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Egg dishes are especially useful for luncheon, as they are easily and quickly prepared, are always liked, and can be served in a great variety of ways. They may be used as a first course, or in the order named in the list.

TO POACH EGGS

Drop the eggs into water just off the boiling-point. Let them cook slowly until the whites are like jelly, but not until hard. Muffin-rings may be used to keep them in good shape.

TO POACH EGGS IN FRENCH STYLE

Use a large saucepan and have it two thirds full of water. Add a tablespoonful of vinegar. When the water boils stir it with the handle of a wooden spoon until it whirls, then drop quickly a fresh egg into the depression or eddy of the whirling water. This will give the egg a rounded shape. When the white is set and before the yolk has hardened, remove the egg with a skimmer and place it on a dish to drain. Only one egg at a time can be cooked in this way. Trim the eggs carefully, cutting away all the ragged white.

TO SCRAMBLE EGGS

Add a tablespoonful of milk, a saltspoonful of salt, and a dash of pepper for every two eggs. Beat them just enough to break them, but not enough to make them smooth or frothy. Put a tablespoonful of butter into a sautÉ-pan, and when it bubbles turn in the eggs. With a fork scrape the cooked eggs from the bottom of the pan, giving flakes of cooked egg. If the butter is not allowed to brown, the eggs will have a clean, bright yellow color.

PLAIN FRENCH OMELET

Add a tablespoonful of milk, a half teaspoonful of salt, and a dash of pepper to three or four eggs. Beat them just enough to break them. Put a tablespoonful of butter into a clean, smooth sautÉ-pan. When the butter bubbles turn in the eggs. When the eggs are a little set on the bottom, tip the pan a little towards the handle, and with a fork stir the mixture on the handle half of the pan, lifting the cooked portion off the bottom in large flakes. When the mixture is all cooked, but still soft, pile the scrambled part on to the smooth half, making it high in the center. Turn the omelet on to a hot dish. This should give a smooth outside surface of egg, covering the softer inside portion, which is scrambled in large flakes. It is not well to make an omelet of more than three or four eggs. If more is needed, make a second omelet.

BEATEN OMELET

Beat the whites of three or four eggs to a stiff froth. Add to the yolks a half teaspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper, and a tablespoonful of milk. Beat them well together, then fold in lightly the whipped whites. Put a teaspoonful of butter in a sautÉ-pan and let it run all over the bottom. When it bubbles turn in the egg mixture and spread it evenly over the pan. Let it cook slowly without stirring until it seems cooked through, then place it in the oven for a few minutes to harden the top surface. Fold one half over the other and turn the omelet on to a hot dish.

OMELET CHASSEUR

Make either a French or a beaten omelet. Before folding it, place in the center some well-seasoned or creamed minced chicken, or other meat. Fold the omelet and turn it on to a dish. Cover the top with well-seasoned tomato. The tomato should be dry enough to hold its place, leaving a border of yellow egg between the tomato and the meat.

No. 1. Eggs À la romaine. Cut sliced bread into rounds and sautÉ them in butter. Place on each one an artichoke bottom which has been heated in hot water. On the artichoke place an egg poached in the French style (see page 51). Arrange the eggs around a mound of green peas, and pour over the eggs a white sauce made partly of chicken stock, with the yolk of an egg beaten in the last thing.

No. 2. Eggs baked in tomatoes. Select round tomatoes of uniform size. Cut off the stem ends and take out enough of the pulp to leave a space as large as an egg. Sprinkle the inside with salt and pepper. Drop into each one an egg. Place the filled tomatoes in a baking-dish with a little hot water, and bake them about fifteen minutes, or until the eggs are set and the tomatoes are a little softened. Serve the eggs on rounds of bread browned in butter. No sauce is required with this dish.

No. 3. Eggs baked in green peppers. Select green peppers of uniform size and shape. Cut off the stems close to the peppers so they will stand firmly. Take off the tops and remove the seeds and ribs. Parboil them. Remove them from the water as soon as they are a little tender, and before they become limp. Break an egg into each one. Set them in a baking-pan with a little hot water, and bake them slowly about fifteen minutes, or until the eggs are set. Arrange them on rounds of browned bread with white sauce in the dish.

No. 4. Scrambled eggs with tomato. Place scrambled eggs on rounds of browned bread, and on the top of each piece place a slice of broiled tomato (see page 97). Serve with or without a white sauce.

CREAMED POACHED EGGS

Poach eggs, the French style preferred. Lay them on rounds of bread sautÉd in butter. Arrange them symmetrically and pour over them a plentiful amount of white sauce made partly of stock, and having the yolk of one or two eggs stirred in after it is taken from the fire. Garnish the dish with a large bunch of parsley, or a bunch of nasturtiums.

