COOKING EGGS CORRECTLY

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 67, 12 December 1932, Page 4

COOKING EGGS CORRECTLY

Not a Fool-proof Dish Tn hundreds of households breakfast is not breakfast unless there are eggs in the menu. And yet, incredible as it may seem, eggs—usually taken for granted as a “foolproof” dish—are not as perfectly cooked and served as they ought to be. It is astonishing, for instance, how many good cooks fail to serve a really excellent poached egg. Even without a proper poacher, which is helpful only in keeping the egg s a good shape, there is no excuse for failure. Gentle movements and gentle simmering are the secrets of success. With Salt and Vinegar. To poach without a poacher, put boiling water and vinegar into the frying-pa u in the proportion of one tablespoonful of vinegar to a pint of water. Add a pinch of salt, bring all to tho boil, reduce the beat, and keep the mixture at simmering point Break an egg into a cup and slide it gently into the water, tilting the pan if necessary to ensure that the water completely covers it and cook until the white part is well set. As each egg is ready remove it from the pan with a slice. Lay it gently on its round of prepared hot buttered toast on the dish for serving. Don’t forget to keep the dish in a warm place until all the eggs are poached and placed on their respective rounds of toast. With a poacher, you simply drop each egg into its special compartment and then carefully lower the poacher into a pan of boiling water, where it must remain until the eggs are nicely set. Lift the poacher out of the water, remove the eggs with a palette knife, and dish up in the usual way. Two to three minutes is the time that should be occupied in frying an egg, if it is to be smooth and soft. The white part of a fried egg should remain white: any suspicion of brown colouring on the under side proclaims that the work has been done too quickly. Baste Well. Allow about an ounce of lard, butter or clarified dripping for each egg, put the fat into a clean frying-pan over the fire and make it hot. Break the eggs into cups, slip each separately into the fat, allowing none to touch the others, and, basting them with the fat, leave them over gentle heat until they are set. Remove each egg separately on a slice, drain off any superfluous fat, and serve on rashers of bacon that have been cooked as gently, as the eggs.

Can you boil an egg? “What a ridiculous question’” you will exclaim. And yet a boiled egg that Is neither too soft, too hard, or uncracked is not by any means the rule at the average breakfast table. Few cookery books tell you how to boil an egg. Yet it is one of those easy operations which is more of an art than most people imagine. Do It Quickly. Have ready a saucepan half-full of boiling water, the fresh eggs, and a metal spoon. Place each egg in turn in the spoon and lower it gently into the pan, allowing the spoon to touch the base before withdrawing it. This part of the task must be done quickly, otherwise the egg that is first introduced into the water will cook before the last ones. A lightly boiled egg., which is especially suitable for children and invalids, requires to be left in the boiling water for three minutes; the egg with the nicely set white must have three and three-quarters to four minutes, while the hard-boiled egg will require between six and seven minutes.