A guide to modern cookery

Fry as many blanched rashers of breast of bacon as there are eggs. Arrange in a circle on a dish, alternating the rasher with the eggs. Garnish the centre with large peas, cooked with ciseled lettuce and finely-sliced potatoes. 486—FRIED POACHED EGGS This kind is recommended, because it may be served with various garnishes—either vegetables of the same nature, a macédoine, vegetable purées, or divers cullises, sauces in keeping with the eggs, artichoke-bottoms, mushrooms, morels, &c. (sliced and sautéd in butter), or tomato-fondue, &c. After having properly drained and dried the poached eggs, which should have been prepared beforehand, dip them carefully in a Villeroy sauce (No. 108), and arrange them, one by one, on a dish. When the sauce has set, pass the point of a small knife round the eggs to remove any excess of sauce; take them off the dish to treat them with an anglaise (No. 174), and then roll them in very fine, fresh bread-crumbs. Plunge them into very hot fat three or four minutes before serving; drain them on a piece of linen; salt slightly, arrange in a circle on a dish, and set the selected garnish in the middle. 487—FRIED EGGS A LA PORTUGAISE Place each of the fried eggs upon a half-tomato 4 la Portugaise, 1.e., stuffed with rice after having been previously half-baked in the oven. Arrange in a circle on a dish, and garnish the centre with concassed tomatoes sautéd in butter. 488—FRIED EGGS A LA PROVENCALE Put each fried egg on a half-tomato on a large, thick slice of egg-plant, seasoned, rolled in flour, and fried in oil. Set in a circle on a dish, with fried parsley in the centre. 489—FRIED EGGS A LA ROMAINE Place the eggs, fried in oil, on little, oval subrics of spinach. The preparation of spinach should have anchovy fillets, cut into dice, added to it. 490—FRIED EGGS A LA VERDI Cut six hard-boiled eggs lengthwise. Remove the yolks, pound them with two oz. of butter, and add thereto two tablespoonfuls of thick, cold Béchamel, two tablespoonfuls of cooked herbs, and one tablespoonful of lean ham, cooked and chopped. Garnish each half-white of egg with a good tablespoonful of this preparation, and smooth it with the blade of a small knife, shaping it in such wise as to represent the other half of the egg. Dip each whole egg, thus formed, into an anglaise, and roll in fine, fresh bread-crumbs. Plunge in hot fat six minutes before serving, and dish on a napkin, with fried parsley in the centre. Send, separately, to the table a garnish composed of asparagus-heads. 491—FRIED POACHED EGGS A LA VILLEROY Prepare the eggs, poached beforehand, as explained under No. 486. Fry them similarly, and dish them on a napkin, with a garnish of fried parsley in the centre. OMELETS The procedure for omelets is at once very simple and very difficult, for tastes differ considerably in respect of their preparation. Some like them well done, others insist upon their being just done, while there are yet others who only enjoy them when they are almost liquid. Nevertheless, the following conditions apply to all—namely, that there should be homogeneity of the egg-molecules; that the whole mass should be smooth and soft; and that it should be borne in mind that an omelet is in reality scrambled eggs enclosed in a coat composed of coagulated egg. I take as my standard an omelet consisting of three eggs, the seasoning of which comprises a small pinch of table-salt and a little pepper, and which requires one-half oz. of butter for its preparation. The quantities of garnishing ingredients given below, therefore, are based upon this standard. 492—THE PREPARATION OF OMELETS