Tea Egg Salad

• 12 eggs
• 3 cups water
• 3 Lapsang souchong tea bags or 3 T loose
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 star anise pods
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
• 1/2 teaspoon szechuan peppercorns (black peppercorns work too)
• 1/3 cup mayo
• 1 scallion, thinly sliced
• pepper
• rice crackers

1. Put eggs in one layer in pot and cover with water. Bring to simmer, turn off heat, cover and let sit 4 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water. Gently crack all over with the back of a spoon enough to make a spider web of cracks, but not break the egg.
2. Put eggs back in empty pot, add all ingredients through szechuan peppercorns. Bring to a boil then reduce to the lowest simmer for 30 minutes. Let cool then steep overnight if possible or as long as you can.
3. Reduce one cup steeping liquid by half. Mix 3 teaspoons with mayo, green onion and black pepper.
4. Carefully peel eggs. Serve six as is with smoked salt and slice and gently fold remaining six with mayo mixture. Or double mayo, admire whole eggs and mix them all. Serve on rice crackers with cilantro and pepper.

eggs, water, t, soy sauce, cinnamon, anise pods, sugar, fennel seed, szechuan, mayo, scallion, pepper, rice crackers

Taken from food52.com/recipes/18298-tea-egg-salad (may not work)