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EGGS (au Miroir)
Spread butter upon a dish that can be set on the fire; break the desired number of eggs into it, adding salt, pepper, and two spoonfuls of milk; place it on a slow fire, and hold a red-hot shovel over the dish, and serve when the eggs are set. Or, cut some asparagus tops into pieces like peas; boil them a quarter of an hour, then take them out, and put them into a stewpan, with a bunch of parsley, chives, and a piece of butter; set them over a slow fire, put in a pinch of flour, add a little water, and let them stew, seasoning with salt and sugar. When done, put them into the dish they are to be served in, and break over them some eggs, seasoned with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Set them on the fire for a short time, pass a red-hot shovel over them, and serve the yolks soft.
This is shirred eggs by another name: eggs set gently from below and glazed from above so the whites take on a mirror-like sheen. The whole technique hinges on the two heat sources, and both need translating.
- The red-hot shovelA clean fire shovel heated in the coals was the Victorian domestic substitute for a salamander, held an inch or two above the food to set and gloss the surface without cooking the yolk through. An overhead grill or broiler on high, with the dish on a low shelf for 30-60 seconds, does the same work.
- A dish that can be set on the fireMeaning flameproof, not merely ovenproof: an enamelled cast-iron gratin dish, a small copper or steel egg dish, or a heavy skillet. Glass and most ceramic will not tolerate direct burner heat.
- A slow fireThe lowest setting your burner will hold, ideally with a heat diffuser. The whites should be barely trembling; if they bubble, the undersides toughen and brown before the tops have set.
- Two spoonfuls of milkProbably tablespoons. Since the recipe leaves the number of eggs to the cook, read this as a fixed small addition to the dish rather than a per-egg measure. It keeps the whites tender and stops them drying under the overhead heat.
- Boil them a quarter of an hourFifteen minutes will reduce pea-sized asparagus tips to mush. Two to three minutes in salted water, then refresh, and let the subsequent buttered stew finish them.
- The pinch of flourThis is a minimal thickening for the asparagus liquid, not a roux. Sprinkle it over the buttered vegetables, let it cook a moment, then add water a spoonful at a time until it just coats.
- Serve the yolks softThat is the point of the dish, and it means the yolks stay short of a safe pasteurising temperature. Use good, fresh eggs, and note that anyone pregnant, elderly, very young or immune-compromised should not eat them this way.
- YieldNo quantity is given. Allowing two eggs a head, the asparagus version would make a light supper or a first course for four from about eight eggs and a bunch of asparagus.
Au miroir means "in the mirror", and it describes the finish rather than the method: eggs set slowly enough that the whites stay translucent and glassy, then glazed from above so the surface shines. It belongs to the French repertoire of egg cookery. The instruction to hold a red-hot shovel over the food appears throughout Victorian cookbooks as the domestic stand-in for the professional salamander, an iron plate on a handle heated in the range and passed over gratins, glazes and sugar crusts. The asparagus variation comes with parsley, chives and a faint sweetening, treating eggs as a vehicle for a spring vegetable rather than as a breakfast dish in their own right.