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Poached Eggs with Mint
Prepare twelve poached eggs on toast. Sprinkle over them a teaspoon very finely chopped fresh mint leaves. Place one ounce butter in a frying pan and toss on fire until a nice light brown, then pour in a tablespoon vinegar, toss a little, pour over eggs and serve.
A brief, workable dish whose only difficulty is timing: the browned butter and vinegar must hit the eggs while both are hot.
- YieldTwelve eggs; the recipe does not say how many rounds of toast. One ounce of butter and a tablespoon of vinegar make a thin dressing spread across a full dozen.
- PoachingBarely trembling water with a splash of vinegar in it, three to four minutes for a set white and liquid yolk. Poach in batches of three or four and hold them in warm water, not on the toast, or the bread turns to paste.
- An ounce of butterTwo tablespoons. Browned butter goes from hazelnut to burnt quickly; "toss on fire" means keep it moving over the heat.
- The vinegarA tablespoon into hot butter will spit and reduce almost at once. Use a plain white wine or cider vinegar; malt or balsamic will overwhelm the mint. "Toss a little" is a few seconds, just enough to bring the two together.
- MintChop it at the last minute and scatter it on the eggs before the hot butter goes over, so the fat wilts and releases it. The recipe specifies only "fresh mint"; spearmint is the likeliest intention, peppermint being sharper.
- SeasoningThe original gives none. Salt and pepper on the eggs before dressing them, since neither the butter nor the vinegar carries salt.
- ServingDress and serve immediately. Browned butter congeals and the vinegar's edge dulls within a minute or two on the plate.
Butter browned and sharpened with vinegar is one of the oldest French sauce ideas still in daily use — the beurre noir poured over skate, brains or eggs — and pairing it with a green herb rather than the usual capers is what marks this version out. Mint with eggs reads as unusual to English and American cooks but is at home around the eastern Mediterranean and in the Middle East, where mint is a everyday cooking herb rather than a sauce for lamb; in that region yogurt, eggs and mint are a standard trio.