No. 2949

Soft Eggs a la Chipolata

Œufs Mollets a la Chipolata

As for poached eggs these must be of the freshest so as to have them well shaped, all of the same size, while cooking. Partly fresh eggs form into cavities when taken from their shells, giving them an ungainly appearance. Put the eggs into a strainer and plunge this into boiling water; cover the vessel and allow the liquid to boil steadily for five minutes, should the eggs be large; leave them for thirty seconds in their water off the fire; then remove them from the strainer, and plunge into cold water for twelve to fifteen minutes before breaking off their shells; remove these, then return them to the cold water. Just when ready to serve heat them in salted water that must not boil. drain and dress them on hollow crusts (No. 52) and garnish around with a Chipolata garnishing (No. 657).

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For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer's œufs mollets are soft-boiled eggs peeled whole, held in cold water, then warmed through and dressed on fried bread cases with a chipolata garnish. The whole dish hinges on two things you have to look up in other parts of the book: crusts No. 52 and garnish No. 657.

What a chipolata garnish isNo. 657 is Ranhofer's chipolata garnishing, his version of the classic French garniture chipolata: small chipolata sausages, glazed button onions, glazed carrots, braised chestnuts and blanched salt pork lardons, bound with a little demi-glace or Madeira sauce. Nothing in it is spicy — modern British chipolatas are simply thin pork sausages, which is the reasonable substitution.
Hollow crustsNo. 52 is Ranhofer's hollow crust, i.e. a bread croustade: a round of bread hollowed out and crisped. Consult the numbered recipe for the thickness and method. One per egg, sized so the egg sits in the depression without wobbling.
Five minutes is for very large eggsFive minutes is Ranhofer's time for large eggs -- With eggs lowered into already-boiling water, five minutes plus the thirty-second rest off the fire gives a firmly set white and a flowing yolk. For fridge-cold eggs add about thirty seconds. Much past six minutes and the yolk starts to fudge, which defeats the dish.
The cold-water soak is the peeling stepTwelve to fifteen minutes in cold water is not just cooling — it shrinks the egg slightly from the shell membrane and firms the white enough to survive peeling. Peel under a running tap or in a bowl of water, starting at the wide end where the air cell is, and return each peeled egg to cold water at once so it does not dry out or tear.
Freshness cuts both waysRanhofer wants the freshest eggs for shape, and he is right that older whites spread and collapse. But very fresh eggs are notoriously hard to peel. Eggs about a week old are the practical compromise for a mollet you intend to shell whole.
Reheating water must not boilThis is the instruction that matters. Hold the salted water at roughly 150-160F (65-70C), no bubbles at all; two to three minutes is enough to warm the eggs through. A rolling boil will set the yolk and split the naked whites.
Assembly and timingEverything should be ready before the eggs go back in the water: crusts hot and crisp, garnish hot and glossy in its sauce. Drain each egg on a cloth, not paper, so it does not stick, set it in its crust and spoon the chipolata around the base rather than over the egg.
YieldThe original gives none. Reckon on one egg and one croustade per person as a first course, two for a lunch dish, and about a cup of finished garnish for every four eggs.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's record of thirty-odd years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and it is organised as a professional reference: recipes cross-reference each other by number, as this one does twice, on the assumption that the reader has the stockpots, croustades and garnishes of a working brigade already to hand. The garnish itself is older than the book and belongs to the standard French repertoire later codified by Escoffier; the name is generally traced to the Italian cipollata, an onion dish, though by the nineteenth century the glazed onions had become only one element among sausages, chestnuts, carrots and lardons. Serving a peeled soft egg on a fried bread case with a rich brown garnish is very much of its moment — a way of turning the cheapest thing in the larder into a plated course, and a reminder that the mollet, neither poached nor hard-boiled, was treated in these kitchens as a distinct preparation with its own techniques.