Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 August 1873 — Cooking Eggs. [ARTICLE]

Cooking Eggs.

Eggs bear a relation to other animal food similar to that which seeds bear to other vegetable food. They are tlie depositories of vitality-, stored up to form a new link in the continuation of the species. They are probably the purest form of animal food, though they compare unfavorably with seeds in several respects. They lose their vitality sooner, and they partake more or less of whatever impurities may have belonged to the animal that produced them. They are not so nutritious as some of the seeds, and they require more care in cooking. Like seeds, one of their principal ingredients is albumen, which is nearly pure in the white; but, unlike vegetable albumen, Ttcoagulates with heat. If the heat is great, it becomes so hard as to be extremely difficult of digestion. Hence eggs are more easily digested raw than cooked, and hence also the objection to hard boiling. Dr. Beaumont found bits of hard-boiled egg-white, no larger than a pea, sometimes remained in the stomach after everything else had yielded to the action of the gastric juice. Such logic is unanswerable. He deduced from it the importance of careful mastication. We women can go a step further, and find in it an intelligent reason for so cooking the eggs that they will not require this extra care. Fried eggs are still worse than those which are boiled, both because subjected to a greater degree of heat, and because of cooking fat into them. Even in the common method of boiling them rapidly-, “three and a-half minutes,” the albumen next the shell is quite too hard'. It should be uniform and custardlike, and this is secured by the method, now- becoming quite comifion, of merely letting the eggs stand from seven to ten minutes in hot water. This should be boiling hot at first, but the cool eggs reduce its temperature somewhat. The exact time required will vary with the relative proportions of eggs and water, with the size of the eggs, with the heat and thickness of the utensil' used, with the warmth of the place where it stands, and with the weather algo; a little more time being required in dull weather. The cook will soon learn what allowance to make, for her utensils; and for the rest, she must use her judgment every time. Tlieyare not so easily- spoiled, however, —as in boiling. If left in a little too long, they can be plunged into cold- water for a minute or two. H even kept hot until the yolks stiffen, the whites will not be hard. The yolk should be cooked just enough not to break rapidly when turned out. These are, properly speaking, not ’’boiled eggs,” but “curdled eggs.’’ These curdled eggs make an admirable dressing for many breakfast dishes—boiled samp, oatmeal mush, cracked wheat, and especially for small hominy. The gentle method of cooking eggs may also be observed in making egg-toast. Haye the milk almost boiling in a flat dish, and break in the eggs one by one, cooking a few at a time, and being careful not to let them run together. Sprinkle in a little salt, and let them stand hot and covered, until firm enough to take up without breaking. Then have ready- some split batter-biscuit (gems), softened in hot milk and laid on a platter, and when the eggs are done, dish them one on each half of a biscuit, and serve warm- This is a handsome dish, and though not quite so digestible as hominy dressedwitlLeggs curdled in the shell, it is still far better than the fried potatoes and griddle-cakes that form the staple of so many breakfasts.— Science of Health.