ŒUFS BROUILLES.—Break four or six eggs; beat them and put them into a saucepan with a piece of butter, a little salt, and a spoonful of sauce or gravy, which makes the eggs softer; stir them over the fire until sufficiently thick; serve on a plate garnished with toasted bread. To eggs dressed in this way, ham, mushrooms, &c., minced, may be added. The difference between this and an omelette is, that an omelette is compact and turns out smooth, whereas œufs brouillés are less done, and are, therefore, broken. In Ireland, where it is in general use, it is usually served upon hot buttered toast, and is there called "buttered eggs." It is also very common in France, where it is usually served for breakfast.
Or: Butter a dish well, and sprinkle it with salt; then break the eggs very carefully, so as not to disturb the yolk; add a little more salt, and some white pepper; melt a small quantity of butter, and pour it gently over, with one or two spoonfuls of cream. Put the dish over a slow fire, and finish the eggs by covering them with a red-hot shovel.
SOUFFLE FRANCAISE.—Put into a stewpan one ounce of butter; when melted, add two table-spoonfuls of flour; stir them well over the fire, so that the flour be thoroughly cooked, but not colored; add by degrees a wineglass of boiling cream, and four times that quantity of boiling milk; work it quite smooth, take it off the fire, add four yolks of eggs, sugar to palate, a grain of salt, and a table-spoonful of orange-flower water; whip up strongly the whites of eight eggs, mix them lightly in the batter, put the whole into a soufflé-dish, and bake for an hour. The flavor of this souffle may be varied according to fancy, omitting the orange-flower water, and substituting either vanilla, curacoa, noyeau, maraschino, chocolate, coffee, &c.
A COMMON OMELETTE.—From four to eight very fresh eggs may be used for this, according to the sized dish required. Half a dozen will generally be sufficient. Break them singly and carefully; clear them, or, when they are sufficiently whisked, pour them through a sieve, and resume the beating until they are very light. Add to them from half to a whole teaspoonful of salt, and a seasoning of pepper. Dissolve in a small frying-pan a couple of ounces of butter; pour in the eggs, and as soon as the omelette is well risen and firm throughout, slide it on to a hot dish, fold it together like a turnover, and serve it immediately. From five to seven minutes will fry it.
A SWEET OMELETTE WITH PRESERVE.—Beat up four eggs with a little salt; add sugar; fry the omelette in fresh butter, make a half pound of preserve liquid by shaking it in a little water over the fire; spread half upon the omelette, double it up, and pour the remainder over the top.