Plain Omelet.—Put your omelet-pan on the stove with a spoonful of butter; keep it so hot that the butter will almost brown in it, but not quite; break six fresh eggs into a clean bowl; if fresh, the whites will be clear and the yelks quite round; add a teaspoonful of milk for every egg, and whip the whole as thoroughly as for sponge-cake. When light, put the whipped eggs and milk into the omelet-pan and set it directly over the fire. As it begins to cool, take a thin-bladed knife and run it carefully under the bottom of the egg, so as to let that which is not cooked run beneath. If the fire is right, the whole mass will instantly puff and swell and cook in a minute, but great care is needed that it does not burn on the bottom, as scorched egg is very disagreeable and would ruin the whole. It is not necessary to wait till the whole mass is solid, for its own heat will cook it after it has been taken up, but begin to clear it at one side at once and carefully.
Puff Omelet.—Take the yelks of six eggs and the whites of three; beat very light. Take a teacup of cream (milk will answer) and mix with it very smoothly one table-spoonful of flour; salt and pepper to suit your taste; pour this into the beaten eggs. Melt a great spoonful of butter in a pan, and when hot pour in the mixture and set the pan into a hot oven. When it thickens up, pour over it the other three whites that were saved out, which you must have all ready, beaten very light. Return to the oven just long enough for a delicate brown, then slip out on a dish so that the top part shall remain uppermost.
Oyster Omelet.—Beat four eggs very light; cut out the hard part, or eye, from a dozen oysters; wipe them dry and cut into small pieces; stir them into the beaten egg, and fry in hot butter. When the under side is a light brown, sprinkle a very little salt and pepper over the top, and fold one half of the omelet over the other. Never turn an omelet; it makes it heavy and ruins it.
Omelet with Jelly.—Beat separately the yelks and whites of four fresh eggs; add to the yelks sufficient sugar to sweeten to your taste, and an even dessert-spoonful of corn flour very smoothly beaten in a table-spoonful of cream. Beat this with the yelks till perfectly smooth, and stir in the well-beaten whites very gently, so as to break the froth as little as possible; pour the whole into a frying-pan in which some butter has been melted, but drain off the butter before adding the eggs, etc. Put it over the fire,—two or three minutes will cook the under side; hold the pan to the fire till the under side looks firm, then spread raspberry or strawberry jam over one half; turn the other over it, and serve immediately.
Baked Omelet.—Boil half a pint of milk; beat six eggs thoroughly, yelks and whites separately; put half a teaspoonful of salt and a piece of butter half as large as an egg to the boiling milk; stir it into the beaten eggs; pour all instantly into a deep dish and bake. If the oven is hot, five minutes will bake it; not quite so hot an oven and a little longer time will be better,—say ten minutes. It should be of a delicate brown on top, and eaten right from the oven.
Omelette Soufflee.—Beat the whites of four eggs to a stiff froth; then add the yelks well beaten, with three table-spoonfuls of powdered sugar and the rind and juice of one lemon. Beat all well together, and bake in a moderately hot oven five minutes; serve immediately.
EGGS.
Boiled Eggs.—Be sure and select fresh eggs for boiling, never more than a week old. Have the water just boiling; if boiling fiercely when the eggs are put in, it will crack the shell. Three minutes will boil an egg soft; five minutes will be necessary if you like them hard, and ten or twelve minutes if needed for salad; in the latter case they should be thrown into cold water the instant they are taken from the boiling water, else the white will be dark colored or clouded. When perfectly new, an egg requires about half a minute longer boiling than if four or five days old.
Fried Eggs.—The fat left after frying ham, or that which is left in the bake-pan after browning a ham, is better for frying eggs than lard or butter. See that it is boiling hot, but not discolored, and drop the eggs in one at a time. Let them cook half a minute, then dip up some of the boiling fat from the pan, and pour over them. Continue to do this till they are done, and it will not be necessary to turn them over, which endangers breaking the yelk. Two and a half minutes should cook them sufficiently. When dropping them in, hold the cup into which you break each one close to the pan, and let the egg slip in as easily as possible, so that it will not spread in a ragged surface over the pan.
Poached Eggs.—While boiling a pint of milk, beat six eggs to a froth. Just before the milk begins to boil, add half a table-spoonful of butter and a teaspoonful of salt, and stir into it; then pour in the eggs, stir without ceasing, but gently, till it thickens,—not more than two minutes. Take it from the stove or range, and continue to stir half a minute or so, and then pour it over two or three thin slices of toasted bread which has been spread with butter, and all prepared in a deep dish before the eggs are put into the milk. This is very nice for breakfast.