one of my favourite dim sum food. century egg porridge. *yum* and also when i'm lazy, steam egg with quartered century eggs - eat it with steamed white rice... comfort food.
but i agree, it doesn't taste like cheese.
oh wow. this brings back horrid childhood memories. my mother is a typical asian mum who believes in the "power" of Brand's Essence of Chicken. my sister loves this stuff. my mum prepares it by simply heating it up and we'd drink it straight from the bottle. eeks.
Hi Dorie, I just made a batch of these last night but now i'm wondering if the cookies are suppose to go soft? I left them in a plastic container this morning and when i got home in the evening they have gone all soft and alittle sticky. Are linzer cookies suppose to be firm or soft?
abstract_duck: for me, the smell comes on when i start chewing... not while its sitting all innocuous on the plate... my housemate could smell it from a long way off, though =p
My family has always eaten them in a tofu 'salad' - cubed silken tofu, cubed pidan, a handful of spring onion and pork floss, topped with a little soy sauce and sesame oil. I remember as a kid being a bit leery of the way it looked, but having grown up with the taste, I love how creamy and rich it tastes, and it provides a good contrast to the other ingredients in the dish (sometimes I still cringe a bit looking at it). I don't think I've ever noticed a smell, however.
musky and volcanic... definitely apt descriptors =)
i think diluting pidan's intensity of flavor by having it with congee, tofu, or in a steamed egg custard dish would be good for pidan virgins!
has anyone tried pidan in sweets? i've spied them in lotus seed (lian rong) pastries in chinatown bakeries...
if it's your first time to try it i'd have to agree with some of the posteres here: try it with congee.. lessens the shock to your tastebuds.. ;p
with regard to the egg tasting like [blue] cheese.. i'd have to disagree.. this has a more musky(?), rather than moldy, flavor..
it also goes well with instant noodles.. ^_^
They're more sulfurous than actually cheese-like, IMO.
I've never tasted cheese that had that same assertive...volcanic... flavor...almost wandering into the realm of not resembling an animal product (It also looks quite like a rock until you peel it and slice it open)
That said, pidan are quite tasty with the right accompaniment and the right dosage.
I've had rattlesnake. I did not find it particularly adventurous. But if it is for you, then yeah, this may be a bit outside of your palette.
If you do want to try it, it's probably a lot easier to start out with it chopped into congee.
love2cook: it's really a lot tamer than it looks, but it does bite back the first few times you taste it ;) personally, it smells a lot better to me than a wet dog, so...
I hate to be a born in a tiny Midwest town and never gotten off the continent girl but ok I am. I thought this was a Jell-O type thing with a kiwi. I swear that is what it looks like until you really look at it and scroll down. I will eat nearly anything including rattlesnake and I love sushi but this item scares me. I love to learn about new things but I can smell it when I look at the picture and it does not smell good:) so thank you brave explorer of everything for going where I fear to tread but want to read.
I love Pi Dan! I sliced them up with soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic and a dash of rice wine vinegar. In congee or just plain rice. I love the stuff.
I can also see how someone can describe it as being like a blue cheese. The pungency maybe be similar. Century eggs are like the Tofu Lu you wrote about earlier this month...pungent, salty and nasal clearing.
economyrice: but back to essence of chicken -- i do reckon it's the most approachable of the lot. some of the other "high octane" stuff i've been fed over the years has been pretty vile!
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About: cupcake & katsu curry fanatic
Favorite foods: buttered toast, ramen, cupcakes, katsu curry, garlic shrimp pasta, madeleines, chicken cesaer salad/sandwich, nutella ice-cream, rice noodles with fish.
Last bite on earth: Katsu curry rice!