The dish may be varied by placing a very thin slice of broiled ham under each egg; or the eggs may be covered with a tomato sauce.

CREAMED EGG BASKETS

Boil the eggs hard. Cut them in two lengthwise and remove the yolks. Drop the whites into hot water so they will be warm when needed for use. Mash the yolks and mix them with a little white sauce, or with stock, or with cream and a little butter and salt. Beat the mixture until it is smooth and light. Press the paste through a pastry-bag and star tube into the hollows of the white halves, and insert handles made of thin slices of celery cut from the green ends. Arrange the little baskets on a bed of any kind of well-seasoned vegetable.

In illustration the center is bean purÉe (see page 98) pressed through a pastry-bag.

POACHED EGGS WITH GREENS

Boil green leaves of lettuce until tender, drain them, chop them fine, and season with a little white sauce. Cover rounds of bread, which have been browned in butter, with the lettuce; or, if more convenient, with well-seasoned creamed spinach. Make nests of the green, leaving the edges of the toast clean, with a border one half inch wide around the depression. Place in each one an egg poached in the French style; or break an uncooked egg into each hollow, and place them in the oven until the eggs are set.

EGGS IN NESTS

Whip to a stiff froth the whites of as many eggs as are needed. Pile it irregularly on a flat, buttered baking-dish, and make depressions in it here and there. Sprinkle the hollows with salt and pepper and drop into each one the yolk of an egg. Put a small piece of butter on each yolk. Place the dish in a moderate oven for five to eight minutes. Serve at once.

The yolks can be conveniently kept in the half shells until needed.

Cover the bottom of an earthen baking-dish with well-seasoned tomato purÉe. Arrange on it poached eggs, leaving spaces to show the red color. Lay between the eggs whole small sausages, already cooked, or sausages cut in inch lengths. Place a bit of butter on each egg and set the dish in the oven to heat it only.

EGGS FARCI

No. 1. Boil until hard as many eggs as are needed. Cut them in two lengthwise. Remove the yolks and mash them. To six yolks add four tablespoonfuls of crumb of bread, softened with water, one half teaspoonful of onion juice, and two tablespoonfuls of chopped parsley. Mix well. Put a tablespoonful of butter in a saucepan on the fire, add the egg mixture with enough milk or stock to moisten it, but not enough to make it lose consistency. Season with salt, pepper, and a dash of nutmeg. A mushroom or a chicken liver chopped fine added to the farce improves its flavor. Fill the whites of the eggs with the farce, and with what is left make a mound on the serving-dish. Pour a white sauce over it and arrange the stuffed eggs on it; or cut the eggs in two crosswise and fill the cups with farce, molding it to look like whole yolks. Cut a small slice off the ends so they will stand. Arrange them on a dish with white sauce around them.

No. 2. Boil until hard a dozen eggs, cut them in two lengthwise and remove the yolks. Place the whites in cold water to keep them white until ready to use them. Put in a chopping-bowl the breast of a fowl which has been boiled for chicken stock, the yolks of the boiled eggs, two fresh mushrooms sautÉd, one half of a truffle, two tablespoonfuls of chopped parsley, and two tablespoonfuls of crumb of bread. Chop all together to a fine mince. Place in a saucepan two tablespoonfuls of butter and a teaspoonful of onion juice. When the butter bubbles add the chopped mixture moistened with enough chicken stock to make it of the right consistency for filling the egg cups. Season it with two teaspoonfuls of salt, one half teaspoonful of pepper, and a dash of nutmeg, and stir until it is hot. Place the whites in hot water to heat them, then fill each one with the hot farce, rounding it to look like a whole yolk.

Make a sauce as follows. Beat the yolks of two eggs enough to break them, stir them into a cupful of cream, and add this to the farce left after filling the cups. Stir it over the fire long enough to set the eggs. If not soft enough, add stock to make it the consistency of thick cream. Pour this sauce on a platter and arrange the stuffed eggs on it in lines or in circles.

No. 3. With giblet sauce. Prepare eggs as in No. 1. Add chopped giblets to a brown sauce. Spread the sauce on a dish and place the stuffed eggs upon it.

EGGS À L’AURORE

Chop the whites of hard-boiled eggs into fine dice. Mix them with enough white sauce to make them creamy. Crumb the yolks by pressing them through a coarse sieve or a colander, and spread them over the creamed whites.

To a pair of calves’ brains use three or four eggs. Scald the brains by letting them lie in scalding water six or eight minutes. Trim them and cut them into half-inch dice. Put them in a sautÉ-pan with a tablespoonful of butter and cook them until they look white, then add the beaten eggs and stir them all together, using a fork, until the eggs are cooked. Add one half teaspoonful of salt and one quarter teaspoonful of pepper.

For other egg dishes, see “Century Cook Book,” page 261.