China · Chinese
Braised abalone with pigeon eggs
The featured course. Abalone is specified at the **ready-to-eat dried or canned grade** (the large fresh and net-cage abalone used on a banquet is expensive and carries specification and quarantine demands that a home kitchen cannot meet); it is soaked, sliced and braised with whole pigeon eggs, shiitake and greens until the glaze is glossy and not thickened. Pigeon eggs go into cold water and are cooked only until just set — **overcook them and they become hard-boiled.** Public reference · home adaptation, not a historical original.
Public reference · Downgraded adaptation (ready-to-eat dried abalone for fresh) The featured course is the banquet's 'face': it is not necessarily the best-tasting dish, but it sets the level of the table. Abalone in a banquet is a status ingredient — large, intact in shape, sliced thin without breaking — and paired with whole pigeon eggs, one egg to a slice of abalone, for the sake of neatness. Abalone is a marine mollusc and a fairly common allergen, so the dish needs its own utensils and must be labelled separately at the table. One caveat: the 2018 group-standard report lists the featured course by name as 鲍脯鸽蛋, with no method and no ingredient list, so **this version's technique comes from a public home recipe and the abalone grade has been downgraded — it has no correspondence to the banquet's own kitchen method**; it is not a historical original. **The seat list records only the dish name, not the method; this version's technique comes from public home recipes on xiachufang, notably Ever-tasty steamed abalone and Simple abalone steamed egg, and has no correspondence to the actual three-head-banquet kitchen method.** It is not a historical original or a house secret. **Important downgrade:** 'baofu' on a banquet normally means large fresh or farmed abalone; this version **substitutes ready-to-eat dried or canned abalone and gives the reason** — fresh abalone carries high specification, farming-compliance and quarantine requirements and volatile cost, and is not reliably reproducible at home; soaked dried abalone has a more concentrated, chewy texture rather than the slippery tenderness of fresh abalone, and that is a real difference in the finished dish. The sources are **steamed small abalone** and **abalone steamed egg**; this version adapts them into a braise with pigeon eggs, an editorial change. **The dried-scallop substitution is not used here** so the dish keeps its abalone identity; if cost must come down further, dried scallop plus pigeon eggs can replace it, but the dish name on the sheet must then be changed rather than reusing 'baofu.' **Quantities, soaking time and reduction time are editorial for 4 servings and have not been kitchen-tested.** **Abalone is a marine mollusc and a common allergen; pigeon eggs are eggs — both must be declared on the banquet sheet.** Any therapeutic claims in the sources are not adopted. Only the technique is taken; no therapeutic claims are adopted. **Contains marine molluscs (abalone — a common allergen, in the mollusc rather than the crustacean group) and egg (pigeon eggs)**; also soy and wheat (light soy, dark soy, cooking wine). Although abalone is a mollusc rather than a crustacean, it is a highly allergenic food and **must be declared on the banquet sheet and on dish labels**, with boards, knives, containers and serving utensils kept separate from mollusc-free dishes. Pigeon eggs must be cooked through. Soak the dried abalone according to the pack instructions; soaking time is not counted in the cooking time. Contains seafood; this is not a vegetarian dish. 下厨房：百吃不厌清蒸鲍鱼 — The method itself: have the abalone killed and dressed when you buy it, then brush both sides white with a toothbrush, clean out the innards and the cartilage-like parts, and scrub the shell; score the cleaned abalone several times across and in each direction, return it to the shell and drain; heat a little oil and fry spring onion until fragrant, lifting it out once it yellows — **it must not scorch, or the oil turns bitter and smells burnt, spoiling the abalone's texture**; after turning off the heat add minced garlic, light soy and the rest. That source steams a whole abalone; this version uses sliced soaked dried abalone braised in sauce, and follows the source's warning about not burning the aromatics. https://m.xiachufang.com/recipe/103927602/ 下厨房：小鲍鱼炖蛋--简单又上档次 — The method itself: small abalone are washed, scored in a cross, and dressed with wine, light soy, oyster sauce and a few drops of sesame oil; eggs are beaten with wine and light soy; twice the volume of hot water is added and the mixture strained for a finer texture, then covered with cling film, pricked with a toothpick and steamed. That source steams abalone in egg custard; this version takes its scoring for flavour and its straining for smoothness, and instead braises whole pigeon eggs with the abalone. https://m.xiachufang.com/recipe/103964034/ 扬州晚报美食团：扬州发布“三头宴”团体标准（搜狐，2018-01-18） — Seat evidence: in the three-head banquet grouping the featured course is abalone with pigeon eggs, placed after the stir-fries and before the three signature dishes. The report gives dish names and groupings only, with no methods or ingredient lists. https://www.sohu.com/a/217424559_740963 AI-generated illustration; not kitchen-tested.
Ingredients
- ready-to-eat dried abalone, soaked and sliced120 g
- water for soaking the dried abalone800 ml
- fresh pigeon eggs12 piece
- water for cooking the pigeon eggs1000 ml
- shiitake, soaked and sliced80 g
- bok choy, blanched to line the plate200 g
- unsalted chicken broth400 ml
- light soy sauce25 ml
- dark soy sauce8 ml
- white sugar8 g
- cooking wine20 ml
- ginger, sliced15 g
- scallions, cut into segments20 g
- starch for a thin glaze8 g
Directions
- 1
Soak the dried abalone in clean water, following the pack instructions, until it is fully softened and springy; the time depends on grade (several hours to a day), changing the water once or twice. **Soaking is not counted in the cooking time.** Slice the softened abalone along the grain into thin, unbroken slices, by hand or with a small knife. Keep the soaking water, strain it and use it as natural stock.
- 2
Cook the pigeon eggs: put them in **cold water**, bring to the boil, then simmer about 8–10 minutes until the whites have set and the egg moves slightly when shaken (soft-set), and **plunge straight into cold water.** The hot-cold change tightens the white and keeps them tender. **Never boil them right through** — past that point they are hard-boiled, will not crack neatly at the table and will not sit in a tidy round shape. Peel under cold water so the shell does not drag the white.
- 3
Wash and cut the greens, blanch 30 seconds in boiling salted water with a few drops of oil and drain; **line the platter with the blanched greens** so the finished dish is not one note. Soak and slice the shiitake.
- 4
Heat a little oil, fry the ginger until fragrant (**do not let it scorch** — the source stresses that burnt aromatics make the oil bitter), add the sliced shiitake, then pour in the unsalted broth and the strained abalone soaking water and bring to the boil.
- 5
Add the abalone slices and pigeon eggs, pour the wine around the edge and season with light soy, dark soy and sugar. Turn to medium-low heat and cook 15–20 minutes so the abalone takes on the flavour and the eggs season through. **Nudge with the spatula rather than tossing** — the slices are thin and break after two turns.
- 6
Pour in the starch slurry for a **thin glaze**, pushing gently as you pour, and turn off the heat the moment the sauce clings to the abalone and eggs and shines without going sluggish. **The glaze must stay thin** — a thick one glues the slices into a lump and the whole portion reads as one mass at the table. Scatter with scallion and slide everything onto the bed of greens.
Source: WorldBite · public-reference adaptation · Source-attributed editorial adaptation; AI illustration; not an authenticated original recipe.