EGGS, OMELETS, ETC.
In choosing eggs hold each one up to the light; if fresh, the white will be clear and the yolk distinct; if they are not good, they will have a clouded appearance.
Eggs for boiling must be as fresh as possible; they may be kept fresh for several weeks by packing them in bran. Lay the small end of the egg downward in the box. You may also keep them for months by greasing them with melted lard, or beef fat, or in a weak brine of lime water and salt; strong lime water will eat the shell, and if very strong will cook the eggs. Add to a common bucket of water a pint of salt and a pint of lime; stir it well, and it is ready to receive the eggs.
Omelets require a thick bottomed pan, as an ordinary pan is too thin and would scorch the eggs before they could be properly cooked. For turning omelets, eggs, fried parsley, etc., have a skimmer spoon with a flat, thin blade, with holes, to let the fat from the fry.
TO BOIL EGGS IN THEIR SHELLS, SOFT OR HARD
Wash the eggs clean, drop them as wanted in a stewpan of boiling water; if you desire them soft, let them boil just three minutes by the watch; if only the yolk is to be soft five minutes will do it; but if wanted very hard for salad, sandwiches, etc., let them boil ten or fifteen minutes. Then put them in cold water, to make them peel easily. If soft-boiled eggs are kept in the shell before eating them, they will harden very much from the heat of the shell.
EGGS, AU GRATIN, FOR LENT
Boil the eggs hard, peel and cut them in slices, and lay them in a deep dish in close circular rows. Make a sauce of a tablespoonful of butter, the yolks of four eggs, a little grated cheese and half a cup of sweet milk. Stir this over the fire until it thickens, pour it over the eggs, strew some bread crumbs on the top, and bake for about ten minutes; then send to table hot.
POACHED EGGS WITH TOAST AND ANCHOVY PASTE
Toast six pieces of bread, shape them round, before browning; keep them where they will be hot until you poach the eggs. Take a tin dipper, half fill it with boiling water, and drop it gently into the pot again, holding it so that none of the water from the pot can get into the dipper; keep it firm by holding it yourself or getting it held for you, and break a nice fresh egg into the dipper; let it stand until the white is firm. Lay each egg on one of the slices of toast, use butter and salt on the toast for both egg and toast; break each egg in this way until your six eggs and six pieces of toast are used; butter very freely, and serve hot. Anchovy paste may be spread on the toast before the eggs are put on, but it is a nice dish without it and very suitable for a delicate breakfast.
POACHED EGGS AND HAM
Poach your eggs in a tin dipper, as directed, and when done put them on round slices of broiled or fried ham. Many prefer this to fried ham and eggs.
EGGS WITH BROWNED BUTTER AND VINEGAR
Put four ounces of butter into an omelet pan over the fire; as it begins to sputter, break the eggs into it without disturbing the yolks, season with pepper and salt; fry the eggs carefully and remove them on to the dish in which they are to be served. Put two ounces more butter in the pan, fry it of a brown color; put to the butter two tablespoonfuls of vinegar, pour it over the eggs and serve.
OMELETTE AU NATUREL
Break eight eggs into a bowl; add a teaspoonful of salt, half as much pepper, beat up the whole very hard and throw in a tablespoonful of water. Have the omelet-pan on the fire with a cup of sweet butter heated to a gentle heat (fierce heat would scorch the eggs); pour the eggs into the heated butter; raise it as it cooks, with a skimmer-spoon, turn in the brown edges, or turn one half over the other, as it keeps in the lusciousness of the omelet. Keep gently rolling it, as it cooks, until, when done, it is round like a small roly-poly pudding. Omelette au naturel is the basis of all omelets, for, by substituting different seasonings, you have all the varieties of them. Parsley and onion chopped fine and mixed with the eggs is one variety; grated ham and parsley is another; sugar makes another class, and so on.
A NICE OMELET WITH GREEN ONION
Beat the whites and yolks of six eggs separately, put in a tablespoonful of butter, a spoonful of chopped green onion and one of fine-cut parsley, and mix with the eggs; then put it into a thick-bottomed pan, in which you have placed a half cup of butter. Roll it up as it cooks, and tilt the pan on one side, that the omelet may cook on the other side; roll up again as it cooks. Do not let it get hard and brown, but keep it soft. Keep on rolling as well as you can; a little practice will make you perfect. When the eggs cook, butter, pepper and salt them, and turn on a dish.
