That breakfasts will occasionally go wrong, is pro-
bably everybody’s experience ; to show how to make
them always go right is not so easy. One great cause,
in addition to ignorance of cooking, is late rising.
Cooks sometimes start the day an hour behindhand,
and never overtake the time. I am not sure that in
judging a cook's character I would not take her as she
appears in the morning coming down to light the
kitchen fire. Some will be seen at this period fresh,
clean, and bright-looking. This is a good sign, and
augurs well. Others, however, come down yawning —
no cap, the hair in an eccentric fashion, consisting
apparently of one large knot at the back of the head.
1 hey have a fluffy and disagreeable look, suggestive
of having slept in their clothes in a close room, the
window of which has not been opened for months,
and in which you would expect to find an inky fluid
render itselt visible in the wash-hand basin, were you
to blow away the soapsuds. All this augurs ill for
breakfast.
72
Common-sense Cookery.
However, we will suppose the former of the two
servants has come down, and that the dish for break-
fast is the very common one of ham and eggs. First,
the ham, which is probably in a slice or slices already.
The first point to be considered is the state of the fry-
ing-pan ; this latter should be perfectly clean before
the ham is placed in it. Next, cook the ham rather
slowly ; with ham, poached eggs look better, and to
my thinking taste better, than fried. Have a stew-pan
ready full of water gently boiling, and drop in this
water four or five drops of vinegar. Have a dish
ready in the oven ; and as soon as the ham is nearly
done, take the eggs, which should have been carefully
broken each one separately in a cup, and let them slide
out slowly into the boiling water, doing two at a time ;
as soon as the eggs are in the water, place the ham on
the hot dish, and so place it that an egg will stand on
each slice. Next, take the strainer and lift each egg
carefully out of the water, and have in your other hand
a knife ready to trim off the loose pieces of white, so
as to have the egg a compact mass, the yolk sur-
rounded by an even rim of white. Next, should a
little of the water rest in the bend of the strainer, mop
it up with the end of a cloth before you slide the egg
on to the ham, or otherwise, owing to the vinegar, the
egg will taste acid. After the eggs are on the ham,
see that all is placed uniformly in the middle of the
Breakfast Dishes.
73
dish, put two or three pieces of fresh parsley✪ Ham and Eggs round,
and send the dish up to table as quickly as possible.
Page 28 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1880. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
That breakfasts will occasionally go wrong, is probably everybody’s experience ; to show how to make them always go right is not so easy. One great cause, in addition to ignorance of cooking, is late rising. Cooks sometimes start the day an hour behindhand, and never overtake the time. I am not sure that in judging a cook's character I would not take her as she appears in the morning coming down to light the kitchen fire. Some will be seen at this period fresh, clean, and bright-looking. This is a good sign, and augurs well. Others, however, come down yawning — no cap, the hair in an eccentric fashion, consisting apparently of one large knot at the back of the head.
1 hey have a fluffy and disagreeable look, suggestive of having slept in their clothes in a close room, the window of which has not been opened for months, and in which you would expect to find an inky fluid render itselt visible in the wash-hand basin, were you to blow away the soapsuds. All this augurs ill for breakfast.
Common-sense Cookery.
However, we will suppose the former of the two servants has come down, and that the dish for breakfast is the very common one of ham and eggs. First, the ham, which is probably in a slice or slices already. The first point to be considered is the state of the frying-pan ; this latter should be perfectly clean before the ham is placed in it. Next, cook the ham rather slowly ; with ham, poached eggs look better, and to my thinking taste better, than fried. Have a stew-pan ready full of water gently boiling, and drop in this water four or five drops of vinegar. Have a dish ready in the oven ; and as soon as the ham is nearly done, take the eggs, which should have been carefully broken each one separately in a cup, and let them slide out slowly into the boiling water, doing two at a time ; as soon as the eggs are in the water, place the ham on the hot dish, and so place it that an egg will stand on each slice. Next, take the strainer and lift each egg carefully out of the water, and have in your other hand a knife ready to trim off the loose pieces of white, so as to have the egg a compact mass, the yolk surrounded by an even rim of white. Next, should a little of the water rest in the bend of the strainer, mop it up with the end of a cloth before you slide the egg on to the ham, or otherwise, owing to the vinegar, the egg will taste acid. After the eggs are on the ham, see that all is placed uniformly in the middle of the
Breakfast Dishes.
dish, put two or three pieces of fresh parsley round, and send the dish up to table as quickly as possible.
Records on this page
Ham and Eggs