century egg

plural century eggs

1. A Chinese delicacy made by preserving a duck, chicken or quail egg in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, quicklime and rice hulls for several weeks to several months.

   There are many varieties of congee but the most common is this salted pork with century egg.

   2015, Deborah Lowe Kwok Yun, The Little Cantonese Cookbook

   4 more examples

   Almonds, parched watermelon seeds—esteemed as a great delicacy—spareribs covered with a mixture of molasses sugar, fried fish, chicken livers and century eggs were put on the table at once.

   1912 November 15, “Chop suey hoax exposed”, in The Mixer & Server, volume 21, number 11, page 35

   More or less is heard about the Chinese "century eggs." These are duck eggs which have been preserved by a coating of mud, rice hulls, lime and wood ashes.

   1922 December 20, E. C. Heinsohn, “Eggs and Poultry in China”, in The Egg Reporter, page 28

   In the middle of the platter were century eggs, eggs which have been left in lime for a long, long time until the yolk has become dark and the white gelatinous.

   1953, Dorothy Snapp McCammon, We tried to stay, page 95

   King Chef (2F Main Mall, 0932 323 1871) serves healthy food and authentic Cantonese cuisine in a fine dining setup. For Father's Day, treat the whole family to its dim sum platters! It has a roasted platter which includes soyed chicken, roast duck, barbecued pork asado, fried five-spice roll, and soyed cucumber with century egg. Another option is the steamed dim sum platter, where you can devour a spread of hakaw, pork & shrimp siomai, Japanese siomai, beancurd roll, and Taosi spareribs.

   2022 June 18, “Go on a Binondo food trip this Father's Day at Lucky Chinatown”, in Manila Bulletin, Manila: Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Jun 2022

   Synonyms: preserved egg, hundred-year egg, thousand-year egg, thousand-year-old egg, millennium egg, pidan, songhuadan, pei daan