Eggs are deficient in the carbohydrates, and hence bread, pota-
toes, rice, or other starchy foods, should be eaten with them to
supply the elements they lack. It will be wise to use eggs freely, as
they are nutriment in its most portable and concentrated form, and
they are palatable to all classes of people. They are strengthening
to consumptives and to all feeble persons, and young children.
They are medicine as well as food. The white of an egg is a sooth-
ing application for a burn, as it coats it over and excludes the air,
and it is an antidote for various poisons like corrosive sublimate,
creosote and acids, as these articles coagulate albumen, and if white
of egg is given soon after they enter the system, it combines with
them and protects the stomach.
Children do not receive into their systems a sufficient supply of lime for the
development of bones, if eggs form a large part of their diet, for the albumen and
vitellin of eggs, although highly nutritious, and adapted to the making of muscle,
is deficient in lime. The embryo chicken takes its lime for the growth of bone
from the shell of the egg, which diminishes in thickness day by day, until the time
of hatching, when it becomes so thin as to be easily broken for the escape of the
chicken. If the water supply of the family is in a limestone formation, children
will get a sufficiency of lime through the medium of water; but if the rock forma-
tion is primitive, and the water very soft, the defect may be remedied by the use
of lime=water, as explained in the chapter on "Invalid Cookery."
Invalids should never be given eggs which are more than 2 or S days old, as
they will then have begun to deteriorate. The albumen in an egg will not become
thick enough to beat well until it has been laid about 10 hours; for boiling or
poaching, eggs 1'^ days old are best. The philosophy of cooking eggs is
explained in our article on the principles and processes of ^cooking meat, which
Bee.
181
EGGS 185
In hreahing eggs, each one should be broken separately into a
cup, and then there will be no danger that a bad egg will spoil other
eggs or materials. Also be careful not to break the yolks, as that
will spoil them for poaching, frying, etc.
When putting eggs in to hoil, great care should be taken not to
crack the shell, as a portion of the white will then exude inevitably,
and it lets water into the egg. When fresh eggs are dropped into a
large quantity of boiling water, they crack, because the interior,
being full, is expanded by the heat, and the shells give way. If the
quantity of water is small, the shells do not crack, because putting
cold eggs into hot water lowers its temperature. Stale eggs do not
crack because the air inside is easily compressed. Prick pin-holes in
the large end of the shell to keep the contents from oozing out
through the crack, if an egg is cracked before putting it into the
water.
Eggs should always be washed as soon as they come into the
house. Take a little cloth and carefully remove every particle of soil
from the eggs, and then the shells will be ready to use in clarifying
coffee or soups.
Page 140
Presented as published in 1902. 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
Eggs are deficient in the carbohydrates, and hence bread, potatoes, rice, or other starchy foods, should be eaten with them to supply the elements they lack. It will be wise to use eggs freely, as they are nutriment in its most portable and concentrated form, and they are palatable to all classes of people. They are strengthening to consumptives and to all feeble persons, and young children. They are medicine as well as food. The white of an egg is a soothing application for a burn, as it coats it over and excludes the air, and it is an antidote for various poisons like corrosive sublimate, creosote and acids, as these articles coagulate albumen, and if white of egg is given soon after they enter the system, it combines with them and protects the stomach.
Children do not receive into their systems a sufficient supply of lime for the development of bones, if eggs form a large part of their diet, for the albumen and vitellin of eggs, although highly nutritious, and adapted to the making of muscle, is deficient in lime. The embryo chicken takes its lime for the growth of bone from the shell of the egg, which diminishes in thickness day by day, until the time of hatching, when it becomes so thin as to be easily broken for the escape of the chicken. If the water supply of the family is in a limestone formation, children will get a sufficiency of lime through the medium of water; but if the rock formation is primitive, and the water very soft, the defect may be remedied by the use of lime=water, as explained in the chapter on "Invalid Cookery."
Invalids should never be given eggs which are more than 2 or S days old, as they will then have begun to deteriorate. The albumen in an egg will not become thick enough to beat well until it has been laid about 10 hours; for boiling or poaching, eggs 1'^ days old are best. The philosophy of cooking eggs is explained in our article on the principles and processes of ^cooking meat, which see.
In breaking eggs, each one should be broken separately into a cup, and then there will be no danger that a bad egg will spoil other eggs or materials. Also be careful not to break the yolks, as that will spoil them for poaching, frying, etc.
When putting eggs in to hoil, great care should be taken not to crack the shell, as a portion of the white will then exude inevitably, and it lets water into the egg. When fresh eggs are dropped into a large quantity of boiling water, they crack, because the interior, being full, is expanded by the heat, and the shells give way. If the quantity of water is small, the shells do not crack, because putting cold eggs into hot water lowers its temperature. Stale eggs do not crack because the air inside is easily compressed. Prick pin-holes in the large end of the shell to keep the contents from oozing out through the crack, if an egg is cracked before putting it into the water.
Eggs should always be washed as soon as they come into the house. Take a little cloth and carefully remove every particle of soil from the eggs, and then the shells will be ready to use in clarifying coffee or soups.