French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [110]
When the sauce is ready, poach 4 eggs. While they are cooking, pour a little of the hot sauce into each of 4 little china egg ramekins. Put an egg on top; cover each completely with more sauce, to fill the ramekins. Sprinkle lightly with breadcrumbs. Put under a hot grill for about half a minute and serve immediately, bubbling hot.
LES ŒUFS DU PÊCHEUR
POACHED EGGS WITH MUSSEL STOCK
Poach your eggs in the liquor saved from moules marinière. Put a slice of fried bread in each buttered egg dish, put the poached eggs, one or two to each dish, on the bread, cover them with hot cream, then with grated Gruyère. Cook in a hot oven for about 3 minutes, so that the cheese, which protects the yolks of the eggs from the heat, melts without the eggs hardening.
This delicious recipe is by the famous dressmaker, Paul Poiret, from his book, En Habillant l’Époque.
ŒUFS POCHÉS À L’HUGUENOTE
POACHED EGGS WITH MEAT SAUCE
This is just one version of a dish once popular throughout France; it is made when there is some sort of rich juice or wine-flavoured sauce left from a bœuf mode, a daube or the Médocain recipe described on page 385.
Poached eggs are arranged on slices of bread fried in butter, olive oil or pork fat. The juice or gravy is simmered until it is reduced a little then poured round the eggs. It is an excellent dish and the same system can be used for œufs sur le plat, the juice being poured round the eggs when they have set.
LES ŒUFS EN COCOTTE
Eggs en cocotte are a cross between a poached egg and an egg sur le plat. They are cooked and presented in little round or oval china ramekins or cocottes, each large enough to hold one egg. They may be cooked on top of the stove or in the oven. On the whole, the former is the easier way. You place your little cocottes in water in a heavy frying-pan or sauté pan, and put a little knob of butter in each. When the water boils and the butter is melted, you slide a very fresh egg into each cocotte, cover the pan and cook 3 to 4 minutes. The yolks of eggs en cocotte should be quite soft and the whites well set.
In a London hotel where a good deal of fuss is made about the food, I once ordered eggs en cocotte. When they arrived, after a long wait, they were as hard as rocks. My host called for the maître-d’hôtel and irritably observed that a chisel rather than a spoon would have been the right implement with which to eat them. ‘How were they cooked?’ I asked the maître-d’hôtel. ‘Oh, it is rather complicated,’ he replied, in imitation broken English. ‘First they are steamed and then they are baked.’ ‘I always thought œufs en cocotte were soft.’ ‘Oh no, madame; of course, you can order them soft, but properly they are hard.’
By such fake expertise are we poor English bedevilled into believing reams of rubbish about French cookery.
LES ŒUFS EN COCOTTE À LA CRÈME
Proceed exactly as above, and when the whites of the eggs have started to set, pour a tablespoon of thick cream into each little ramekin. Cover the pan again and finish cooking. This is one of the most delicious egg dishes ever invented, but it is rare to get it properly done.
LES ŒUFS EN COCOTTE AU JUS
When you have a little delicious natural gravy left from a roast, a bird or a rich stew, cook your eggs as above and pour a little of this gravy on top of the eggs, taking care not to cover the yolks.
ŒUFS EN COCOTTE PASCAL
For 4 eggs prepare a sauce as follows: chop very finely indeed a little bunch of parsley, leaves only, with, if available, a few tarragon leaves and chives. There should be about 3 good tablespoons altogether when the herbs are chopped. Stir in 2 teaspoons of rather strong French mustard, a seasoning of salt and freshly milled pepper, then 4 tablespoons of thick fresh cream. Heat the sauce and pour it bubbling over the eggs which have been cooked in 4 little buttered ramekins