Tamsui Iron Egg
Looks like a ball of steel! The more you chew, the darker and harder the egg will taste.
Description
A Tamsui specialty where eggs are repeatedly boiled in soy/star anise liquid and wind-dried for nearly a week, shrinking the whites into pitch-black, rubbery hardness.
Restaurants serving Tamsui Iron Egg
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We are researching restaurants that serve this dish.
On this site you can check dictionary details and, later, places to buy or eat related items.
The Recipe section below is a general reference, not a recipe from the listed shops.
Recipe
Ingredients
- Quail eggs(or Chicken eggs)
- Massive soy sauce
- Rock sugar
- Five-spice powder
- Star anise
Instructions
- [Authentic Recipe]
- Hard-boil quail (or chicken) eggs and peel.
- Put massive soy sauce, rock sugar, five-spice, star anise, and cassia in a pot to make a 'pitch-black Lu Zhi (braising sauce)'.
- [Infinite Loop of Braising and Drying] Simmer eggs in the sauce on low for ~
- hours.
- Remove eggs, expose to fan wind (or natural breeze) to completely dry the surface and shrink the egg whites.
- Next day, simmer again in the same sauce for
- hours, then air-dry again.
- Repeat this 'braise -> dry' process every day for
- days to
- week (over
- times).
- Done when the white loses all moisture, shrinks to half its size, and turns pitch-black to the core (hard as iron). Typically vacuum-packed and eaten at room temp.
Learn more Spice, substitutes, tips
Key spices
Intense aroma of Five-spice and Star anise
Substitutes at Japanese supermarkets
Irreplaceable (Completely different from regular braised eggs)
Pairing
Taiwan Straight Tea(Oolong Tea)
Trivia
[Hardcore] Tamsui's top 2 specialty alongside A-gei. Legend says a port eatery repeatedly reheated unsold braised eggs, which became famous for being 'hard and delicious'. Hugely popular as a souvenir.
Eating tips & etiquette
[Unique Eating] Bite through the rubber-hard white 'squish!', and savor the condensed soy umami and deep yolk richness little by little like a snack!
Allergen
Egg, Soy, Wheat