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Century egg and salted-pork congee

Century egg and salted-pork congee

皮蛋瘦肉粥
SimmeredCongeeWeeknightKids like itGood reheatedEasyhands-on 15 min · start to finish 13 hr

“Congee wants its full time on the boil before the rice opens.”

Ingredientsserves 4

街市Pork shin (shank)· in one or two whole pieces, not cut up; lean pork does the same150 g
雜貨舖Salt· coarse salt, rubbed into the pork½ tbsp coarse, for the pork
雜貨舖White rice· rinsed, then mixed with ½ tsp salt and a few drops of oil120 g
雜貨舖Salt· for the rice½ tsp, for the rice
雜貨舖Cooking oil· for the rice; it is what makes the grains break down creamya few drops
街市Century egg· cut in pieces2
街市Spring onion / scallion· chopped, scattered on at the bowl1

Equipment

  • One big pot. That is all.

How the time splits

  1. 12 hrThe pork is salted and left in the fridge overnighthands off
  2. 5 minRinse the rice and start the pothands on
  3. 30 minA low simmerhands off
  4. 5 minLift the pork out and shred ithands on
  5. 20 minThe century egg goes in and it cooks onhands off

Method

  1. Rub the whole piece of pork all over with the coarse salt and leave it in the fridge overnight. An hour will do if you are pressed, but the overnight is what makes it the 鹹瘦肉 of a congee shop.
  2. Rinse the rice, mix it with the half teaspoon of salt and a few drops of oil, and leave it to stand.
  3. Bring 1.2 litres of water to the boil, add the rice and the pork with its salt rinsed off, bring it back to the boil and simmer on low for thirty minutes.
  4. Lift the pork out, shred it with your fingers and return it to the pot.
  5. Add the century egg and cook another fifteen to twenty minutes, until the rice has broken open and half the egg has dissolved into it. Hold two or three pieces back until the end, so there is still egg to find in the bowl.
  6. Taste before salting — the pork is salty. Spring onion at the bowl, and a fried dough stick cut into lengths on top if you have one.

Take care

  • Pork, egg (a century egg is a duck egg). The salted pork is salty: taste the finished congee before you decide whether it needs any salt at all.

The story

The plainest bowl in the congee shop, and the one a Hong Kong person orders when nothing else will do. The difference is the pork: the shop salts a whole piece overnight, simmers it soft and shreds it back in, so every thread carries flavour, while a hurried kitchen dices it raw into the pot and gets hard little cubes. That overnight asks nothing of you but remembering the night before. It is on this wall because a child growing up in Australia knows the bowl that comes out of the rice cooker and has never had this one.

Same kind

Fish-slice congee, cooked in the pourScholar's congee, with the pork offalBoat congee, with everything in the bowl

Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.