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Egg Cocotte, Egyptienne
Thoroughly drain a half pint sweet corn, place in a small saucepan with half ounce butter, one and a half gills cream, two saltspoons salt, half saltspoon cayenne pepper and half saltspoon grated nutmeg; lightly mix and let boil for ten minutes, remove, then evenly divide in six egg-cocotte dishes. Carefully crack two fresh eggs into each dish, season equally with half teaspoon salt and two saltspoons white pepper, evenly sprinkle a tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese over them, then set in oven to bake for five minutes. Remove and serve.
A straightforward baked-egg dish whose only real problems are the vague oven and the five-minute bake. Everything else converts cleanly.
- Gills and saltspoonsA gill is half a cup, so one and a half gills of cream is 6 fl oz (3/4 cup). A saltspoon is a quarter teaspoon: two saltspoons of salt is 1/2 tsp, half a saltspoon of cayenne or nutmeg is a scant 1/8 tsp.
- Half pint of cornMeasured by volume after draining, this is about 1 cup — roughly the drained yield of a small can of sweet corn, or the kernels from one to two ears. Canned corn is the likely intent, though drained fresh-cooked kernels would fit the instruction just as well.
- The ovenNo temperature is given; the book never specifies one. Around 375F works; hotter and the whites toughen at the edges before the centres set.
- Five minutes is not enoughTwelve eggs in six cold ceramic dishes will not set in five minutes at any sane temperature. Reckon on 10-14 minutes for whites just firm and yolks still soft, and pull them a shade early — the dishes carry on cooking after they leave the oven.
- Use a water bathCocottes were normally set in a roasting pan of hot water reaching halfway up their sides. Filippini omits it here, but it is the difference between custardy eggs and rubbery ones, especially with the extra time above.
- Reduce the corn, don't just boil itThe ten-minute boil probably serves to thicken the cream so the corn base does not go watery under the eggs. Let it reduce until it mounds on a spoon; if it is loose, the eggs will float and weep.
- Seasoning the eggsHalf a teaspoon of salt and two saltspoons (1/2 tsp) of white pepper are the totals for all six dishes, not for each. Scatter it, or the first cocotte will be inedible.
- YieldSix dishes of two eggs each — a substantial first course for six, or lunch for three or four with bread.
Alexander Filippini spent decades in the kitchens of Delmonico's in New York, and The International Cook Book (1906) gathers recipes from many national traditions, which is why an American canned-corn dish arrives wearing a French name. Cocotte is simply the small individual ovenproof dish, and eggs baked in one — oeufs en cocotte — were a standard breakfast and light-luncheon item in restaurant kitchens of the period. The label "Egyptienne" is the loose part: in classical French garnish naming it generally points to rice, onion or lentils rather than sweet corn, and such national tags often functioned as menu decoration more than as strict classification. What the recipe does document is that canned sweet corn had reached fine-dining kitchens by the turn of the century, folded into cream and Parmesan and served under a French title without apology.