Chinese Soy Eggs 滷蛋

Ingredients

12 eggs (1 -2 wks old)

2C Water

1/2C Soy Sauce

1t. Sugar or rock sugar

1T Sake or Rice cooking wine

1t Black pepper

2 Bay leaves

1 Cinnamon stick

2 Star anise

Directions

• Place eggs into a pot, add enough cold water to cover, add pinch of salt.

• Boil for 10 - 15 minutes.

• Place eggs into ice bath to cool. Shell & sit aside.

• Toss the spices in a pot for 10-15 seconds, until fragrant.

• Add water, soy sauce, sake, bay leaves, bring to a boil.

• Place eggs into the poaching liquid, add enough water to cover the eggs and bring to a boil over medium heat, uncovered. Stir a couple times so it doesn’t burnt if the pot is not large/deep enough. Taste the liquid & see if it needs additional salt or soy sauce, liquid should be flavorful but NOT overly salty.

• Turn heat to low & cook down the liquid until you can see the eggs floating on top.

• Let sit in the fridge overnight so the flavor soak into the egg yolks.

Notes

• Fresh eggs don’t shell well. So if you want a perfectly shelled eggs, plan ahead so the eggs can sit in your fridge at least for 5-7 days for easy shelling.

• I don’t like “green rings” on yolks, so my cooking time on large eggs are roughly 10 - 12 minutes, HOWEVER, since the eggs are softer at this point, shelling can be somewhat challenging. It’s your choice.

• Total cooking time of the eggs shouldn’t excess 15 minutes, otherwise protein coiled & hardened and yolk can turn sulfur tasting.

• You can use the same liquid to poach pork belly, then add eggs to it.

• Yes… if you made a lot of liquid, you can strain out the spices & freeze the liquid for later use. All you need to do is add more spices and liquid (water and/or soy sauce), bring to a boil & you are ready to go.