蒸水蛋Steamed egg custard
Two to three eggs, beaten with warm water at 1.5:1, steamed at the dry-steamer temperature until the set is soft and the surface is glassy, then finished with the soy, the sesame oil, and the scallion. The whole dish is temperature: the water ratio decides whether it is silk or sponge, and the heat under the pan decides whether the silk has holes in it. Everything else is the finishing.
The page is the steaming article's "dry-steamer" paragraph, in a bowl: the water in the pot comes to a boil, then the heat drops so the surface is the gentle 90–100 °C rather than a rolling 100 °C, the lid stays on, and the egg sets slow enough to never curdle. The 1.5:1 water on the egg's volume is what makes the set soft instead of omelet, and the finishing — the soy well, the ring of sesame oil, the scallion — carries all the salt and the color, which is why the eggs only get the minimum pinch of salt.
Equipment
- A shallow, heatproof bowl — the wider and lower, the better; it steams even and sets fast
- A steamer, or a saucepan with a rack, deep enough that the bowl sits above the water, not in it — the water should not touch the bowl, or it becomes boiled eggs in a dish
- A lid — the trick is that the lid stays on; a second lid under the first, or a dish towel over the mouth, is the two-tier against the droplets
- A fine sieve or a slotted spoon, for the foam
- A small cup of warm water, about 40 °C — bath temperature, not soup temperature
Ingredients
- 2–3 eggs — two is the small bowl, three the wide one
- 300–450 ml warm water (40 °C) — 1.5:1 on the egg's volume: two eggs is 300 ml, three is 450 ml
- 1.5 tsp light soy — the finishing, in the well, not in the pour
- ½ tsp dark soy, if you have it — color and the least bit of the sweetness
- 1 tsp sesame oil — the thin ring over the top, last
- 1–2 scallions, the finest cut you have, the green over the surface
- A ½ tsp pinch of salt, beaten into the eggs — only the minimum, because the finishing carries the rest
Method
- Beat, then thin. Crack the eggs into the wide bowl with the pinch of salt, and beat until the surface froths lightly. Then the warm water, in a stream, with a few more beats between pour and pour, until the egg and the water are one thing. The temperature in the water matters more than the amount: cold water in and the protein starts to set at the edges before the center can carry the liquid, and the surface skins over before the middle has thickened.
- Skim the foam. Slotted spoon or a fine sieve held at the rim — the bubbles floating on the top are the holes in the set, and they have to leave before the steam does its work. This is the fix for the lumps that every failed custard has, and it takes ten seconds.
- Steam at the dry-steamer temperature. The pan water to a rolling boil — then the heat dropped so the surface holds at the gentle 90–100 °C, with the lid on, and the bowl sitting above the water on the rack, never touching it. Two eggs steams 8–10 minutes; three, 10–12 minutes. The pull is the one on the steaming page: the surface set, with the softest wobble in the center, like a plate of jelly on the point of breaking.
- Rest it out. Pull the bowl off and let it sit 2 minutes — the center is still setting while the surface is cooling, and the rest is what finishes the set. Press the center, gently, with the back of a spoon: if it springs back slow and even, the surface is on, and it is ready for the finishing.
- Finish it. A small push, in the center, to make the well — the light soy in, and the dark soy with it if you used it; the ring of sesame oil, thin, over the surface; the scallion over that. The finishing does the salt, the flavor, and the color, and the bowl is eaten from the center out, in the order the set broke.
Common failures
- Holes in the custard. The classic. Bubbles that were not skimmed, or a boil that ran too hard and the protein set before the liquid could fill back in. The fix is the skim, the 40 °C water, and the lowered heat — the three things the steaming article's dry-steamer paragraph is about. If the holes are already there, re-steam gently, the lid on and the heat down and the water topped up in the pan so the steam does not dry: the center sets, the holes fill, and the surface is a patchwork, but the custard is not broken.
- Dimples on the surface. Condensation off a bare lid, falling into the still-wet surface as it sets. The two-tier lid, or the towel over the mouth, and the surface comes on clean.
- Omelet in a bowl, not custard. The water was cold and the boil was rolling: the protein set on the outside, before the center could carry the liquid, and the ratio ran toward the egg. The 1.5:1 on the egg's volume, the 40 °C water, and the heat down under the pan are the three numbers the dish is tuned on.
- Flat, with no flavor. The finishing was skipped, or the soy stirred into the bowl before the plate was down. The egg was salted only the minimum, so the bowl needs the well — the soy, the oil, the scallion, over the surface and not stirred in. The custard is the vehicle; the finishing is the dish.
Variations
- The chicken-flavored one (the one the steaming article names): a few slices of cooked chicken, and a little of the dashi in place of half the water, into the bowl before the eggs are poured in — the same steam, the same set, a bowl that is a soup before it is a custard.
- The dashi-and-soy version: the stock as the wash, the soy in the finishing, and the scallion the same — the bridge to the Japanese section, where the same bowl is chawanmushi with the shrimp and the ginkgo in it.
- The plain one: no soy in the well, the finishing only the oil and the scallion — eaten with the rice, and the salt of the table doing the work the soy would have done over the bowl.
What to serve with it
The scallion pancake, cut into strips alongside — the oil of the pancake and the salt of the finishing are the same register, and the two make a plate. A bowl of plain rice, if the day is a breakfast day, and the custard coming on top, in the order the set broke.