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Classic
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page 120
EGGS.
The fresher they are the better and more wholesome, though new-laid eggs require
to be cooked longer than others. Eggs over a week old will do to fry, but not to
boil. In boiling, they are less likely to crack if dropped in water not quite to
the boiling point. Eggs will cook soft in three minutes, hard in five, very hard
(to serve with salads, or to slice thin--seasoned well with pepper and salt--and
put between thin slices of bread and butter) in ten to fifteen minutes. There is
an objection to the ordinary way of boiling eggs not generally understood. The
white, under three minutes rapid cooking, is toughened and becomes indigestible,
and yet the yolk is left uncooked.
To be wholesome, eggs should be cooked evenly to the center, and this result is
best reached, by putting the eggs into a dish having a tight cover (a tin pail
will do), and pouring boiling water over them in the proportion of two quarts to
a dozen eggs; cover, and set away from the stove for eight to fifteen minutes.
The heat of the water cooks the eggs slowly to a jelly-like consistency, and
leaves the yolk harder than the white. The egg thus cooked is very nice and
rich.
Put eggs in water in a vessel with a smooth level bottom, to tell good from bad;
those which lie on the side are good, but reject those which stand on end as
bad;
or, look through each egg separately toward the sun, or toward a lamp in a
darkened room; if the white looks clear, and the yolk can be easily
distinguished the egg is good; if a dark spot appears in either white or yolk,
it is stale; if they appear heavy and dark, or if they gurgle when shaken
gently, they are "totally depraved."
The best and safest plan is to break each
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