Salted Egg

Hard boil Salted Egg

Salted egg is one of the two common preserve egg in Chinese cuisine (the other being Century Egg).  Although you could preserve both chicken and duck egg, duck egg is the most common and perhaps the most preferred among the two, so common that the word salted egg is associate with salted duck egg (咸鸭蛋). The preference for salted duck egg could probably be due to the size of the egg yolk as it is the "jewel" of the egg. Salted egg is easily available in Asian market, supermarket or mini market. Traditionally, duck eggs are cured by packing individual egg in damp salted charcoal however, it could be done by soaking in brine (which is the method I use).

When preserved, the egg white remains liquid and very salty however, the yolk turn into orange-red firm sphere and only mildly salted in taste. When hard boil, the whites has a silky texture and the egg yolk has a sandy texture and a nice fragrance. Most commonly, salted egg is hard boil salted egg and served as condiment to Congee or rice. Uncook egg yolk is commonly used in Mooncake or (bamboo leaves) dumpling. Salted egg is also used in many dishes cooking, one of the easiest application is to make steam egg and mince meat custard.

I never bothered to find out if salted egg is available in Chinese supermarket here as it is easy to make. All you need is brine and patients. I usually just use chicken egg as it is easily available but you could use duck egg as well.






You will need:

1 Clean large jar, preferably with non-metal lid,
Duck or chicken eggs, washed to clean the shell,
Brine, simply add lots of salt into boiling water. Let cool to room temperature.

Place eggs in the jar filled with brine. Leave to cure for 20 days.

Preserve Egg in a Jar