Bird nest
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There are many ways to cook your bird's nest....here we normally have them as dessert, i.e. sweet one....it is good to add in red dates, wolfberries...help to improve blood circulation and eyesight....some also add in ginseng pieces or dried longan....in HK, they also cook the savoury type....as soup or add into dishes....u can check out some recipes http://www.sarawakbirdsnest.blogspot.com
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DesertWind:
Birds Nest helps to improve appetite. Long term effect is for health and beauty. Fann Wong has a bowl of birds nest every day.Hi ya all!
I have successfully double-boiled my very first batch of birds nest! It is really easy and really thanks to all the advice I got here, made me not scared to try! The smell is really fragrant, much more than those bottled pre-cooked ones! Ai yoh should have done my own boiling much earlier...yum yum but I added too little rock sugar in though and then added some more now I think it is too sweet, shucks will add more water later!
Anyway, the pot of goody is cooling and waiting to be eaten later this evening by my family.
What brand I bought? I read on another forum another daddy was sharing about cooking bird nest for his wife and he recommended ZTP. I usually buy from Dragon Brand but so happened I went to City Square shopping centre today and saw a ZTP shop and went in to enquire. The salesman recommended me their house brand which looks yellowish in colour. I asked whether those cheaper ones that looks so white are they bleached? He said of course! :!: so for better nutrition, it is better to buy their house brand one that cost more that looks yellowish in colour. So I bought one box of about 13 pieces costing SGD610 and comes with a free gift of a box of tiny ginseng from China plus yellow rock sugar!
First time I am \"investing\" in raw birds nest and first time cooking it myself. Decided to pamper myself and family with this since it is a once in a blue moon luxury. It is a way of loving myself as well and makes me feel that life is worth working so hard for!
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Not sure about the part on bird nest improve appetite. But I know that bird nest is high in collagen, so good for beauty and joint. In addition, it is good for the lungs. I do know of people who buy bird nest to eat when his wife coughs. And he said after taking 3 times a day (each time 1 bottle, not the small btl but those bigger dose) for 2 days, his wife cough recovers. But I must say, quite a bomb! :roll:
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janet_lee88:
Birds Nest helps to improve appetite. Long term effect is for health and beauty. Fann Wong has a bowl of birds nest every day.
Hi janet_lee88, kwokwc,
After soaking the birdnest for about 2 hours, do you throw away the water? I threw it away following my mum's instruction too but my husband and even my maid told me should not throw away the water after soaking but cook it altogether (yucks!).
The birdnest quite clean but still I cannot help but think it is only hygienic to throw away the water after soaking! After all, the collagen, protein and what not is in the birdnest itself right?
So how arh?
:celebrate: -
Hi desertwind,
nope, you don’t throw away the water. What you can do is, rinse the bird nest with water first to wash away some dirt or dust on the bird nest surface, then you soak. Therefore the water you use to soak, put all into to cook.
To a certain extend, after you soak, some of the ‘useful’ portion of the bird nest will be in the water and if throw away, the bird nest will not be as good. From what we learnt in TCM class, for almost 90% of chinese herbs are not to be washed. Just rinse under tap water for a short while. For some herbs, once washed, the medical properties can be lost as high as 50%.
I have even met customer who buy cordyceps and wash until the water is clean, but after double boil, he find it totally useless. What I told him is he has washed away all the medical properties, so of course no used.
So you should not throw away the water that you have soaked the bird nest in for 2 hours. -
kwokwc:
Hi desertwind, nope, you don't throw away the water. What you can do is, rinse the bird nest with water first to wash away some dirt or dust on the bird nest surface, then you soak. Therefore the water you use to soak, put all into to cook. To a So you should not throw away the water that you have soaked the bird nest in for 2 hours.
OK, thank you very much, kwokwc!
Good idea to rinse it first to get rid of dirt & dust then soak. OK will do!
:celebrate: -
Hi,
I still remember visiting Tanjung Batu (a nearby indonesian island) and many locals build birdsnest \"condos\" to lure the swallows to nest there. The \"condos\" are actually super filthy, and the bird droppings coating the floor and so on... Also the birdsnest collected are just as filthy, with bird droppings + feathers. It takes the processing factory a lot of work (soaking, washing, soaking, washing) before putting them into a mould to dry into the \"cup\" shape that you see. Pretty yucky to me.
Nevertheless, my wife used to take birdsnest for a while before pregnancy. Until when she was pregnant, the TCM doctor that we were seeing at EYS told her to stop birdsnest. The doctor believe it is a contributing factor for childhood asthma. She said if really must take, then take it after 8-9mths so that it will not go to the baby, but go to the mother.
After that we stopped birdsnest. Instead she had soya bean milk everyday, and also green coconuts juice at 7th, 8th and 9th month. And the baby came out just as we wanted.
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Hi Hi,
Anybody knows why some birdnest got very eggy smell after cooking and why some don't? Furthermore, why some birdnest melts to liquid after cooking for about 2 hours but some still retains the texture even after cooking for 3 hours?
I bought brand \"Z\" first round and found the smell very eggy which is quite nice but most melt to liquid after cooking for 1 1/2 hrs. Whereas now I am trying out brand \"D\" which has excellent texture even after soaking for 2 hours and then cooking for 3 hours. But the eggy smell is not so strong.
The price I paid for both brands are the same for the same number of pieces.
Is there a difference to the quality?
:celebrate: -
Hi DesertWind,
different type of bird nest can cook for different timeframe. There are some bird nest that can only cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, while some can cook for more than 4 hours. When you buy the bird nest from the store, do check out with them. I must say, there are some who doesn’t know how long can their birdnest cook.
For my store, I can definitely check with my supplier that batch of bird nest is from where and can cook for how long. There is a brand in the market, that can cook for a longer period of time and the reason is they did some process to the bird nest so that the bird nest can cook for longer period of time.
As for the eggy smell, most bird nest should have. Same thing, depends on which of the bird nest it will affect the smell as well.
From what I know, the price of bird nest depends on how much smaller pieces of bird nest and long strip of bird nest are used to make the bird nest. Usually the more expensive ones have more longer strip of bird nest, so after cooking, you will find that the bird nest are longer and not so small pieces. There is any type that is not of standard shape, call 燕盏, that looks like directly from the shape of the nest, these bird nest are usually more expensive. Same depends on where it is from and what type of bird nest.
There is a big knowledge to knowing bird nest. I am still learning from my supplier everytime I buy from them. -
OK thank you very much kwokwc!
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