No. 2513

Garnishing of Decorated Quartered Eggs

Garniture d'Œufs Durs en Quartiers Decores

Choose some hard-boiled eggs, all of uniform size; cut them across the rounded ends and then lengthwise in four even-sized quarters; dress them so that the yolks face outward. The whites may be decorated with small fanciful cuts of very black truffles, red tongue and pistachios, by dipping them into half-set jelly, and applying them tastefully on the very cold eggs (Fig. 493).

← No. 2512 Garnishing of Eggs, Polish Style Garnishings for Cold Dishes No. 2514 Hard-Boiled Eggs Stuffed with Salpicon →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is a garde-manger instruction rather than a dish: quartered hard eggs dressed as an edging for cold platters. Almost all of the difficulty lies in temperature control.

The hinge: everything must be coldThe jelly used as glue sets quickly only if the egg whites are thoroughly chilled, as the recipe insists. Warm eggs melt the aspic and the cutouts slide off. Chill the eggs, the tray and the tweezers, and work in small batches.
"Half-set jelly"A clear meat or poultry aspic cooled to the consistency of raw egg white — thick enough to cling, still fluid enough to dip. Powdered gelatine in cold consommé can give a comparable set; test a spoonful on a cold plate and adjust the strength, holding the jelly over tepid water and re-warming briefly as it stiffens.
Cutting the eggsTrim off the rounded ends first, as directed — the text wants four even-sized quarters with clean edges. A thin blade wiped between cuts, or a length of wet thread, keeps the yolk from smearing across the white.
Red tongueCured, brine-pink beef tongue, sold cooked at delicatessens. Its purpose here is colour against black truffle and green pistachio. Thin slices of cooked ham or bresaola read the same on the plate.
TrufflesRanhofer specifies very black truffle, sliced thin and stamped with tiny cutters. Preserved truffle peelings in jars are the practical substitute; choose the darkest available.
PistachiosBlanched and skinned, so the green shows. Pour boiling water over shelled nuts, stand a minute, and rub the skins off; slice or split them lengthwise for petals and stems.
Quantities and yieldNone are given because this is trim, not a course. One egg yields four quarters once the ends are trimmed; how many are needed depends on the platter being edged, so allow a few spares for broken whites.
Holding and servingOnce decorated, the pieces keep several hours covered in the refrigerator; a second light coat of the same jelly seals the cutouts and stops the whites drying. They are meant to be eaten along with the cold meat or fish they surround.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) was Charles Ranhofer's summary of some thirty years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its long sections of garnishes reflect a kitchen organised around the cold buffet, where the garde-manger built platters that had to look composed for an hour before anyone ate. Decorating egg whites with stamped truffle, tongue and pistachio fixed under aspic is the same technique used for chaud-froid work on whole hams and galantines, scaled down to a two-inch surface, and the three ingredients recur throughout the period's cold cookery. The numbered, cross-referenced entries he Polish style and eggs stuffed with salpicon — show the book working as a professional reference rather than a domestic cookbook: a cook was expected to know how to boil an egg and to need only the design.