French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [109]
Fry your eggs gently in a little butter, keeping them covered. Transfer them to a very hot fireproof serving dish. Into the clean frying-pan put a dessertspoon of butter for every 2 eggs. Let it melt and when it is foaming and just turning colour, pour it over the eggs. Quickly pour a tablespoon of vinegar into the pan and let it boil. Pour this, too, over the eggs. Serve instantly.
It is important to note that any butter left in the pan in which the eggs have fried should be discarded before the fresh butter is put in (alternatively, use two pans). And in spite of its name, the second lot of butter is not cooked until it is black, but only until it is just turning a little darker brown than the shell of a hazel-nut.
LES ŒUFS POUCHÉS
POACHED EGGS
Whatever foolproof instructions are given in cookery books for the poaching of eggs, most people find it a tricky task, and cannot do more than one at a time. The egg-poaching moulds which produce a sort of egg cake are not at all a satisfactory solution. After years of practice I find the two following methods the most reliable:
(1) First dip each egg in a saucepan of boiling water while you count 30 seconds. This process coagulates a thin outer layer of white nearest the shell, and when the egg is subsequently poached the rest of the white tends to spread and fly about less than when the raw egg is put straight into the water. Having carried out this first operation, boil a fresh pan of water (a sauté pan or deep frying-pan is better than a saucepan) acidulated with a few drops of vinegar. Break each egg into a saucer. When the water boils make a whirlpool in the centre by whizzing the water round with a wooden spoon. Into this slide your egg. Keep the water whirling round until it boils again. Remove the pan from the heat, cover it, and leave 2 to 3 minutes.
(2) Break the eggs into saucers. When the water is just at boiling point, slide in the egg. As the white starts to set, quickly, with a metal spoon roll your egg over, at least twice, so that it acquires a neat oval shape, the white wrapped round the yolk. It is not such a dangerous operation as it sounds. Then remove the pan from the heat, cover it, and leave 3 to 4 minutes. With this system 2 eggs can be done at once. Whatever cookery books say, it is almost impossible for amateurs to poach 6 eggs at a time by any method except that of the egg-poaching moulds.
When the eggs are ready, take them from the pan with a perforated spoon and lay them to drain on a folded cloth. Any trimming of white necessary to give the eggs an elegant appearance is done at this stage. They can be kept warm in a bowl of warm water. Although some cooks advocate the use of ‘eggs of the day’ for poaching, I prefer them two or three days old. The whites of true new laid eggs fly about too much. Old eggs, however, are quite useless for poaching, as the whites go tough and ropy or separate completely from the yolks, which also tend to break. As William Verral says in his Cooks Paradise, 1759: ‘From the experience I have had, I am sure it is not in the power of the best cook in the kingdom to poach stale ones handsome, notwithstanding they may come whole out of the shell.’
The vinegar in the water helps to coagulate the white, but cooks disagree violently as to whether or not salt should be added. Which probably goes to show it does not greatly matter. I never add it myself.
ŒUFS POCHÉS À LA CRÈME ET AU GRATIN
POACHED EGGS WITH CREAM SAUCE
For the sauce, heat 1 oz. of butter in a heavy saucepan; stir in 2 dessertspoons of flour; when this mixture is smooth add gradually a little under pint of milk; stir until you have a smooth thick sauce, season with a very little salt, pepper and nutmeg, and cook a good 10 minutes over a very low flame. Now add from 4 to 6 tablespoons of thick cream, and stir for 2 or 3 more minutes, before stirring in 3 to 4 tablespoons