Tea Eggs 茶葉蛋

 Tea Eggs 茶葉蛋

Hard-boiling: Place eggs in a pot and cover with cold water. Heat the eggs until the water comes to a roiling boil, then turn off the heat, place a lid on the pot, and let the eggs sit for 10 minutes. Then remove eggs from the hot water and place in a cold water bath.

Cracking: When the eggs are cool enough to handle (or in my case, I refrigerated them overnight), crack the eggs with the back of a spoon. One of the hits should be on the bottom end of the egg, since there is usually an air pocket located there.

Braising: for a pot of 30 eggs, add the following ingredients:

4 black tea bags

2 Tbsp oolong tea leaves (or 2 bags)

1/2 cup light soy sauce

1.5 Tbsp rock sugar

5-6 star anise

1 bag of braising spices （滷菜香料，sometimes available at 99 Ranch)

(Optional) a few tsp dark soy sauce, if you’re concerned about the color

(Optional) 5 spice powder (not sure if it made a difference)

Add water to (nearly?) cover the eggs. If the eggs aren’t covered, one technique I heard about was to place a cheesecloth atop the eggs to maintain color/flavor.

Then turn on the heat, boil for a few minutes, then turn off the heat and let eggs sit for at least 20 minutes. Repeat 2-3 more times, stirring in between heat cycles. (I’m attempting to keep the eggs tender while maximizing flavor and color absorption.) In my case, I did a heat cycle, went to the office for work, came back and did more heat cycles.

Let the eggs sit overnight in this bath. I removed the spice bag and some tea bags before doing this, since in my experience soaking the bags too long causes an off-smell.

For the next day, test an egg and season the braising liquid as needed and run a heat cycle if you think it’s needed. Then reheat before serving.