Cha Ye Dan: Lapsang Souchong Tea Eggs
Lapsang Souchong tea is a black tea native to Fujian, China, most famous for its distinctive smoky taste. Such distinctive and intense aromas are precisely given by being smoked with pine or cedar wood.
Lapsang Souchong has also always been used in cooking. It can also be used to flavor salt, and with its woody and spicy scents it has captivated chefs from all over the world. One of the most traditional recipes in which Lapsang Souchong is used is that of Cha Ye Dan (茶叶蛋), literally “tea eggs,” also called dragon eggs or Chinese marbled eggs because of the appearance the whole process gives it. Cha Ye Dan are considered for all intents and purposes an oriental street food, and although it is a very simple food, the taste is truly amazing.
The egg is a perfect base for the balance that forms between the flavors of Lapsang Souchong and those of the spices, while the soy sauce keeps the palate on a really pleasant swing of sweet and savory. This mix of flavors and tastes, along with the fact that they can be consumed quickly and conveniently, have made Cha Ye Dan very popular in China and Taiwan. Fun fact: in China they have a very low price of 2 Yuan (26 cents) per egg, while it is estimated that a single convenience store in Taiwan sells about forty million eggs a year!
But back to our tea eggs, the preparation is very simple. It consists of hard-boiled eggs left to marinate with a tea mixture and five spices. The recipes involving Cha Ye Dan, since it is such a popular and widespread food, are obviously many. Here I report the one that accumulates the most ingredients and preparation methods. Following these directions, I was able to put tea eggs on the table without any difficulty. Now let’s get down to practicalities.
Recipe for tea eggs
Ingredients for 6 eggs
1 l water for marinating
4 g black Lapsang Souchong tea
50 ml soy sauce
1 cinnamon stick
4 pieces of star anise
1 teaspoon Sichuan pepper or black pepper
2 slices of fresh ginger
Peel of half an orange or tangerine
One tablespoon of honey
To prepare the tea eggs, Cha Ye Dan, place the eggs in a pot with room temperature water covering them completely. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. A tip: Use room-temperature eggs or add a handful of salt to the water if the eggs are cold from the refrigerator so that, should the shell crack, the egg will not escape during cooking.
After the 5 minutes of boiling have passed, turn off the heat and place the eggs in a container to let them cool.
While the eggs are cooling let’s prepare the marinade for the tea eggs. In a pot we put the liter of water to which we add the tea, soy sauce (I used the sweet one, but the higher the sodium content, the better the color will take root on the eggs), spices and the tablespoon of honey. Stir with a spoon so that the honey dissolves and cook over high heat until the mixture starts to bubble.
While the marinade is on the heat, we crack the egg shells by tapping them lightly with a spoon. Warning: the shells should only be broken and absolutely not removed!
As soon as the marinade starts to boil, turn the heat down to low and add the eggs. Let them cook and flavor for at least 15 minutes. After the cooking time has elapsed, turn off the heat, cover with a lid and let the eggs marinate in the unfiltered mixture for about 12 hours.
Finally you remove the shells and your tea eggs are ready to enjoy.
N.B. Other types of tea can also be used to prepare this recipe, but Lapsang Souchong remains ideal because it has flavors that are not completely covered by the spices.