Poached Eggs with Spinach

This is one of Ranhofer's shorthand entries: the whole dish is assembled from cross-references, so the cook is expected to know the house method for poaching and the standing spinach and chicory garnishes. The points below fill in what the numbers stood for.

• What the recipe actually asks forPoach the eggs by the book's own method (cross-referenced to No. 2931), then set them on a bed of cooked, well-drained greens. Nothing else is specified; the modern cook's usual poaching routine — barely simmering water, a set white and soft yolk — will serve.
• The hinge: drain the greens hardSpinach holds an enormous amount of water, and a wet bed will thin out under the eggs and make the plate soupy. Press the cooked spinach in a sieve or twist it in a towel, then reheat it in butter until it no longer weeps.
• Spinach garnishing"Spinach garnishing" -- In a book of this kind the term generally means spinach blanched, squeezed and chopped or puréed, then finished with butter and sometimes cream or béchamel — not raw leaves and not plain boiled spinach. Quantities are not given in the original, so judge by eye: a generous bed for each egg.
• "Chicory" hereRanhofer is translating French chicorée, meaning the curly-leaved chicory or endive that is braised as a vegetable, not the roasted root sold as a coffee additive and not the small Belgian witloof chicons. Escarole or frisée, blanched and then braised in butter and a little stock, is the closest supermarket equivalent.
• The "gravy" of No. 2931The cross-referenced recipe poaches the eggs and serves them with gravy; that sauce is not called for here — the greens and butter carry the dish — though a spoonful of concentrated brown stock around the base would not be out of keeping.
• Poaching aheadFor more than two or three eggs, poach them in advance, slip them into cold water, trim the ragged white, and reheat for about 30 seconds in hot salted water before plating.
• YieldFigure two eggs per person as a luncheon or supper dish, one as a first course. No quantities appear in the original because the entry is a template, not a portioned recipe.