OMELET FOR ONE PERSON
Beat two eggs—yolks and whites separately; in a bowl put a tablespoonful of water, a little parsley, a teaspoonful of butter, and a little green onion, if liked; beat the eggs into this, and whisk all very rapidly for a few minutes; then pour it into a pan, where there is a tablespoonful of butter just hot enough to color the eggs; cook them very slowly, and roll up the omelet as it cooks until it is like a rolled pancake; pepper and salt it at the last moment of cooking, as putting in salt too soon makes eggs tough.
OMELET WITH PARMESAN CHEESE
Break six eggs into a bowl, add a gill of cream, four ounces of grated cheese, some pepper and a little salt; beat the whole together, pour into a pan, roll up and bake as directed. Butter it well before sending to table.
OMELET WITH SUGAR
Beat six eggs, whites and yolks separately, with seven spoonfuls of powdered sugar. Flavor with lemon, and bake like a pudding for ten or fifteen minutes, or just long enough to set the eggs. Longer baking will spoil the jelly-like consistency of the omelet.
OMELETTE SOUFFLE
Beat six eggs, the whites and yolks separately; put to the yolks four dessertspoonfuls of white sugar powdered, and the yellow rind of a lemon chopped very fine; mix them thoroughly, whip the whites to a high froth and add them to the yolks. Put quarter of a pound of butter into the pan, over a brisk fire, and as soon as it is completely melted pour in the mixture; stir it that the butter may be completely incorporated with the eggs. When it is so, put it in a buttered dish and set it over hot embers or ashes, strew powdered sugar over the top and color it with a hot shovel; this may be done in the oven. Serve as soon as possible, as it soon falls and so the appearance is spoiled.
OMELETTE SOUFFLE IN A MOULD
Break six fresh eggs, separate the whites from the yolks, put with the yolks three spoonfuls of rice flour and a tablespoonful of orange-flower water; stir these well together, whip the whites of the eggs to a high froth, and mix them with the yolks. Pour the mixture into a buttered mould, about half full; bake it in a moderate oven for half an hour. When done turn it on to a dish and serve quickly. This omelet must be clear and shake like a jelly.
A DELICIOUS OMELET
Beat separately, and lightly, six eggs; add to them a tablespoonful of chopped green onion, and the same of parsley, chopped fine; beat them into the eggs with two tablespoonfuls of water, and at the last moment a little salt. Have a thick-bottomed skillet or pan on the fire, put in a teaspoonful of nice sweet butter, and when this is hot put in the eggs. Take a broad-bladed knife and keep rolling the omelet as it sets; do not let it get too brown, but roll it in an oblong shape; never turn an omelet over, but push and roll it, as described, then slide it on a hot dish, pour a spoonful of melted butter over it, and send it to table hot. A wood fire is the best, over which to cook an omelet, as you want only a blaze; a great heat in the stove makes it impossible to have the eggs of the light delicate brown required.
SPANISH OMELET
Beat up six eggs until quite light, add to them a cup of chopped ham and two small onions minced very fine. The onions should be cooked a little before being put into the eggs, or they will not be cooked enough. When mixed together put it into a thick-bottomed pan and commence rolling. When it is a light brown, give it the last roll, let it lie a moment in the pan, then dish it. Put fresh butter as it goes to table, for the butter the omelet is fried in is never good to send to table.
OMELET WITH OYSTERS
Break eight or ten eggs in a basin, whip them up well, add a gill of cream, a tablespoonful of sweet butter, a spoonful of chopped parsley, pepper and salt to taste; beat it again very light, then stir in a pint of chopped oysters, and when the butter is hot put in the omelet. When the eggs have partly set, roll the omelet in form of a cushion, which you can do by using the tin slice. Brown delicately, and serve with a little melted butter or some sauce you prefer.
Grated Parmesan cheese is very fine in place of the chopped oysters; also, ham, in the above omelet, is an acceptable addition.