Tea Egg Salad
Serve on rice crackers. Eat. Repeat.
Just eggs, mayonnaise, scallions, soy sauce, smoky Lapsang Souchong tea, and a bevy of heady spices: cinnamon, anise, Szechuan peppercorns, and fennel.
The first step is familiar enough: make hardboiled eggs, but undercook them a bit as they'll be simmering more later.
This part is fun: with the back of a spoon, gently tap the eggs til their surfaces are a web of hairline cracks.
With the eggs cracked but intact, it's time to add the spices, soy sauce, and sugar.
Have you ever had Lapsang Souchong tea? It smells like a cross between peaty Scotch and a barbecue joint, but in a really good way!
The eggs simmer for half an hour, then soak in their liquid for overnight, or as long as you can. (We soaked ours for about six hours.)
And this is what you'll get: gorgeous, tea-stained eggs soaked through to the core.
We couldn't resist one more beauty shot: it's almost a shame to peel them!
The dressing is made from mayonnaise and the eggs' reduced steeping liquid. (No sense in wasting that flavor!)
Scallions join the party -- be sure to save some of them for garnish, as well.
After admiring our handsome eggs, we finally peeled and chopped them up. It had to happen!
Here they are, ready for a twirl in the dressing.
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Author Notes: Last Chinese New Year I made tea eggs and a black bean, smoked tea pork rib dish. The next day I made egg salad and we served canapes with the egg and a sliver of pork. It was divine and I can't go back to any other kind of egg salad. It would be absurd to make these beautiful eggs just for a salad, so this recipe is for a dozen. Six for enjoying whole and six for making a salad for appetizers. The liquid the eggs steep in can be saved to braise pork ribs that get finished on the grill. Serve the ribs with the eggs, roasted sweet potatoes and sesame kale for a perfect meal. - savorthis
Food52 Review: WHO: savorthis hails from Denver, Colorado and counts front end web design, marketing, and of course, cooking among her talents.
WHAT: A peppery salad with beautiful tea-soaked eggs.
HOW: Cracked eggs soak in smoky Lapsang Souchong tea overnight before folding in the dressing ingredients.
WHY WE LOVE IT: Served on crackers, this salad makes a great cocktail snack. - A&M
Serves 12 appetizers
- 12 eggs
- 3 cups water
- 3 Lapsang souchong tea bags or 3 T loose
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 star anise pods
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
- 1/2 teaspoon szechuan peppercorns (black peppercorns work too)
- 1/3 cup mayo
- 1 scallion, thinly sliced
- pepper
- rice crackers
- Put eggs in one layer in pot and cover with water. Bring to simmer, turn off heat, cover and let sit 4 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water. Gently crack all over with the back of a spoon enough to make a spider web of cracks, but not break the egg.
- Put eggs back in empty pot, add all ingredients through szechuan peppercorns. Bring to a boil then reduce to the lowest simmer for 30 minutes. Let cool then steep overnight if possible or as long as you can.
- Reduce one cup steeping liquid by half. Mix 3 teaspoons with mayo, green onion and black pepper.
- Carefully peel eggs. Serve six as is with smoked salt and slice and gently fold remaining six with mayo mixture. Or double mayo, admire whole eggs and mix them all. Serve on rice crackers with cilantro and pepper.
- Your Best Mayonnaise-Based Salad Contest Finalist!
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10 months ago Roxmarie
I was so excited about the tea eggs that i never got around to making the mayonnaise part, but the marinade is so sublime that i'm sure it would be excellent.
I had some large tamari/soy rice cakes, and a jar of homemade cilantro pesto (just cilantro, oil, and i believe some salt). I mixed a tablespoon of the cilantro with a dash of sesame oil and a double dash of soy and spread that on the rice cakes. Top with sliced tea eggs and sprinkle with alder-smoked salt. This also satisfied my craving for a tempura-fried tea egg, which I have not completely abandoned. Thanks Marina - this recipe is a lot of fun.
10 months ago hardlikearmour
hardlikearmour is a trusted home cook.
Love the flavors going on in this salad, it's far more interesting (and I think delicious) than a traditional egg salad. My only complaint is a personal preference thing - I thought it had too much mayo, so scaled back on the second batch I made. Cheers to a lovely recipe!
