I remember watching my grandma and aunt cleaning salted duck egg in my younger days but somehow those memories has been forgotten until I dig hard into my brain while penning this out. So it was my dad who taught the clueless me how to clean salted duck egg last year. Hahaha
Below is a simple step-by-step guide on cleaning salted duck egg. This is meant for beginner cooks OR the clueless ones e.g. like me (ahem).
This is how a salted duck egg looks like which has been cured using salted charcoal method.
Remove (rub) charcoal using your hand. If you dislike getting your hand dirty, you can place the egg in a plastic bag. Then rub charcoal with your hand outside the plastic bag.
Tsk, don’t discard the charcoal and egg shells. They’re good for the plants. I usually break the egg shells into small pieces and together with the charcoal, I will disperse it around my plants.
Not clean yet. Hey, I used to think getting my fingers dirty like that is yucky. As you can see I’m okay with it now. 😛
Rinse egg under running water.
A cleaned salted duck egg. Yipee! 🙂
How to judge whether the salted egg is good or rotten:
1. First, crack the egg into a bowl.
2. Notice the color of the yolk. It should be bright orange-red and the white should be thick, clear and translucent.
3. Smell the egg. If it smells unpleasant, means the egg is rotten.
Except if you’re hard boiling the egg there is no way of checking if the egg is good or not. So make sure to use the egg as soon as possible. Best kept the salted eggs in the fridge if not using immediately.
Hard boiled salted duck egg and white porridge is a marriage made in heaven. This is the meal that my grandma and aunt used to prepare for us kids. This egg is also essential in making mooncakes (yum-yum-yum) and Chinese dumplings (bak chang… yum-yum-yum). My dad uses salted duck egg in his steamed minced pork recipe.
For modern version, many uses salted duck egg to accompany with dishes like crabs, prawn, mantis prawn, lotus root and pumpkin. What about using salted egg yolk in cookies? Oh yeah! They’re all so delicious.
Some source from Flavours magazine.
12 Comments
If need to clean a lot of salted duck eggs like when wanna make Bak Chang i would normally use use a steel spoon and scrap off the black thingy
That’s a good one. I prefer to use both hands lo.
I didn’t know they had techniques to cleaning the egg :). Usually I just buy the ready ones at the restaurants.
Ah ha that’s even better… buy from restaurants. 😛
How do you cure a salted duck egg using charcoal? I can’t seem to find out online. I would appreciate it if you could help. Thanks!
Hi Yvonne, I’m sorry I don’t know how. The magazine methods: 1. Brining with salt, etc 2. Ash-cured method with earth, ash and salt.
Hi yvonne, I am a duck farmer producing salted duck egg, curing eggs with charcoal involve lots of works so its not feasible to do it in a small scale.
Mainly what you need to prepare is red soil; clean, crushed to powder and dry it, you also need to prepare charcoal burned from clean rice hulls, which are usually discarded from rice mill. Osmosis water(coin operated one will do) And of course, salts.
First, heat the water, not till boil, around near boil is good, then pour a little bit of the water into container, like a bucket, then using a bowl or jug as measurer, the ratio for mixing the soil and salt is 2:1. Soil 2, salt 1.
Stir them up using a mixer, gradually add water until all the solutions form like thick mud. Let.it cool over night.
When that’s done, take your eggs and dip them into the salted mud solution until all the eggs are covered in mud. Then roll the mud covered egg into rice hull charcoal until tlall the surface of the eggs are covered with the charcoal. One this is done, put them inside plastic bag and tied or seal it with rubber band, store in cool, dry, and dark place. The eggs will be ready in around 3 weeks, let it cure for longer of you prefer salter. The egg can last for 2 to 3 month unwashed.
Have fun trying 🙂
How long do you think the cleaned eggs (without cracking) can be stored in advance before using them? Can it be refrigerated like the normal chicken eggs?
I usually clean them only when I’m ready to use them. You can refrigerate them too. Though it’s hard to tell without cracking the egg, whether they’re good or rotten. Usually it’s best consume within 3-4 days once bought. After a week, most of the salted eggs are not fresh anymore. That’s what I noticed in my case.
Usually around a week.
Today I bought a box of
Salted Duck Egg & Century Egg but no idea after cleaning what to do. So after cleaning both types of eggs what do I need to do? Hard boil for how long? Steam for how long? Thank you.
Hi Odelia, for salted duck egg, boil or steam it for about 12-14 mins (depends on the heat). You don’t have to cook the century egg if you’re accompanying it with porridge.