For the past few days, I've been doing things that I've never done before in my life. And that is - cleaning the bird's nest. Most of you probably won't understand how great this delicacy is among the Chinese for over 400 years. It's believed to contain lots of nutrients which would enhance one's health. Some people find it disgusting to consume an animal's saliva for the sake of good health. Honestly, bird's nest doesn't look that bad after cleaning & soaking it overnight cuz it looks like gelatin. What's more, it's tasteless unless it's cooked in a soup with sugar or salt added to taste.
Eating bird's nest is delicious but the preparation is no easy task. In fact, it's a nightmare if you purchase the raw ones unlike those that you get from Chinese herbal shops such as Eu Yan Sang. There's just so much to clean before you can pop them into a pot to boil soup. First off, the bird's nest needs to be soaked overnight to allow the fibres to soften.
See the black spots? Those are swallow's feathers -_-
After soaking the bird's nest overnight, it needs to be clean under filtered water; gently shaking it using a sift to filter out the feathers. Here comes the no-fun part. Left-over feathers still stuck in between the bird's nest is to be painstakingly taken out using a forsep. Yes, I mean it.
I think I'll go blind if I do this everday. *sighs*
The feathers taken out by the forsep is to washed in another separate bowl of water. This is to prevent the feathers from sticking elsewhere & possibly fall into the bowl of bird's nest again.
Look at the immense amount feathers~
Now, do you still wanna drink bird's nest soup? Heh. Well, just go get the bottled ones by Lor Hon Kar to save the hassle. But I heard stories that bird's nest suppliers actually use bleach to clean their products before packing & sending them to manufacturers. Does this make you feel disgusted about eating bird's nest?? I do. As a matter of fact, I'd rather not eat at all.
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