 cup of hot, boiled water from the kettle. Let it all come back up to a boil, then add in the Napa cabbage. Cook for about two minutes.

Add the seasoning - ¼ tsp salt, ½ tsp sugar, ⅛ tsp MSG, ⅛ tsp white pepper powder - mix well. Add back the garlic & garlic frying oil.

Transfer to a serving plate, garnish with cilantro.

Hunan Pounded Roast Chili and Century Egg

• Green chili peppers (e.g. Anaheims), 500g.

• Aromatics:

  Garlic, 3 cloves.

  Ginger, ~1 inch.

• Dry seasoning:

  Sugar, ¼ tsp.

  Salt, ⅛ tsp.

  Sichuan peppercorn powder, ⅛ tsp.

  MSG (味精), ⅛ tsp.

• Liquid seasoning:

  Soy sauce (生抽), ½ tbsp.

  Dark Chinese vinegar (陈醋/香醋), 1 tbsp.

• Century eggs (皮蛋), 3. Chopped into ~½ inch chunks.

• Cilantro (香菜), 1 spring. Chopped.

Process:

Roast 500g green chili peppers for 20 minutes at 200C. Slice off the tops. Transfer over to a plate, letting the moisture drip off.

Chop three century eggs into half inch chunks. Roughly chop a sprig of cilantro.

Add 3 cloves of garlic and ~1 inch ginger to a mortar together with the ‘dry seasoning’ - ¼ tsp sugar, ⅛ tsp salt, ⅛ tsp Sichuan peppercorn powder, and ⅛ tsp MSG. Pound until pasty.

Add the roasted chilis, pound to your liking, 5-10 minutes.

Mix in ½ tbsp soy sauce and 1 tbsp dark Chinese vinegar. After mixing, add in the cilantro and the century eggs. Pound to your liking, ~30 seconds.

Serve in-mortar, top over white rice.