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Tuscany Eggs
Arrange six fried eggs in a circle, placing a square piece of cooked ham between each one; form a second circle above with halved mutton kidneys stewed in butter and Madeira sauce.
This is a plating formula rather than a set of instructions, written for a brigade that already had fried eggs, cooked ham and a Madeira sauce on hand. The work is in the kidneys and the sauce; the assembly takes a minute.
- The hinge: do not overcook the kidneysLamb kidneys, halved and stewed in butter, need about three to four minutes total over medium heat. Held longer they turn grainy and metallic, which is the usual reason people think they dislike kidneys.
- Trimming kidneysHalve lengthwise and cut out the pale fatty core and any visible tubes with the tip of a knife. Modern kidneys come already skinned; if a membrane remains, peel it away or it will contract and curl the halves.
- "Mutton kidneys"Mutton meant mature sheep, and its kidneys were larger and stronger-flavoured than what butchers now sell as lamb kidneys. The recipe gives no number; six lamb kidneys, halved, give twelve pieces for the upper circle.
- Madeira sauceIn period restaurant kitchens this generally meant a reduced brown sauce, essentially demi-glace, finished with Madeira. A good beef or veal stock reduced to a light glaze and loosened with butter and a couple of tablespoons of Madeira stands in; add the wine at the end so it keeps its aroma.
- Deglaze the kidney panLift the kidneys out while they are still pink at the centre, pour a splash of Madeira into the butter, scrape up the fond, then add the sauce and return the kidneys just to warm through.
- The hamCooked ham cut into squares roughly the size of an egg white, about 2 inches, and warmed briefly in butter. Sliced about a quarter inch thick they hold their shape between the eggs; deli-thin slices collapse.
- Frying the eggsFry in clarified butter and trim the ragged edges of the white with a cutter or knife so the six eggs sit as an even ring. Set whites, soft yolks, and assemble immediately — this dish does not wait.
- Yield and serviceSix eggs serve three as a lunch course, or six as part of a larger meal. Build it on a warmed round platter and pass any remaining sauce separately rather than flooding the eggs.
Nineteenth-century restaurant French assigned place names to garnishes almost as shorthand, and "à la toscane" is often said to have signalled ham with something rich alongside hough as here kids in Madeira — though the convention was a variable one, and the name pointed to no particular Tuscan method of cooking. Oscar Tschirky's book, published in 1896 while he was maître d'hôtel at the Waldorf, is full of entries like this one: not recipes so much as reminders of how a known dish was to be dressed and sent out, since the cooks reading them already knew how to make Madeira sauce and fry an egg. Kidneys and eggs together belonged to the same hotel repertoire that gave us devilled kidneys and the mixed grill, when organ meats were standard breakfast and luncheon fare in grand dining rooms rather than a specialty item, and the composed ring of eggs on a platter reflects a period taste for symmetry on the plate that survives now mostly in banquet cookery.