Bacon and Eggs
Fry lean strips of bacon until crisp, then take them out and lay on a platter; break the eggs separately, gently slide them into the bacon fat, and when they have set, turn the hot lard over them until they are done.
R
Two ingredients and one technique, which makes the technique the whole recipe: the eggs are basted, not flipped, in the fat the bacon left behind.
- The hinge: basting, not flippingSpoon the hot fat over the whites and yolks repeatedly rather than turning the eggs. The film of hot fat sets the top of the white while the yolk stays liquid, which is what "until they are done" means here. Tilt the pan and work steadily for 30 to 60 seconds.
- "Hot lard" is the bacon fatThe recipe uses lard loosely for rendered pork fat generally. Nothing extra is added; it is the fat that came out of the bacon. If the bacon renders less than about a tablespoon, add a little butter or lard to have enough to spoon.
- Bacon then and now"Lean strips" would often have meant drier, thicker-cut cured side pork, though brine-cured and commercially sliced bacon were also common by this date. Modern supermarket bacon generally carries added water, so start it in a cold pan over medium heat and let the water cook off before it browns, or it will steam rather than crisp.
- Heat controlBacon fat left at frying heat will blister and toughen egg whites and brown the edges to lace. Pull the pan off the burner for a moment after removing the bacon, then return it to medium-low before the eggs go in.
- Why break them separatelyThe recipe does not say into what, but breaking each egg on its own -- a cup is the usual choice -- lets a bad one be discarded and lets the eggs go in one at a time without breaking the yolks. It also keeps the whites from merging into a single sheet.
- DonenessBasted eggs are done when the white is opaque all the way to the yolk and the yolk has clouded over but still moves. If the yolk films white and firms up, it has gone past the point the recipe intends.
- YieldFigure two eggs and two or three slices of bacon per person, and cook no more than four eggs at once in a 10-inch pan so there is room to slide the spoon under the fat.
- The stray "R"The single letter at the end is not part of the instructions; what it marked in the original volume -- a contributor's initial, a cross-reference, a typesetting mark -- is not clear.
Butterick issued its cook book in the early 1910s as part of a publishing operation better known for dress patterns and The Delineator, and the household books were aimed at the same readership: women running a kitchen without a professional cook. That explains why something as elementary as bacon and eggs earns an entry at all. The pairing was often said to be a standard American and British breakfast by then, built on the fact that cured side pork kept without refrigeration and rendered enough fat to cook whatever came next, so nothing was wasted. The basting method described here sets the egg by fat and radiant heat rather than by turning it, and it survives in diner shorthand as a call of its own: "basted."