Prep 10 mins · Cook 5 mins · Total 15 mins · Servings 2 · Difficulty Moderate
For 5 large eggs
Ingredients
5 large eggs, room temperature
Seasoning
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp white pepper
1/8 tsp MSG or chicken powder
1/2 tsp Shaoxing wine
Slurry
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp cold water
Add-ins
2 oz char siu, 1/4 inch dice
2 tbsp Chinese chives or scallion whites, sliced thin
Fats
2 tbsp lard, for the wok
1 tsp neutral oil, for longyau
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil, for finishing
Prep the add-ins
Warm a dry wok over medium heat. Add the char siu and toss 60 seconds to wake up the glaze. Out.
Add the chives or scallion whites to the same wok for 20 seconds, fragrant only, no color. Out.
Both join the eggs at the end, not the start.
Mix the slurry
Whisk cornstarch into the cold water until smooth. No lumps.
Beat the eggs
Crack all 5 eggs into a bowl. Add the slurry, salt, sugar, white pepper, MSG, and Shaoxing.
Whisk hard for 30 seconds until uniformly yellow with a fine bubble layer on top. The slurry is the silk insurance.
Longyau the wok
Wok on highest heat until the surface is smoking and a flick of water vaporizes on contact.
Pour in the 1 tsp neutral oil. Swirl to coat every inch. Pour the oil out, the wok is now non-stick.
Drop the lard
Wok still ripping hot. Add the 2 tbsp lard. It melts in seconds and starts shimmering.
Tilt the wok to coat the sides. The lard should look like glass on a hot pan.
First pour
Pour the eggs in along the side of the wok in one motion. They puff and set on contact.
Wait 5 seconds. Pull the wok off the heat.
First layer
With a spatula, push the set edges toward the center, lifting the cooked sheets up and over.
Tilt the wok so the runny egg flows underneath into the bare hot surface.
Second pass
Wok back on the flame for 5 seconds. Off again.
Push, lift, fold. The egg should be 80 percent set with a glossy unset top.
Fold the add-ins
Off heat. Scatter the char siu and chives across the surface.
Two folds, no more. The residual heat finishes the bottom while the top stays glossy.
Finish
Drizzle the sesame oil around the edge of the wok.
Slide onto a warmed plate in one piece. The top should look custardy and slightly wet, not dry. Serve immediately over rice.
Notes
Cut and quantity
5 large eggs is a 2-person portion served over rice, or a 1-person portion eaten alone. Scaling past 6 eggs in one wok kills the silk, the surface area to volume ratio drops and the bottom overcooks before the top sets.
Lard
Rendered pork lard is canonical and not negotiable for the dish to read Cantonese. Butter is the closest swap if pork is not in play, the texture holds but the perfume changes. Neutral oil alone reads thin.
Slurry
1 tsp cornstarch in 1 tbsp cold water, whisked into the eggs before cooking, is the Hong Kong silking secret most home recipes skip. It buys a wider window between set and overcooked. Dissolve in cold water first, never dump dry cornstarch into the eggs.
Longyau
Cold oil into a smoking-hot wok, swirled and dumped, is what makes the wok non-stick for the egg pour. Skip it and the egg sticks and tears at the first push.
Off-heat discipline
The wok comes on and off the flame in 5 second bursts. Continuous heat scrambles the egg into rubber. The egg cooks in pulses, not a steady burn, and that is the entire technique.
Texture target
Top should look custardy and slightly wet when it leaves the wok. Carryover heat finishes it on the plate. If the surface looks dry in the wok, it is already overcooked. The sexy version stays a hair under fully set.
Add-ins, optional
Char siu and chives is the canonical 2-add version. Sub 2 oz cooked shrimp, 1/4 inch dice, par-cooked 30 seconds, for 蝦仁滑蛋 register. Or skip add-ins entirely for plain waat daan, the eggs are enough.