10 months ago savorthis
Thank you. Mayo is definitely a custom order here too. My husband likes a lot more of it than I do so with any similar salad or sandwich I take my portion first and give him a little extra.
11 months ago Tedsdottir
Super recipe! I am always looking for recipes with a new angle to them. This Asian influence is just the right touch. I can hardly wait to serve it at my next meeting.
Tedsddottir
11 months ago gr8chefmb
I have to admit that on the face of it, I thought an egg salad was kind of a safe choice to choose as a finalist. However, it sounds divine since I have read the recipe through. Congratulations on being selected as a finalist. Can't wait to try this recipe.
11 months ago savorthis
Thanks gr8chefmb. I hope you do try it and enjoy it.
11 months ago dana_tomlin
I tested this recipe for the contest and loved it! These are my notes:
not only was this dish really tasty - it was fun to make! Boiling the eggs within the spiced broth created a sweet, fennel aroma AND they look amazing. Once the eggs were boiled and left to sit for as long as i could stand it, a simple egg salad was made.the recipe calls for cooking down the broth and using 3T in the mayo mixture- this was too much liquid. I should reduced it more. I like that u get 3 things out of this recipe: tea eggs, egg salad, and leftover broth for a marinade
* i substituted black tea for lapsang souchang. I am making it again, today, with lapsang souchong
11 months ago savorthis
Thank you for testing the recipe! I am curious to hear how you like the smokey tea. I know people who love drinking it just like tea which I have to say is not appealing to me, but I use it a lot with pork and sweet potatoes. I did also just have a smokey mezcal cocktail (with lime, ginger and cassis) and I wonder how lapsang souchong would be in a cocktail....
11 months ago savorthis
Thank you everyone for your nice compliments. It's exciting to be a finalist with one of my favorite recipes. If any of you try it, I'd love to hear what you think.
11 months ago AntoniaJames
AntoniaJames is a trusted source on Bread/Baking.
Marvelous! Just love it. Congrats on the selection as a finalist! ;o)
11 months ago BoulderGalinTokyo
Congrats on bringing Asian flavors into mainstream America! Always loved these tea drenched eggs but never thought to add mayo. Wonderful!
11 months ago NBrush
Congratulations on being a finalist, and it is a pleasure to see such a novel, tasty recipe. I love your take on Asian flavors.
11 months ago gingerroot
Congratulations savorthis! I'm so happy to see your beautiful tea egg salad as a finalist. I had a feeling...
11 months ago sdebrango
Suzanne is a trusted source on General Cooking.
Congratulations on being a finalist, the egg salad is beautiful, I just love the eggs after their soak in the tea.
11 months ago meganvt01
SO beautiful and l can't wait to try this! Congrats on being a finalist.
11 months ago susan g
Congratulations! I was one of the testers, and I was enchanted by the process and the results. Who would have thought HB eggs could be so sensual!
11 months ago savorthis
Thanks Susan!
11 months ago gingerroot
This is a beautiful and delicious sounding twist on egg salad.
11 months ago savorthis
Last night we used the steeping liquid to make some delicious country style pork ribs. I started by browning the ribs in the pot of my pressure cooker, then cooked some onions, garlic, ginger and fermented black beans in the fat. I added the steeping liquid, and a couple more cups of water, a bit more soy and another tea bag and steeped for a few minutes. I then removed the tea bag, added the ribs and pressure cooked them about 17 minutes. We then strained and skimmed the liquid, reduced it to make it a bit thicker and threw the ribs on the grill, basting with the sauce. We also grilled sweet potato wedges and made a pile of swiss chard with sesame vinaigrette. Delish.
11 months ago sdebrango
Suzanne is a trusted source on General Cooking.
What a beautiful recipe. I love that you repurpose the steeping liquid.
11 months ago savorthis
Thanks sdebrango. I imagine you could do a lot with it from serving saucy noodles, to glazing or braising a variety of meats. I just think the smokey pork goes so well these eggs and roasted sweet potatoes add just the right earthy sweetness.
11 months ago savorthis
Thanks sdebrango. I imagine you could do a lot with it from serving saucy noodles, to glazing or braising a variety of meats. I just think the smokey pork goes so well these eggs and roasted sweet potatoes add just the right earthy sweetness.