Chinese Bird's Nest Soup (Yan Wo)

Southern China and Southeast Asia — bird's nest consumption in China dates to the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE); the ingredient was reserved for imperial and aristocratic tables

Yan wo tang (bird's nest soup): the most iconic luxury ingredient of Chinese cuisine — the dried saliva nest of the edible-nest swiftlet (Aerodramus fuciphagus) from the caves of Southeast Asia. The nest is primarily made of the bird's saliva, dried and formed into a cup shape. Dissolved in clear superior broth, it becomes silky and almost flavourless — the luxury is the texture and the umami depth from the stock.

• White truffle (luxury ingredient with subtle flavour)
• Iberian pata negra (luxury ingredient, appreciated for subtlety not intensity)
• Japanese shirako (cod milt — similarly delicate luxury seafood)

Almost flavourless — the luxury is textural: silky, gelatinous, dissolving in broth — the concept of pure ingredient luxury