When the luxury of the Second Empire was at its height, and the practice of giving Easter eggs was carried to an unheard-of degree of extravagance, it is said that Mademoiselle Hortense Schneider, the once renowned heroine of opera-bouffe, received a Paschal present pur- jDorting to be an egg, of such huge dimensions that it had to be carried upstairs by two stout porters. On being opened it was found to contain an elegant Victoria drawn by two cream-coloured ponies. But it is only of eggs in connection with cookery that I am at present treating, and I am bound solemnly to admit that English people rarely do sufficient culinar}^ justice to the appetising offerings of Dame Partlet the hen. Boiled eggs for breakfast, fried or poached with bacon or ham, hard-boiled eggs in salad, and in sauce for salt fish, scrambled or mixed with rice in kedgeree — when one has mentioned CHATS ABOUT COOKERY. 47 thes3 the catalogue of og^ prej^arations has been pretty well exhausted. Eggs are, of course, used to a prodigious extent in the making of cakes and puddings; but our neighbours the French probably use millions more of eggs every j^ear for the making of those omelettes in the confection of which very fcAv English cooks are even tolerably proficient. A simple omelette should be made solely and exclusively of eggs ; but in England there exists a preposterous delusion that milk, and even flour, may be added to the mixture in the pan, the result being the production of a stodgy, lumpy, indigestible mass, which is frequently fried a dingy brown instead of being of a delicate pale golden hue. I have given some carefully - thought - out recipes for savoury e'^^^f dishes ; * but Avhen I tell you that the clief to the Duke of Bedford once sent me a little book of his composition in which there were at least a hundred and fifty recipes for dressing eggs, you will be able to form an idea of the variety and skill with which the French dress this eminently palatable and nourishing food. Oysters. To talk of oysters as an important factor in cooking at a period when there is practically an oyster famine, and when at some of the most noted shell-fish shops in London and at the watering-places the proprietors sorroAvfully inform you that, owing to the almost prohibitive price of natives, they do a much larger trade in crabs, lobsters, haddocks, potted shrimps, and even in dried sprats from Norway and pickled anchovies, than they do in Colchesters or "Whitstables, seems almost like a mockery. I have ventured, however, * See pp. 3S9-3i)C. 48 THE TEOBOUGH GOOD COOK. to give a few recipes of oyster cookery* out of the very large number of such formulas which I have collected, in the hoj)e that the exorbitant price of this delicious and wholesome food will, ere long, be reduced to something like moderate proportions — and moderation in the 03^ster tariff is to be represented by two shillings a dozen for natives, ^eighteenpence for middling, and one shilling for cooking oysters : that is to say, such bivalves as are used in making oyster sauce, oyster soup, and o_yster patties. Large oysters, too, can bo advantageously used for pickling.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

When the luxury of the Second Empire was at its height, and the practice of giving Easter eggs was carried to an unheard-of degree of extravagance, it is said that Mademoiselle Hortense Schneider, the once renowned heroine of opera-beuffe, received a Paschal present purporting to be an egg, of such huge dimensions that it had to be carried upstairs by two stout porters. On being opened it was found to contain an elegant Victoria drawn by two cream-coloured ponies. But it is only of eggs in connection with cookery that I am at present treating, and I am bound solemnly to admit that English people rarely do sufficient culinary justice to the appetising offerings of Dame Partlet the hen. Boiled eggs for breakfast, fried or poached with bacon or ham, hard-boiled eggs in salad, and in sauce for salt fish, scrambled or mixed with rice in kedgeree — when one has mentioned these the catalogue of egg preparations has been pretty well exhausted. Eggs are, of course, used to a prodigious extent in the making of cakes and puddings; but our neighbours the French probably use millions more of eggs every year for the making of those omelettes in the confection of which very few English cooks are even tolerably proficient. A simple omelette should be made solely and exclusively of eggs ; but in England there exists a preposterous delusion that milk, and even flour, may be added to the mixture in the pan, the result being the production of a stodgy, lumpy, indigestible mass, which is frequently fried a dingy brown instead of being of a delicate pale golden hue. I have given some carefully - thought - out recipes for savoury egg dishes ; * but when I tell you that the clief to the Duke of Bedford once sent me a little book of his composition in which there were at least a hundred and fifty recipes for dressing eggs, you will be able to form an idea of the variety and skill with which the French dress this eminently palatable and nourishing food. Oysters. To talk of oysters as an important factor in cooking at a period when there is practically an oyster famine, and when at some of the most noted shell-fish shops in London and at the watering-places the proprietors sorrowfully inform you that, owing to the almost prohibitive price of natives, they do a much larger trade in crabs, lobsters, haddocks, potted shrimps, and even in dried sprats from Norway and pickled anchovies, than they do in Colchesters or "Whitstables, seems almost like a mockery. I have ventured, however, * See pp. 3S9-3i)C. to give a few recipes of oyster cookery* out of the very large number of such formulas which I have collected, in the hope that the exorbitant price of this delicious and wholesome food will, ere long, be reduced to something like moderate proportions — and moderation in the oyster tariff is to be represented by two shillings a dozen for natives, ^eighteenpence for middling, and one shilling for cooking oysters : that is to say, such bivalves as are used in making oyster sauce, oyster soup, and oyster patties. Large oysters, too, can bo advantageously used for pickling.

The thorough good cook