Pi Dan (皮蛋) — Century Egg: Alkaline Preservation Technique

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Pi dan (皮蛋, literally skin egg — in English commonly called century egg, despite the process taking 1-3 months rather than 100 years) is one of the most distinctive and misunderstood preservation techniques in Chinese cooking. Duck eggs (or occasionally chicken or quail eggs) are preserved in a strongly alkaline medium — traditionally a paste of quicklime (slaked lime), clay, salt, ash, and rice husks applied to the shell and aged for 1-3 months. The alkalinity penetrates the egg shell, raising the pH of the egg white and yolk to 9-12, which denatures the proteins in a way that heat cannot reproduce, producing: a translucent, deep grey-green, gelatinous egg white with a complex, almost ammonia-edged savoury flavour, and a creamy, olive-green yolk with a rich, deeply savoury, slightly sulphurous flavour. The finished egg has no offensive flavour when fresh and properly made — its reputation for extreme flavour comes primarily from poorly made examples.

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