Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches by Eliza Leslie Published: 1840
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EGGS, Etc.
TO KEEP EGGS.
There is no infallible mode of ascertaining the freshness of an
egg before you break it, but unless an egg is perfectly good, it
is unfit for any purpose whatever, and will spoil whatever it is
mixed with. You may judge with tolerable accuracy of the state of
an egg by holding it against the sun or the candle, and if the
yolk, as you see it through the shell, appears round, and the
white thin and clear, it is most probably a good one; but if the
yolk looks broken, and the white thick and cloudy, the egg is
certainly bad. You may try the freshness of eggs by putting them
into a pan of cold water. Those that sink the soonest are the
freshest; those that are stale or addled will float on the
surface.
There are various ways of preserving eggs. To keep them merely for
plain boiling, you may parboil them for one minute, and then bury
them in powdered charcoal with their small ends downward. They
will keep a few days in ajar of salt; but do not afterwards use
the salt in which they have been immersed.
They are frequently preserved for two or three months by greasing
them all over, when quite fresh, with melted mutton suet, and then
wedging them close together (the small end downwards) in a box of
bran, layer above layer; the box must be closely covered.
Another way (and a very good one) is to put some lime in a large
vessel, and slack it with boiling water, till it is of the
consistence of thin cream; you may allow a gallon of water to a
pound of lime. When it is cold, pour it off into a large stone
jar, put in the eggs, and cover the jar closely. See that the eggs
are always well covered with the lime-water, and lest they should
break, avoid moving the jar. If you have hens of your own, keep a
jar of lime-water always ready, and put in the eggs as they are
brought in from the nests. Jars that hold about six quarts are the
most convenient.
It will be well to renew the lime-water occasionally.
TO BOIL EGGS FOR BREAKFAST.
The fresher they are the longer time
they will require for boiling. If you wish them quite soft, put
them into a sauce-pan of water that is boiling hard at the moment,
and let them remain in it five minutes. The longer they boil the
harder they will be. In ten minutes' fast boiling they will be
hard enough for salad.
If you use one of the tin egg-boilers that are placed on the
table, see that the water is boiling hard at the time you put in
the eggs. When they have been in about four or five minutes, take
them out, pour off the water, and replace it by some more that is
boiling hard; as, from the coldness of the eggs having chilled the
first water, they will not otherwise be done enough. The boiler
may then be placed on the table, (keeping the lid closed,) and in
a few minutes more they will be sufficiently cooked to be
wholesome.
TO POACH EGGS.
Pour some boiling water out of a tea kettle through a clean cloth
spread over the top of a broad stew-pan; for by observing this
process the eggs will be nicer and more easily done than when its
impurities remain in the water. Set the pan with the strained
water on hot coals, and when it boils break each egg separately
into a saucer. Remove the pan from the fire, and slip the eggs one
by one into the surface of the water. Let the pan stand till the
white of the eggs is set; then place it again on the coals, and as
soon as the water boils again, the eggs will be sufficiently done.
Take them out carefully with an egg-slice, and trim off all the
ragged edges from the white, which should thinly cover the yolk.
Have ready some thin slices of buttered toast with the crust cut
off. Lay them in the bottom of the dish, with a poached egg on
each slice of toast, and send them to the breakfast table.
FRICASSEED EGGS.
Take a dozen eggs, and boil them six or seven minutes, or till
they are just hard enough to peel and slice without breaking. Then
put them into a pan of cold water while you prepare some grated
bread-crumbs, (seasoned with pepper, salt and nutmeg,) and beat the
yolks of two or three raw eggs very light. Take the boiled eggs
out of the water, and having peeled off the shells, slice the
eggs, dust a little flour over them, and dip them first into the
beaten egg, and then into the bread-crumbs so as to cover them well
on both sides. Have ready in a frying-pan some boiling lard; put
the sliced eggs into it, and fry them on both sides. Serve them up
at the breakfast table, garnished with small sprigs of parsley
that has been fried in the same lard after the eggs were taken
out.
PLAIN OMELET.
Take six eggs, leaving out the whites of two. Beat them very
light, and strain them through a sieve. Add pepper and salt to
your taste. Divide two ounces of fresh butter into little bits,
and put it into the egg. Have ready a quarter of a pound of butter
in a frying-pan, or a flat stew-pan. Place it on hot coals, and
have the butter boiling when you put in the beaten egg. Fry it
gently till of a light brown on the under side. Do not turn it
while cooking as it will do better without. You may brown the top
by holding a hot shovel over it. When done, lay it in the dish,
double it in half, and stick sprigs of curled parsley over it.
You may flavour the omelet by mixing with the beaten egg some
parsley or sweet herbs minced fine, some chopped celery, or
chopped onion, allowing two moderate sized onions to an omelet of
six eggs. Or what is still better, it may be seasoned with veal
kidney or sweet-bread minced; with cold ham shred as fine as
possible; or with minced oysters, (the hard part omitted,) with
tops of asparagus (that has been previously boiled) cut into small
pieces.
You should have one of the pans that are made purposely for
omelets.
AN OMELETTE SOUFFLÉ.
Break eight eggs, separate the whites from the yolks, and strain
them. Put the whites into one pan, and the yolks into another, and
beat them separately with rods till the yolks are very thick and
smooth, and the whites a stiff froth that will stand alone. Then
add gradually to the yolks, three quarters of a pound of the
finest powdered loaf-sugar, and orange-flower water or lemon-juice
to your taste. Next stir the whites lightly into the yolks. Butter
a deep pan or dish (that has been previously heated) and pour the
mixture rapidly into it. Set it in a Butch oven with coals under
it, and on the top, and bake it five minutes. If properly beaten
and mixed, and carefully baked, it will rise very high. Send it
immediately to table, or it will fall and flatten.
Do not begin to make an omelette soufflé till the company at table
have commenced their dinner, that it may be ready to serve up just
in time, immediately on the removal of the meats. The whole must
be accomplished as quickly as possible, and it must be cut and
sent round directly that it is brought to table.
If you live in a large town, the safest way of avoiding a failure
in an omelette soufflé is to hire a French cook to come to your
kitchen with his own utensils and ingredients, and make and bake
it himself, while the first part of the dinner is progressing in
the dining room.
An omelette soufflé is a very nice and delicate thing when
properly managed; but if flat and heavy it should not be brought
to table.
TO DRESS MACCARONI.
Have ready a pot of boiling water. Throw a little salt into it,
and then by slow degrees put in a pound of the maccaroni, a little
at a time. Keep stirring it gently, and continue to do so very
often while boiling. Take care to keep it well covered with water.
Have ready a kettle of boiling water to replenish the maccaroni
pot if it should be in danger of getting too dry. In about twenty
minutes it will be done. It must be quite soft, but it must not
boil long enough to break.
When the maccaroni has boiled sufficiently, pour in immediately a
little cold water, and let it stand a few minutes, keeping it
covered.
Grate half a pound of Parmesan cheese into a deep dish, and
scatter over it a few small bits of butter. Then with a skimmer
that is perforated with holes, commence taking up the maccaroni,
(draining it well,) and spread a layer of it over the cheese and
butter. Spread over it another layer of grated cheese and butter,
and then a layer of maccaroni and so on till your dish is full;
having a layer of maccaroni on the top, over which spread some
butter without cheese. Cover the dish, and set it in an oven for
half an hour. It will then be ready to send to table.
You may grate some nutmeg over each, layer of maccaroni.
Allow half a pound of butter to a pound of maccaroni and half a
pound of cheese.
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