No. 2909

Eggs on a Dish

Œufs sur le Plat

There is very little difference between eggs on a dish or miroir eggs, for they are both cooked the same way, the only difference being that the first ones are served on the same dish they are cooked in, while the miroir eggs are basted with boiling butter while cooking and cut in rounds as soon as done with a two and a half inch pastry cutter; take them up with a palette and serve on a plate or dish.

To Prepare Eggs on a Dish.—These eggs should be cooked in china egg dishes (Fig. 567); to do them properly first butter the dish with fresh or unsalted butter, break the eggs into the dish, and salt over the whites but not the yolks so as not to discolor them; set the dish on a thick, cold baking sheet and push it at once into the oven so that they receive more heat from the top than bottom; as soon as the yolks are glossy remove the dish from the oven and, if necessary, finish cooking on top, being careful not to have the whites done too much. Eggs cooked in this way are generally served on the same dish, with or without a garnishing.

← No. 2908 Truffle Omelet Eggs & Omelets No. 2910 Eggs on a Dish, Bercy →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is the French method for shirred eggs, and the whole technique rests on controlling heat from above rather than below. Ranhofer gives no temperature or time, so both are worth pinning down.

Oven heatRanhofer gives neither temperature nor time. A fairly hot oven, in the region of 375-425F, suits the method: the whites set before the yolks tighten, whereas at lower heat the eggs sit long enough for the bottoms to toughen. Timing depends on the dish and the oven, so judge by eye rather than by the clock.
The cold baking sheetThis is the hinge of the recipe. A thick sheet, cold when it goes in, buffers the dish from the oven floor so the heat arrives mostly from above. Skip it and the underside sets into a rubbery skin before the whites are done.
The dish itselfThe text says only "china egg dishes (Fig. 567)"; such dishes were shallow, ovenproof and flat-bottomed, often with ears for handling. A small cast-iron or enamelled skillet works, though it holds more bottom heat than porcelain and needs the cold sheet even more.
Salting the whites onlySalt drawn onto a yolk leaves pale speckles where it dissolves. Season the whites, and salt the yolks at the table if wanted.
Judging doneness"Glossy" yolks means still liquid under a filmed surface, with whites just opaque. Pull the dish while the whites still look slightly underdone at the centre; residual heat in the china finishes them.
Finishing on topThe stovetop finish means the barest heat, and only if the whites have not set. A salamander or a few seconds under a broiler does the same job without cooking the base further.
Miroir eggsThe variant asks you to spoon boiling butter over the eggs as they cook, then trim each to a 2 1/2-inch round with a pastry cutter and lift it with a palette knife, or offset spatula. Ranhofer does not say why they are trimmed; he directs only that they be served on a plate or dish.
YieldRanhofer gives no quantity; two eggs per individual dish, one dish per person, is the usual serving. Soft yolks are the point of the dish, so it is not one to serve to anyone who should avoid undercooked egg.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of his years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its egg chapter draws heavily on French restaurant practice presented for an American readership. Oeufs sur le plat means simply "eggs on the dish" -- the vessel is part of the name, since the eggs are cooked and served in the same porcelain. The reference to a plate (Fig. 567 in the book's illustrations) reflects how far nineteenth-century kitchens depended on dedicated shapes of copper and china for particular preparations. The miroir name is usually explained by the mirror-like sheen the basted butter leaves on the yolk. The recipe that follows this one -- Bercy -- is one of a run of variations on the same base, garnished with sauce, ham, truffle or tomato, which is how a restaurant kitchen of the period generated variety from a single technique.