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EGGS (en Marinade)
Mix equal quantities of water and good veal gravy, two table-spoonfuls of each, with a tea-spoonful of vinegar and a seasoning of pepper and salt; put it into a stewpan, and stir in gradually two well-beaten yolks of eggs. When it thickens, and before it boils, have ready half a dozen nicely-poached eggs, and pour the sauce over them. Garnish with parsley. Time, ten minutes to prepare. Sufficient for three persons.
A poached-egg dish dressed with a sharp, yolk-thickened gravy — essentially a small savoury custard sauce made in the pan. Everything depends on heat control.
- The hinge: never let it boilTwo raw yolks stirred into hot liquid will thicken at around 160-170F and scramble not far above that. Keep the pan on low heat, stir constantly, and pull it off the moment it coats the spoon. A heatproof bowl over barely simmering water is the safer route.
- Veal gravyNot a thickened brown gravy in the modern sense but the strained cooking juices of roast or braised veal, or a light veal stock reduced until it has body. A good unsalted chicken or veal stock reduced by half is the nearest substitute; a bouillon cube will overwhelm the two tablespoons of water it is diluted with.
- The quantities are very smallTwo tablespoons each of stock and water yields about a quarter cup of sauce for six eggs — a bare gloss. For a sauce that actually pools on the plate, treble the liquid and use three yolks, keeping the vinegar in proportion.
- VinegarA teaspoon in this volume is assertive, and the sharpness is presumably the point, since nothing else in the dish accounts for the name 'en marinade.' White wine vinegar or cider vinegar suits it better than harsh distilled malt.
- PoachingPoach the eggs in barely trembling water with a splash of vinegar, three minutes for a set white and liquid yolk, and lift them onto a cloth to drain. Wet eggs will thin the sauce on the plate.
- Order of workThe sauce cannot wait and cannot be reheated. Poach the eggs first, hold them in warm water, then make the sauce and combine immediately.
- YieldThree servings of two eggs each, as the original states — a supper or luncheon dish rather than a first course.
"En marinade" here signals the vinegar rather than any actual soaking: nineteenth-century English cookery borrowed the French term loosely for anything given a sharp, piquant dressing. The technique itself is the old liaison of egg yolks used for sauce poulette, allemande and the various "white sauces" of genteel English cooking, where yolk liaison and flour-based roux coexisted. It is a variation on the poached egg, needing no butcher's meat beyond a spoonful of good veal gravy, and could be sent up hot for breakfast, luncheon or a light supper.