Cured Egg in Mushroom Broth
Ingredients (4 servings)
3 dried lobster mushroom
1 dried shiitake mushroom
200 - 400 ml water
1 1/2 tbsp of Japanese soy sauce (tamari can be used to make it gluten free)
Slice or strip of daikon for garnish
1/2 tbsp of miso paste
Truffle oil
Lime juice
Optional ingredients
Pack of dried bonito flakes
1 Japanese seaweed (konbu)
How to
Prepare cured egg as per these instructions. Once done, lay the cured eggs in a small bowl.
In a small pot, place water, mushrooms, and all the ingredients (except the egg). Bring water to boil and stir occasionally. Once the mushroom has become bigger (after absorbing water) the broth is ready to serve.
More water can be added if necessary to get to the right taste.
To serve, add 2 drops of truffle oil and 2 - 3 drops of lime juice on to the cured eggs and then pour the broth over the egg. Mushrooms and daikon can be placed in the bowl to add extra texture but it is optional!
Story time:
Egg dishes are weird.
It’s often something on the back burner of people’s mind. Most impressive egg dishes are either in ramen (onsen egg) or poached on top of an amazing canadian ham. Most people don’t think that eggs could offer something of a fine dining experience. I completely agree until I walked into the awesome space of Ik Restaurante. This is a wonderful restaurant located in Lima, Peru. I went there during my winter break. It was one of the best 10 day trips I’ve ever had.
Through my journey of the restaurant’s tasting menu, I discovered this wonderful type of egg: cured egg. And boy it was in the best mushroom shoyuu broth I have ever eaten. I was flawed by its taste.
What most people don’t realize, including me, is that egg yolk is a natural emulsifier because it contains naturally occurring lecithin. The chemical property is allow stabilization of taste and texture. As a result, egg yolk is often use in mayonnaise or bread.
Now, in layman’s term, why is this thing so fucking awesome? If you cure an egg (take out water) you are concentrating the awesome chemical properties. All the flavors become concentrated, allowing an amazing creamy and chewy texture to form.
And this is why I love to travel and eat! You get to learn about how others make food and bring the experience back with you.