Vietnamese Egg Coffee: Cà Phê Trứng

Cà Phê Trứng, pronounced as if, "caw-fay-chung," is a coffee beverage that developed in Hanoi (Vietnamese: Hà Nội) not long after World War Two ended, but as fighting broke out between Vietnamese independence fighters, often communist, and led by Vietnamese communist leader Ho Chi Minh, and French and French Vietnamese colonial troops as the "Indochina War" began. Vietnam was a French colony at the time. As the story goes, from many sources, it was the start of this war that led to the creation of this coffee beverage, as the war disrupted the supply of fresh milk, and the egg mixture was used in place of fresh milk.  

Traditionally the coffee is very strong, but it is offset by the sweet and creamy egg mixture. So use a dark roast coffee, like French Roast. I hope you'll try it with strong coffee, but you can then always make it again with milder coffee, if you prefer.

If using raw eggs makes you worry about safety, you can pasteurize the egg or eggs yourself by heating water in a pan to 140 degrees F. Add the uncracked egg or eggs in a single layer and leave them in the hot water for 3 to 3 1/2 minutes. Remove them immediately and put them into cool water. You will need a thermometer, because if the water gets much hotter than 140, the eggs will cook; so, you will need to monitor the temperature the entire time. Personally, I've used raw eggs for this coffee and for other recipes and I've not had a problem, but there's nothing wrong with being safe.   

Ingredients (per serving):

8 ounces strong coffee
1 large egg yolk
3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk

I'm calling this "per serving," but it naturally depends upon the serving cup size you use. In the U.S., eggs are almost always kept in the refrigerator, something not nearly as common in some other parts of the world. So, if you refrigerate eggs, take whatever number of eggs you need and let them sit out on your counter for 15 to 20 minutes. Prepare the coffee by whatever method you use (drip, espresso, boiled, plunger-press, percolator, etc).* If you grind your own coffee beans, as I do, you'll want a fine grind for this recipe. While the coffee is on, add the egg yolk and the condensed milk to a bowl. Use a hand mixer to beat the the yolk and milk into a somewhat frothy mixture. This is not something that only takes 20 or 30 seconds, but likely more on the order of a couple minutes or more. I start the beater on relatively low speed to begin getting the yolk mixed into the milk, then I keep increasing the speed until the mixture achieves the kind of frothy, fluffy consistency for the topping. Pour the coffee into your cup, leaving room to add the egg topping (and reserve about a tablespoon or so of the coffee). Now spoon on the egg/milk topping, which should float on top of the strong coffee. Now add the reserved tablespoon of coffee on top of the egg mixture. I leave it at that, but some people give the coffee a very little stir, but like Linda Ronstadt, "I'm leavin' it all up to you oo oo."    

* There is also a Vietnamese coffee press and filter device that you might want to try, but it is not actually necessary for this coffee recipe. Here is the link for info about this coffee device:  https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2020/10/vietnamese-coffee-filter-press-phin.html

 

WORD HISTORY:

Torrent-This word is related to "terrain," a Latin-derived word borrowed by English via French, to "torrid," another Latin word borrowed directly from that language by English, to "toast," a Latin based word, borrowed into English from French in the verb form, from which the noun and secondary verb ("to offer an honorary or celebratory drink") came about, to "thirst," a word from the Germanic roots of English. "Torrent" goes back to Indo European "ters," which meant, "dry." This gave Latin the verb "torrere," which meant, "to char, to parch, to scorch, to roast," the participle form of which, "torrens," was also used adjectivally as "torrentem," the accusative form of "torrens." The meanings remained, but added, "boiling, seething" and "torrens" was used as a noun to mean, "rushing stream."^ French got the word as "torrent" from Latin "torrentem," and English borrowed the word in the early 1600s with the meaning, "rushing stream," with the figurative extension to "a large flow of something," especially like, "a torrent of words," "a torrent of questions," or "a torrent of accusations."  

^ Exactly why the "boiling, seething" meaning came about is unclear to me, perhaps from the idea of "roasting or cooking to the point of seething?" The noun meaning "rushing stream" is easily connected to "boiling, seething."