Needless to say, growing up in rural upstate NY, it wasn’t easy to find freshly salted duck eggs (or hom dan in Cantonese). If my mom announced she was making this steamed meat patty—hom dan jeng yook baeng—for dinner, my sisters and I really looked forward to it!
Steamed Pork Patty Recipes
Steamed pork patty dishes were a familiar dinnertime staple in our family. My mom cooked lots of variations, like our steamed pork patty with preserved vegetables and our steamed pork cake with salted fish. In our latest cookbook, The Woks of Life, Recipes to Know and Love from a Chinese American Family, we also feature a recipe for Steamed Pork Patty with Preserved Mustard Greens (moi choy in Cantonese / mei cai in Mandarin). White rice is a must when eating any steamed pork patty, because they are salty and bursting with flavor. My mom always made sure there was plenty of rice. It’s a great dish to round out a Chinese spread, or you could just cook this, steam some rice, and saute some leafy greens for a delicious simple meal!
What Are Salted Duck Eggs?
Salted duck eggs are a trendy ingredient these days. You may have seen salted duck egg yolk pumpkin fries or salted duck egg potato chips. But my memories from childhood aren’t fancy. We usually cooked them in boiling water—just like you would a regular hard-boiled egg. We cut them in half with the shell on and served them with plain rice congee or pao fan, a quick rice porridge introduced to me by Judy’s family, which is simply cooked rice in hot water. You use your chopsticks to carve out little pieces of egg, slowly eating it with your congee and maybe a couple other cold dishes. Another use for salted duck egg yolk was in lotus mooncakes, which we always had during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Where Can You Buy Salted Duck Eggs?
Salted duck eggs are sold in raw form and cooked/preserved in boxes like thousand year old eggs. We don’t recommend the latter for use in this recipe. Raw salted duck eggs are the way to go, and while they are admittedly harder to find, they can be found in some well-stocked Chinese grocery stores. Vacuum-packed salted duck egg yolks are more readily available. You can use them if they’re all you can find, and simply add water and salt to the pork patty instead of the egg whites. Regular egg white is not a recommended substitute for the salted duck egg white. This isn’t one of those dishes that you take out with a flourish to oohs and ahhs for its beauty. All the ooh-ing and ahh-ing will be purely out of anticipation for its delicious flavors. There may be a little bit of foam at the top of the pork once it’s cooked, and some juices. Those juices are the best with rice! As for the foam, you can gently skim it off with a spoon, but this isn’t actually necessary. It tastes great all the same.
Recipe Instructions
Carefully crack each egg, separating the yolks and whites into two bowls. Set aside. If you can only find salted duck yolks, substitute the egg white with ½ cup water and ¾ teaspoon salt. To a shallow dish (ideally a heatproof one you can also steam the pork in), add the ground pork, ginger, cornstarch, granulated sugar, white pepper, five spice powder, Sichuan peppercorn powder, oyster sauce, water, Shaoxing wine, and the egg whites. Mix everything with chopsticks or a rubber spatula until the mixture is emulsified. Stop only when the meat mixture resembles a uniform sticky, smooth paste. Stir in the water chestnuts and scallions. Let marinate for 30 minutes or more. If needed, transfer the meat to the final heatproof shallow bowl for steaming. Cut each of the duck egg yolks in half. Evenly distribute them, round side up, on top of the meat patty. Set up your steamer, and bring the water to a boil. Place the dish inside the steamer, cover, and steam for 20 minutes. Then, turn off the heat. Let sit (don’t remove the cover) for another 5 to 10 minutes. Garnish with chopped scallion and/or cilantro and serve your steamed pork patty with salted duck eggs…with plenty of steamed rice!
