Tea Egg

Boiled eggs cracked all over and steeped for a day, so the liquid reaches the white through the shell and leaves it marbled.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg.

Ingredients

• 8 eggs
• 3 tablespoons loose black tea
• 60 ml dark soy sauce
• 30 ml light soy sauce
• 3 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 slices ginger
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 800 ml water

Method

1. THE SHELL IS CRACKED ALL OVER AND LEFT ON. That is the point of them: the liquid creeps through the cracks and stains the white in a web wherever the shell has broken, and the shell keeps the rest pale. Peel them first and you get a brown egg, which is a duller thing entirely.
2. THE EGGS ARE NEVER SIMMERED IN THE TEA. Tea held at a simmer goes bitter within about fifteen minutes, and that bitterness is the commonest fault in these. The liquid is boiled, taken off, and the eggs sit in it while it cools and then overnight in the fridge.
3. Eggs into cold water, brought to the boil, then 7 minutes at a gentle simmer. That gives a yolk fully set but still slightly dense in the middle; they sit in liquid for hours afterwards and a soft yolk does not survive it.
4. Into cold water until cool enough to hold.
5. Each egg tapped all over with the back of a spoon, turning as you go, until the shell is crazed with fine cracks but still holding together. More cracks means more pattern.
6. Everything except the tea into a pan with the water, brought to the boil and simmered 5 minutes so the spices open up.
7. Heat off. Tea leaves in now, left 5 minutes.
8. Eggs lowered in. If the liquid does not cover them, topped up with water and a little more dark soy.
9. Cooled to room temperature, then into the fridge still in the liquid, at least 12 hours and better at 24.
10. Peel one to check before serving them all. The marbling deepens for about two days and then the white begins to go rubbery, so three days is the limit.
11. Served cold or at room temperature, whole or halved. The liquid can be boiled, cooled and used once more.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under China · All recipes