THE French have nearly, if not quite, seven hundred ways of dressing eggs. In this country we have a few hundred less, and as a rule scarce one well understood or practiced by the “general public.” An egg is truly a wonderful thing— rich, delicate and quite full of nutriment, if rightly used. Its value as an article of food is much enhanced by the ease and quickness with which it can be prepared and served.
If perfectly fresh eggs are not obtainable, great care should be taken in the use of doubtful ones. One test of their fitness is to drop them into cold water; the stale or addled ones will float on the water, or at least rise on end.
THE fresher eggs are, the more time will be required for boiling; to have them soft and tender, drop them in water at a boiling point, and let them stand from five to seven minutes, without boiling. If desired for salad, boil them for ten minutes; then throw them in cold water; roll gently on a table or board, and the shell is easily removed. Egg racks, to set in boiling hot water, are convenient.
To fry eggs to accompany ham or bacon, put some sweet, clean lard in a perfectly clean frying pan, and when boiling hot, slip in the eggs, having broken each one separately in a saucer; do not turn them over, but keep dipping the hot lard over them with an iron spoon; they require about three minutes; take them out with an egg-slice, trim off the discolored parts, put them on a hot plate, drain off the grease, and send to the table hot. Some place them on slices of ham. The whites should be transparent, so that the yolk will shine through. To accompany the eggs, slice ham very thin, and soak the slices in hot water for about an hour, changing the water several times, and always pouring it on boiling hot; this process extracts the superfluous salt, as well as makes the meat tender; after soaking, dry the slices with a cloth and broil over a clear fire; cold boiled ham may be sliced and broiled, and served with eggs—of course the slices need no soaking. Try this method, and see if it be not a great improvement upon the ordinary method of “fried” ham, and the eggs fried in the ham gravy.
To have perfect success choose eggs that are not less than two days old, yet they must be fresh; quite fresh eggs are too milky; the beauty of a poached egg, like a fried one, consists in having the white just sufficiently hardened to form a transparent veil for the yolk; strain as much boiling water as you need through a clean cloth into a stewpan; break the eggs separately into a cup or saucer, and when the water boils, remove the pan from the heat, and gently slip the eggs in; when the white is set, replace the pan over the fire (which should be moderate), and as soon as the water boils, the eggs are done; remove them with a slice and trim off the ragged edges; if served on toast, cut the bread in pieces a little larger than the egg, and about quarter of an inch thick; toast only on one side, and just enough to give a yellow color. The toast may be moistened with a little hot water; some sprinkle on it a few drops of vinegar, lemon juice or essence of anchovy sauce.
MINCE fine two or three slices of boiled ham, a morsel of onion, a little parsley, pepper and salt; stew all together quarter of an hour; put the poached eggs in a dish, squeeze over them the juice of half an orange or lemon, and pour over this the sauce about half boiling.
A PERFECT omelette is neither greasy, burnt, nor overdone; the fire should not be too hot, as it is an object to have the whole substance heated without much browning; the perfect omelette is not thin, like a piece of fried leather, but it is thick, in order to be full and moist; the richness may be modified by beating two or three table-spoonsful of mashed potatoes with six eggs, or some corn-starch; beat them well with a fork or egg-beater and add a saltspoonful of salt; put two ounces of butter in the frying-pan; when melted, pour in the beaten eggs, stir with a spoon until it begins to set, then turn it up all around the edges, and when it is of a nice brown, it is done; to take it out, turn a hot plate over the omelette, and turn the pan upside down; double it over like a turnover, and serve hot; if not sufficiently brown on the top, brown with a salamander or a heated shovel; to have the omelettes particularly fine, about as many whites as yolks should be used. Omelettes are sometimes served with gravy, which should be flavored with sweet herbs and onions, and thickened with potato, corn-starch or arrowroot; never with wheat flour. Omelettes are called by the name of what is added to give them flavor—a ham or tongue omelette, a veal kidney omelette (which is a great favorite with a Frenchman, on account of its delicacy); after the kidney is boiled, cut it into and beat with the eggs; in the same manner, ham, anchovies or tongue, shred small, makes a delicately flavored dish; some onion, parsley or a clove of eschalot minced very finely; some chop oysters.