Boiled Egg’S. — How few cooks know how to boil a new-laid egg so as to preserve that creamy freshness which lasts so short a time ! How many ignorant persons order Eggs to be boiled at a gallop for three minutes and a half ! These persons naturally find eggs indigestible, for when Eggs are cooked according to their method the white, or albumen, is over-cooked, and the * yolk is left nearly raw. Eggs, whether boiled in the breakfast room or in the kitchen, should never be hurried. Fill a small saucepan with cold water, and set it either over a spirit-lamp or on a brisk fire. -Watch till the water boils freely and then (and not till then) put in the Eggs. In cold weather warm the Eggs, or the shells may crack when they are put into boiling water. Count twelve, then put the cover of the saucepan on tightly, blow out the lamp, or take the saucepan off the fire. In eight minutes a hen’s egg (of which the ordinary size is reckoned to weigh one ounce) will be thoroughly cooked, the yolk formed and the white 394 EGGS AND OMELETTES soft. For very large Eggs a little longer time must be allowed, and for Bantam’s Eggs a little less. For Plover’s Eggs allow' ten minutes. Poached Egg'S. — Only really fresh Eggs can be poached well. Have ready boiling water, in wrhich a few drops of vinegar and a little salt have been put. Break the shells of the Eggs, and slip the Eggs at once into the boiling water. Draw the pan to the side of the fire, so that the water does not boil hard. In three minutes and a half the whites of the Eggs will be set and the Eggs poached. Take them out with a slice, and serve each Poached Egg on a square of buttered toast or fried bread. Poached Eggs✪ Poached Eggs are excellent served on a puree of Spinach. Or the toasts on which they are placed can be spread writh any savoury butter, or covered with minced chicken, or game, or ham, the mince just moistened with good sauce or melted glaze. Poached Eggs a VIndienne are arranged on squares of fried bread, and then smothered with curry sauce, for which see Chapter XIII. In all cases Poached Eggs should be served very hot. Fried Eggs and Bacon. — This dish is peculiar to the British race, and how often we have reason to wish that it never had been invented! Nothing is better than Fried Eggs and Bacon when properly cooked, nothing is more rare than to get them properly cooked, and nothing is more unpleasant to the eye, the palate, or the digestion than the dish of leathery yolks, and burnt discoloured "whites of eggs sent up, as is too often the case, bathed in tepid bacon fat, and resting upon greasy slices of bacon. Never fry the Eggs and the Bacon together, for the Bacon does not yield nearly enough fat to fry the Eggs properly. But have ready four ounces of lard (if lard is used) or four oimces of suet✪ Fried Eggs and Bacon in a small but deep frying-pan over a brisk fire. Fry each Egg by itself. Wyvern uses a large iron spoon for each Egg, and he coaxes the white of the Egg gently over the wdiite whilst frying so as to give the Egg a round form "when fried. Heat the frying medium as for whitebait, slope the frying-pan, and gently slide the Egg, already broken into the large iron spoon, into the fast- boiling fat. In this way an Egg wall fry much more quickly than it would poach, and is quite different in look and in flavour from the Fried Egg generally served. It is also quite digestible.

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Boiled Egg’S. — How few cooks know how to boil a new-laid egg so as to preserve that creamy freshness which lasts so short a time ! How many ignorant persons order Eggs to be boiled at a gallop for three minutes and a half ! These persons naturally find eggs indigestible, for when Eggs are cooked according to their method the white, or albumen, is over-cooked, and the * yolk is left nearly raw. Eggs, whether boiled in the breakfast room or in the kitchen, should never be hurried. Fill a small saucepan with cold water, and set it either over a spirit-lamp or on a brisk fire. -Watch till the water boils freely and then (and not till then) put in the Eggs. In cold weather warm the Eggs, or the shells may crack when they are put into boiling water. Count twelve, then put the cover of the saucepan on tightly, blow out the lamp, or take the saucepan off the fire. In eight minutes a hen’s egg (of which the ordinary size is reckoned to weigh one ounce) will be thoroughly cooked, the yolk formed and the white 394 EGGS AND OMELETTES soft. For very large Eggs a little longer time must be allowed, and for Bantam’s Eggs a little less. For Plover’s Eggs allow' ten minutes. Poached Egg'S. — Only really fresh Eggs can be poached well. Have ready boiling water, in wrhich a few drops of vinegar and a little salt have been put. Break the shells of the Eggs, and slip the Eggs at once into the boiling water. Draw the pan to the side of the fire, so that the water does not boil hard. In three minutes and a half the whites of the Eggs will be set and the Eggs poached. Take them out with a slice, and serve each Poached Egg on a square of buttered toast or fried bread. Poached Eggs are excellent served on a puree of Spinach. Or the toasts on which they are placed can be spread writh any savoury butter, or covered with minced chicken, or game, or ham, the mince just moistened with good sauce or melted glaze. Poached Eggs a VIndienne are arranged on squares of fried bread, and then smothered with curry sauce, for which see Chapter XIII. In all cases Poached Eggs should be served very hot. Fried Eggs and Bacon. — This dish is peculiar to the British race, and how often we have reason to wish that it never had been invented! Nothing is better than Fried Eggs and Bacon when properly cooked, nothing is more rare than to get them properly cooked, and nothing is more unpleasant to the eye, the palate, or the digestion than the dish of leathery yolks, and burnt discoloured "whites of eggs sent up, as is too often the case, bathed in tepid bacon fat, and resting upon greasy slices of bacon. Never fry the Eggs and the Bacon together, for the Bacon does not yield nearly enough fat to fry the Eggs properly. But have ready four ounces of lard (if lard is used) or four oimces of suet in a small but deep frying-pan over a brisk fire. Fry each Egg by itself. Wyvern uses a large iron spoon for each Egg, and he coaxes the white of the Egg gently over the wdiite whilst frying so as to give the Egg a round form "when fried. Heat the frying medium as for whitebait, slope the frying-pan, and gently slide the Egg, already broken into the large iron spoon, into the fast- boiling fat. In this way an Egg wall fry much more quickly than it would poach, and is quite different in look and in flavour from the Fried Egg generally served. It is also quite digestible.

Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book