Yangzhou Egg Dishes

Yangzhou Egg Dishes

　　 Yangzhou Egg Dishes Chicken is an important food for humans and has good health benefits. Eggs are also rich in nutrients and are an essential cooking ingredient that can be made into a variety of delicious dishes. For example, sponge cake (egg cake) is a festive gift for birthdays for both men and women, young and old in both Eastern and Western cultures. Commonly eaten in Yangzhou households also include popcorn eggs, fermented eggs, pineflower preserved eggs, salted chicken, leek scrambled eggs, egg white stew, shrimp-fried eggs, egg poured meat, egg dumplings, tiger-skin eggs, eight-treasure eggs, ruyi egg rolls, fried egg rolls, agate eggs, and more. Egg dumplings and egg shaomai mainly consist of eggs and shrimp paste or minced meat. The process involves first cracking the eggs into a bowl, adding salt, and stirring with chopsticks. Then heat a small spoon over a flame, grease it, scoop the egg mixture into the spoon, swirl it around the edges, and briefly cook it over the fire to form an egg skin. Next, place the shrimp paste or minced meat into the egg skin to shape it like a dumpling. It can then be simmered with vegetable hearts or other plant ingredients, placed in a bowl, and thickened with a sauce. Egg dumplings and vegetable hearts, in yellow and green, are served separately. For the making of eight-treasure eggs, ingredients such as diced meats, ham, egg whites, egg yolk cakes, green peas, mushrooms, and others are mixed with a small amount of seasonings like salt and MSG. Gently open one end of a raw eggshell, mix the egg yolk with salt to form an egg mixture, steam it until cooked, and cut it into small cubes. The aforementioned ingredients are also cut into cubes and placed inside the eggshell. Then fill the shell with egg whites until full. Seal the broken end of the eggshell with tape, steam it over low heat until the egg is fully cooked, then remove all the eggshell to reveal the eight-treasure egg. Slice it into three-centimeter-thick round pieces and arrange them in a bowl along with some green vegetables and meat dishes, thickening with a sauce to complete the dish. The eight-treasure egg can also be served as a cold dish. Egg whites, egg yolks, and shredded egg flakes are indispensable ingredients in a variety of cooking techniques. For example, they are used in cold dishes featuring yellow and white cakes, as well as in everyday cooking for crispy batter, egg yolk batter, and Korean-style batter—all of which cannot be made without eggs. Frying, sautéing, velveting, and various stir-fries also rely heavily on eggs. For instance, Yangzhou egg-fried rice is also incomplete without eggs.