I have feared the nigh-legendary Century Egg since I learned of their existence. When folks started bringing up odd shit they had eaten in this or that locale, I always said "Yeah?! Ever hear of one of these!?" -- the only sketchier things I have heard of had been Balut, Durian or Casu Marzu.

Still, only recently did I learn that the shiver inducing 1000-year egg could be had with regularity in my own neighborhood, served... "fresh" as it were, by the half dozen. Reasonably priced to boot!

I resolved to test my resolve, and purchased a package of "Kindly Eggs" - also known as "Peedan" or "Soaked in Lye for a while" Duck eggs and set to to conquer my fear about that not-as-rare-as-I-imagined delicacy. The pictures to follow document this.

to my surprise I found that not only are these eggies truly crazy looking, they really are not that bad tasting at all, in fact, in my research I learned that the Century Egg is rarely if ever eaten straight and alone, and are far more often served in a rice-porridge breakfast dish known as congee.

As it turns out one can buy congee cooked to order at the same market near my house that I bought the half dozen of emo-duck-eggs, including a recipe called "pork and preserved egg congee" - #7. Before my appointment with the Death Kava, I ordered a fresh serving of the aforementioned, to experience the traditional mode as well as the unfiltered in hopes that it would temper my nervousness about eating an egg AGED IN LYE.
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Really, it wasn't so bad at all, the black white is not unlike a stiff gelatin and the yolk is a smooth and eggy flavored creamy-cream. In the congee they were little bits not unlike mushrooms in texture.

Up close each individual egg has a whiff not unlike pond water.

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Conclusion? I was a fool to fear this egg based only on its zombie-egg appearance. I am stronger for my eating one.

Also, I handed out four of my spare eggs from the package to friends at work, I hope they take my experience to heart and broaden their horizons.

In conclusion? I'm pretty convinced that congee would make excellent hangover food, the next time I am incapacitated by drink, I think I will crawl over to my neighborhood porridge shoppe and sup up some pork n' century egg, I am convinced it will give me strength.