Eggs Huntington
4 "hard-boiled" eggs 1 tablespoon butter 1 1/2 tablespoons flour 1/3 cup white stock 3/4 cup buttered cracker crumbs 1/3 cup milk 1/2 teaspoon salt Few grains cayenne Grated cheese Make a sauce of the butter, flour, stock, and milk; add eggs finely chopped and salt and cayenne. Fill buttered ramequin dishes with mixture, sprinkle with grated cheese, cover with cracker crumbs, and bake in a moderate oven until crumbs are brown.
A creamed-egg gratin baked in individual dishes — essentially a thick béchamel enriched with stock, bound with chopped hard-cooked egg, and browned under cheese and crumbs. Nothing here is difficult; the whole thing turns on the sauce being thick enough to hold.
- Sauce consistency is the hingeOne tablespoon butter and 1½ tablespoons flour to ⅔ cup total liquid (⅓ stock, ⅓ milk) gives a sauce somewhat thicker than a standard medium white sauce, and the chopped egg loosens it further. Cook the roux a minute before adding the liquid.
- White stockA pale, unbrowned stock, typically from veal or chicken bones. Any light chicken stock works; use a low-sodium one, since the recipe already carries ½ teaspoon salt for a small quantity.
- Ramequin dishesIndividual ramekins. The mixture comes to roughly 1½ cups, enough for three or four half-cup dishes (more if they are smaller); it serves four as a light supper or first course.
- Moderate ovenConventionally read as about 350°F, though the book gives no temperature. The filling is already cooked, so you are only heating through and browning the top — 15 to 20 minutes. If the crumbs colour before the centre is hot, finish under the broiler instead.
- Buttered cracker crumbsCrushed plain crackers tossed with melted butter; period buttered-crumb formulas use rather more butter than a tablespoon to ¾ cup. Unsalted crackers are closer in effect than salted modern ones.
- Grated cheeseThe cheese is unspecified; a dry grating cheese such as Parmesan or an aged Cheddar suits. Two to three tablespoons is enough; more will make the top greasy under the crumb layer.
- Cayenne"Few grains" means a pinch, perhaps ⅛ teaspoon. It is there for warmth against the bland egg and cream, not for detectable heat.
- Hard-cooked eggsThe quotation marks around "hard-boiled" likely reflect the period's objection to actually boiling eggs, which greens the yolk. Cook them gently at a bare simmer and cool them promptly.