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Truffles, with Eggs
Take a large truffle, clean and pare it, cut it into small pieces, and simmer these in a little butter over a gentle fire for five or six minutes. Drain, and put them into a clean stewpan with two ounces of fresh butter, half a dozen fresh eggs, two table-spoonfuls of thick cream, and a little pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg. Stir this mixture with a wooden spoon over a gentle fire until it begins to thicken, then draw it to the side, and beat it until the eggs set without being at all hard. Put the preparation on a hot dish, and garnish with sippets. Time, altogether, ten or fifteen minutes.
A late-Victorian scrambled egg enriched with truffle — closer to French oeufs brouillés than to anything hurried. The whole method turns on very low heat and constant stirring.
- The hinge: gentle heat throughoutThe eggs must be moved constantly over the lowest possible flame and pulled off before they look done, since they carry on setting in the pan. "Set without being at all hard" means soft, glossy curds that just hold their shape on the spoon.
- Truffle quantityThe recipe says only "a large truffle" and gives no weight; a large fresh truffle might run to 2 oz or more. Modern truffles are sold by the gram; 20-30 g for six eggs is generous.
- Fresh truffle onlyNote that the first butter is drained off and the truffles go into a clean pan with fresh butter, so the pre-cooking softens and seasons the truffle rather than flavouring the cooking fat. Preserved or jarred truffle has already lost much of its aroma, and truffle oil, which is usually synthetic, should not be simmered at all.
- StewpanA stewpan here is simply a straight-sided saucepan. Use a heavy-based one, or work in a bowl over barely simmering water if your hob runs hot.
- SippetsSmall triangles or fingers of bread fried in butter or toasted, arranged round the edge of the dish. A common garnish of the period for soft, spoonable dishes.
- Butter and creamTwo ounces of butter is about 57 g, which is a lot for six eggs but is what gives the dish its texture; the cream goes in at the start with the eggs and butter, enriching the mixture and slowing the set. Modern double or heavy cream is the right substitute for "thick cream".
- YieldSix eggs serves three as a light main course, or four to six as a first course.
The technique is French — slow-stirred oeufs brouill\ English household of the 1870s and 1880s a truffle was a flavouring bought in small quantity, not a centrepiece. English cookery books of the period absorbed a great deal of French method, often with the vocabulary intact. Black truffles reached British kitchens chiefly from Périgord and Provence, tinned or fresh in season, and the old habit of storing truffles in a closed jar with eggs still in their shells reflects the readiness with which eggs and dairy fat take up the aroma.