Poached Eggs

Ingredients

• half a cup of vinegar
• a teaspoon of salt
• the eggs

Method

1. 1

   In a large shallow frying-pan, bring salted boiling water to a simmer.

2. 2

   Add vinegar, then drop in eggs broken into cups.

3. 3

   Cook until desired doneness, then lift with a skimmer and serve on toasted bread.

Nutrition per serving

As published

This recipe was extracted from Home dissertations (1891) by Tilton, E. Stevens Mrs., page 121. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Poached eggs, on the contrary, in which it is desirable to set the white speedily, in order to keep them whole and shapely, should be dropped not only into boiling water, but into water hotter than ordinary boiling water, i. e., quite fresh water. Now the boiling of water may be delayed ; that is, it may be made to get hotter before it comes to a boil, by dissolving in it any solid body less volatile than itself, such as common salt, when eleven or twelve degrees higher of Fahrenheit are required to produce ebullition. This is why plunging fish into boiling salt and water renders it firmer by suddenly coagulating the albumen. The greater heat so obtained also cooks vegetables more thoroughly. And the same hot liquid is best for poaching eggs ; they come out of their bath with smooth and clean, instead of ragged and untidy jackets." PROPER WAY TO COOK EGGS. Butter a tin plate and break in the eggs ; set in a steamer ; place over a kettle of boil- ing water and steam till the whites are cooked. They are more ornamental when broken EGGS. 137 into patty tins, as they keep their form better. The whites of the eggs, when cooked in this manner, are tender and light, and not tough and leathery, as if cooked by any other process ; they can be eaten by invalids, and they certainly are very much richer than by any other method. If cooked in the shell, they taste of the lime contained in them ; and if broken into boiling water, it destroys their flavor. M. EGG BALLS. Take the yolks of six hard-boiled eggs, mash them on a plate, with one large tablespoon of flour and some pepper ; when mixed to a paste, use enough raw egg to make it suffi- ciently moist to roll into balls or cakes. Put the balls in a dish and pour over them some cream and butter heated together ; cut the whites in rings and garnish with them. M. SOFT-BOILED EGGS. Wash the shells clean, put them in cold water over a quick fire until it comes to a boil — when they will be just right for soft-boiled eggs — if desired hard, let them boil two or three minutes longer. The flavor is more delicious if put in cold water first, instead of hot water. When, boiled in hot water, it should be boiling hot — four minutes for soft-boiled, six to seven minutes for hard-boiled. Eggs cook in the shell, after being taken from the water, if not removed from the shell at once. Serve boiled eggs in a napkin. EASTER EGGS. Easter morning would be incomplete, for the children at least, without the brightly- colored eggs typical of the day. There are many ways of coloring the eggs, the easiest being the boiling of them with various colored dyes sold in small packages at the chem- ists'. An old-fashioned method was to tie each egg in a piece of figured chintz or calico, which would leave its imprint on the egg after it was exposed to the action of boiling water. Another good way to produce a variegated reddish purple color was to boil with the eggs the skins of red onions. To color the eggs with original designs, a provincial method was to trace figures upon the shells of raw eggs with a bit of hard tallow candle, thus covering the part of the shell which was desired white, and then to put the eggs in boiling dye-water. Sometimes the eggs are entirely dyed, and then designs are engraved upon them with a sharp knife or a strong trussing or darning needle. When the prepared dye stuffs are not available, varied colors may be produced by using the following named chemicals, boiling a small quantity with the eggs : red, Brazil wood ; yellow, Persian berries, or a very little turmeric ; brown, a strong dye of turmeric ; claret color, logwood ; black, logwood and chromate of potash ; blue, a mixture of powdered indigo, crystals of sulphate of iron, and a little dry slacked lime. The eggs should always be boiled for ten minutes at least. 138 HOME DISSERTATIONS. POACHED EGGS. Have over the fire a large shallow frying-pan half full of boiling water, salted; put in half a cup of vinegar and a teaspoon of salt

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.