Steamed Pork with Salted Duck Egg (鹹鴨蛋蒸豬肉, Haam4 Aap3 Daan6 Zing1 Zyu1 Juk6)

Steamed pork is a dish I grew up eating and all Chinese Moms have a recipe for this dish. Steamed pork is usually never the only ingredient used in making this dish and there are innumerable recipe variations for additions. There is another recipe for Steamed Pork with Salted Fish (鹹魚蒸豬肉, Haam⁴ Jyu⁴ Zing¹ Zyu¹ Juk⁶) .

This version uses cooked salted duck egg, whose saltiness goes well with the savory pork flavor. You can buy cooked salted duck eggs at your local Asian market. If you can get uncooked salted duck eggs, which are getting hard to find in my area, you can crack the egg over the top of the ground pork. Don’t confuse salted duck eggs with preserved duck eggs (皮蛋, pei⁴ daan⁶,), also known as thousand year eggs, which are black/green in color and definitely an acquired taste!

On the surface, this seems like an easy dish to make. If this dish is prepared correctly, the steamed ground pork has a tender mouth feel when eaten. I have found, through many attempts, that if you add 1 Tbs. (15 ml.) corn starch per ½ lb. (250 g.) ground pork, together with the other marinade ingredients, you get the desired result. Previously attempts that didn’t work used ground pork with more and less fat content, ground pork with small and large grind, and other binders (tapioca and rice starch).

Enjoy!

Ingredients

¾ lb.	375 g.	Ground pork (豬肉, zyu1 juk6)
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
1½ Tbs.	25 ml.	Corn starch (粟粉, suk1 fan2)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
1	1	Cooked salted duck egg (鹹鴨蛋, haam4 aap3 daan6), cut with an egg slicer into ½-inch (15 mm.) wide pieces
1 stalk	1 stalk	Green onions (葱, cung1), cut into ¼-inch (7.5 mm.) pieces

 

Equipment

12 in.	30 cm.	Steamer (or larger)
9 in.	23 cm.	Plate or bowl for steaming
		Plate lifter
		Egg slicer

 

Instructions

1. Thoroughly mix and marinate the ground pork for at least one hour or overnight in the refrigerator with the ginger and garlic crushed in a garlic press, corn starch, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil. I have found that 1 Tbs. (15 ml.) corn starch per ½ lb. (250 g.) ground pork results in the best texture in the cooked dish. If marinating the ground pork overnight, take the pork out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking.
2. Wash and cut the green onion into ¼-inch (7.5 mm.) pieces and set aside.
3. Form the ground pork into an even layer in the steaming dish. Carefully remove the shell from one cooked salted duck egg. Place the salted duck egg into the egg slicer and cut the egg into individual pieces. Arrange the slices on top of the ground pork in the steaming dish.
4. Fill the steamer with water and bring to a vigorous boil over high heat. Put the plate with the pork into the steamer and cook over high heat for 5 minutes before reducing the heat to simmer for another 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove the plate from the steamer with a plate lifter, sprinkle the green onion pieces over the steamed pork, and serve with steamed rice.