Talk:Tea egg

Stewing liquid ingredients

I moved the following short section about "stewing liquid ingredients" from the article so that we could discuss it:

Typical ingredients for the stewing liquid include:

• Oolong tea leaves
• Minced black tea leaves
• Star anise
• Sichuan peppers
• Soy sauce
• Salt
• Sugar

I think that whoever added the "stewing liquid" section above is confusing Tea Egg with another common Chinese/Asian street food that features egg, what is called "Pilou" in Thailand and ??? elsewhere.

Eggs boiled in tea for a snack are distinctly something different from "pilou," where eggs are boiled in a soy, molasses and spice mixture, oftentimes with pork or chicken. While the dishes look similar as they both involve eggs boiled and stained in a dark liquid, I believe that they really are two separate items. I think it is wrong to say that sometimes anise, chili, soy, salt and sugar are added to Tea Egg. If anise, chili, soy, salt and sugar are used, it isn't tea egg. I also think that once anise, chili, soy, etc. are used, tea is omitted.

Anyone? --Torasap 16:47, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

I know that some people add other ingredients, such as spices, to making tea egg than just tea leaves. However, like you have said I'm not sure that the ingredients that's have been listed here are all "typical ingredients" Sjschen 18:33, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

There is no confusion. The list was translated from the Chinese version of this Wikipedia entry, and as I regularly make spiced eggs/soy eggs (滷蛋) and tea eggs (茶葉蛋) myself, I am well aware of the differences between them. The major difference between the two are (1) the use of tea in the "stew" and (2) whether the shell is peeled or left on.

Some Chinese supermarkets sell "tea egg" packs, for you to make your own tea eggs. These packages come with Chinese spice packs (滷包) and tea bags. The instructions then tell you to add water, sugar, and either salt or soy sauce. These very same spice packs can be used to make other Chinese stew dishes (滷味), including the spiced eggs to which you refer.

Of course, the ingredients used in making Chinese stew differs from person to person. Some prefer to use a whole range of spices, while others may use only star anise, soy sauce, and sugar. The same can be done with making tea eggs (with the addition of either a tea bag, or tea leaves, of course). And having purchased tea eggs from several regions in both the US and Asia, I can assure you that they have all used some sort of spice in addition to tea and soy sauce (or salt).

Having said that, I supposed "typical ingredients" may be a bit misleading. Perhaps "common ingredients" might be more fitting. --Glenn W (talk) 12:03, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

Better introduction to concept

It would probably help if this article actually started off by saying what these things are, rather than delving immediately into specifics. G-Flex (talk) 05:48, 2 December 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia articles should not be written like cookbook entries - can other interested editors help edit this subject to make article more encyclopedic?

Please see WP:NOTRECIPE since this article reads like a recipe or cookbook entry. That is not the purpose of an encyclopedia. We are to merely describe what a Tea egg is, where it is eaten, it's history and if necessary, we can quote primary sources that describe the preparation but to write it out as if the article author(s) are giving the instructions violated the manual of style. Please help me with this if you can and help me add proper inline citation. it's a fascinating food subject! I'd hate to see it deleted for improper format. LiPollis (talk) 09:49, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Pre-boiling

Just to give a definition: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/precooked 06:39, 24 August 2013‎ Yaksar (talk | contribs)

One could say: "...a boiled egg is cracked and then boiled again ..."

Incorrect is: "...a pre-boiled egg is cracked and then boiled again ..." because the word "again" makes the "pre" in redundant.

We can get rid of the "pre" or the "again". Getting rid of the "pre" sounds better. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 09:23, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

My worry is that, even though the pre seems redundant, it actually does have a specialized meaning. Pre-cooking in general is a concept referring to cooking before a food's ultimate cooking. While boiling and then boiling again would technically still cover the process, it's less descriptive. It's similar to a "pre-cooked" meal that one may put in a microwave. Even if it would still techically describe it correctly, you would use pre-cooked rather than cooked.--Yaksar (let's chat) 14:23, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

Good point. What if we use "...prepared by boiling..." or something? Anna Frodesiak (talk) 14:39, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

I'm not completely clear what you mean here -- do you want it to say "in which an egg is prepared by boiling and then boiling"? Because that seems to face the same issue. My main issue with this is that yes, the original editor may have had a point when he said in his edit summary that "The correct word is boiled. "Pre" is a nonsense prefix that is becoming uselessly used everywhere." but, as dumb as it may sound, the word serves it's own distinct purpose even if it's not technically correct if only looked at as the sum of its parts. When doing laundry, for example, "pre-washing" is technically just washing, but no one would argue that a pre-wash isn't a distinct and defined concept. --Yaksar (let's chat) 14:48, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

Okay, the "prepared" suggestion was just an attempt to find compromise. "pre-washing" is fine if the word "again" doesn't come later. That's the issue. But really, this isn't worth a long discussion. I'd won't kick up a fuss either way. If you want to get rough consensus by asking what others think, I'd guess 9/10 would agree with my first statement in this thread. Best, Anna Frodesiak (talk) 21:53, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

Telur pindang

Are the Malaysian and Indonesioan variations homonymous? I see the same name attributed to both: telur pindang. Gikü (talk) 21:39, 25 November 2018 (UTC)

Nvmd, should've read the article on telur pindang itself. Gikü (talk) 13:10, 26 November 2018 (UTC)

Ignorant comment about tea eggs that is out of touch

There are so many things wrong about saying that majority of Chinese can't afford to eat tea eggs? Then what do they eat if they can't buy the cheapest food items? There are many homeless people in America too, yet if we similarly cherrypick that real fact and then use it to prove that many Americans can't afford milk. That's just inaccurate and grossly misleading.

Secondly the source, when translated to English, did not even say anything about Shenzhen. Or that the MAJORITY of Chinese can't afford to pay for tea eggs despite they cost like 30 cents in cities. They are so cheap and a common dish among villagers. To put it in perspective - More than 90% of millennials in China own smartphones and 90% of families in the country own their home, giving China one of the highest homeownership rates in the world yet they can't afford 2 yuans for eggs?? https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2016/03/30/how-people-in-china-afford-their-outrageously-expensive-homes/#3023b227a3ce https://www.business.hsbc.com/navigator/made-for-china/six-things-you-may-not-know-about-chinese-millennials How outdated are people's views? It's not like china back in the 90s - a lot changed after 30 years.

Also the source to back it was Apple Daily which is a bold nativist paper that is not shy in being dirty against mainlanders. Ans allowing ads to call them locusts and never apologizing for it. https://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2012/02/01/locust-ad-breaks-in-apple-daily And despite that, the article in apple daily explicitly cherry-picks the poorest people (70.17 million rural poor people) instead of also describing the majority of China (1. billion people)_. This is basically a spun article trying to verify a Taiwanese professor's ignorant comment without explaining that tea eggs cost a few cents in cities and many Chinese do frequently eat out. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3022190/taiwanese-financial-expert-mocked-saying-many-mainland-chinese

Granted that comment was back in 2011 - China's middle class has grown enormously since then so it would be even less true today. Unless Shenzhen today has majority beggars and people living in rags - that comment is ignorant https://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-middle-class-is-exploding-2016-8?IR=T 49.195.134.75 (talk) 15:29, 24 May 2020 (UTC)