Two Brown Girls

Two brown girls, two countries, and two kitchens in which to play!

Monday, September 24, 2007

Egg Woes

I went through a 8 or 9 year period where I refused to eat eggs. Or rather, anything that tasted of eggs, which basically meant no scrambling, poaching, frying, omeletting, custarding or boiling. The taste seemed wrong in my mouth, and I confess that I started eating them again a few years ago not out of any great desire for eggy-ness but rather because I was told it was either the eggs or a whole range of supplements for all those necessary omega-y bits and pieces the body needs. This recipe from the NYTimes, then, sounds right up my alley -- how to disguise eggs from 1909.

1909: Eggs Eli
This recipe by John W. Keller, a city commissioner, appeared in an article in The Times.

Anchovies were a popular ingredient at the turn of the 20th century. It’s impossible to know what the quality of the average anchovy was then. A good anchovy now is plump and assertive but neither too salty nor too fishy. (And whatever you do, avoid the ones with capers.) Lots of cookbooks call for those packed in salt, but Agostino Recca, a common brand found in supermarkets, makes good-quality ones, already filleted and packed in oil, that are fine substitutes.

1 garlic clove, peeled

2 tablespoons butter

8 eggs, cracked into a bowl

1 tablespoon finely minced anchovy

3 tablespoons finely minced

Virginia ham, or other smoked ham.

Rub the inside of a large skillet with the garlic clove. Place over medium-high heat and add the butter. When it’s nice and foamy, pour in the eggs. Sprinkle the anchovy and ham over the eggs, then begin scrambling them, stopping when they’re done to your liking. Keller, a Yale dropout, adds: “Serve on a Yale blue dish.” But any dish is fine. Serves 4.

Excerpted from an article by Amanda Hesser at the New York Times Food Section 24.9.2007


I think my big change to this would be to DECREASE the amount of egg used and INCREASE the amount of ham + anchovy. Perhaps even add some good black olives chopped roughly and eating the whole lot over toast with a cornichon or two on the side. Yum.