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Eggs, Fried
The frying-pan should be scrupulously clean, or the white part of the egg will be spoiled. Dripping, butter, or oil may be used. Break the eggs first into a cup, and slip each one into the pan as soon as it is hot. As the eggs fry raise their edges with a slicer, give them a slight shake, and ladle a little of the butter over the yolk. In two or three minutes they will be done; take them out with the slicer, pare off the rough edges, and drain from the greasy moisture. Serve on slices of bacon, or lay them in the middle of a dish with bacon or ham as a garnish. Probable cost, 1d. to 2d. each. Allow two eggs for one person.
A method rather than a formula, and the instructions still hold. Two details are worth translating: the fat and the timing.
- The hinge: a clean, hot panThe warning about a scrupulously clean pan is the whole point of the entry. Residue and burnt fat cling to the white and colour it grey-brown; wipe the pan out and start with fresh fat each time.
- Dripping, butter or oilDripping is listed first and beef or bacon dripping would have been the cheapest and most readily to hand, particularly if bacon has just come out of the pan. Butter alone browns fast at frying heat, so use clarified butter or half butter, half oil if you want the flavour without the specks.
- Basting rather than flippingLadling hot fat over the yolk sets the surface film without turning the egg, giving a yolk that is glossy on top and still liquid inside.
- Two or three minutesThat is right for a set white and a soft yolk over moderate heat. Higher heat gives a lacy, crisp-edged egg in about a minute; the recipe is aiming for the gentler, tender version.
- A slicerA thin, flat fish slice or turner. Any wide, flexible spatula does the job; a slotted one helps with the draining step.
- Paring the edgesTrimming the ragged, browned frill and draining off the fat was a matter of presentation for a served dish. Skip it if you like your edges crisp.
- Yield and costTwo eggs per person, as stated, at a probable cost of 1d. to 2d. each.
The dictionary was compiled in the 1870s and reissued for decades, aimed at households where a young cook or general servant might be working with little supervision -- hence the insistence on the clean pan, and on breaking the eggs into a cup before they go near the fat. The pairing with bacon or ham reflects the Victorian breakfast table, where cured pork and eggs cooked in its rendered fat were a familiar English morning plate.