Pidan 皮蛋

皮蛋 Pidan is pretty misunderstood in America. Many times they go the name Century Egg or Thousand Year Egg which comes from the idea that the egg is left out that long before you eat it. The key to preserving 皮蛋 pidan is alkaline. Few foods are made with alkaline since things that are alkaline are mostly poisonous or tastes bad. But this isn’t something to be afraid of because baking soda and baking powder are both alkaline ingredients in most American pantries. Making bagels and pretzels has a step of dipping the dough into an alkaline solution with food grade lye mixed into it. Ramen and Cantonese egg noodles use different kinds of alkaline to make the noodles extra springy. Nixtamal that’s ground into masa for tortillas are corn that’s been cooked in an alkaline solution. Chances are, you’ve already had alkaline foods and this is just another way of curing eggs for preservation.

Traditionally, these are made with duck eggs, but the same process can be applied to any other kind of egg. Various kinds of wood ash is used ask the alkaline, but my dad has seen footage where oyster shells were put into a fire to be burned for the same purpose. Traditionally, a mixture of the alkaline is mixed with clay, rice hulls, and tea leaves and this is packed around the eggs to cure. I’ve never seen these in America and the ones that I buy are all vacuum sealed in individual bags.

There some information in English that writes about how unsafe they are to eat. While this was true of a period of some manufacturers in China during the early 2010s, when it was discovered that some used heavy metals as a shortcut to curing the eggs, it lead to public anger and implementation of safety regulations. I would worry about them less in America because the producers that are big enough to send their products overseas are large enough that they are far more likely to be subject to tighter regulations.

When buying them, try out different brands to find one that you like. I like to find ones where the whites are nicely gelatinized and with multi-colored layers. The layers are more of an indication of different textures where the outer most part is more set where as the center is still creamy. Some might like the yolks to be more consistent of a single texture as well, but it comes down to personal preference.

These are a bit of a polarizing food and not everybody loves them. But the great thing about Chinese cuisine is that even if you don’t like these, there’s a lot of other food to enjoy. They’re also great to have in your pantry because they don’t need refrigeration. You also don’t need to cook them at all. Just peel them and they’re ready to eat.