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Stuffed Eggs with Fines Herbes
Cut off a small piece at both ends of twelve freshly prepared hard-boiled eggs, then cut them in two crosswise, scoop out the yolks and place them in a mortar with one-third teaspoon each chopped parsley and chives, one branch chopped chervil, six leaves chopped tarragon, one half ounce butter, two tablespoons thick cream, half teaspoon salt, two saltspoons pepper and half teaspoon French mustard, then thoroughly pound until smooth. Fill in cavities of whites of egg with the force, arrange eggs on a lightly buttered baking dish, sprinkle a little bread crumbs over them, place a little bit of butter on top of each, then set in oven for five minutes, remove and serve.
A simple deviled-egg preparation, served warm rather than chilled, which is what makes it worth attention. The only real technical demands are the herb measurements and the very short time in the oven.
- SaltspoonsA saltspoon is a quarter teaspoon, so two saltspoons is half a teaspoon of pepper for twelve yolks. That is assertive but not wrong for a warm egg filling; start with half that amount if you are using freshly ground black pepper, which is sharper than the pre-ground pepper of the period.
- Fines herbesThe four herbs named here — parsley, chives, chervil, tarragon — are the classic French quartet, and the tarragon is the one that carries the dish. Chervil is the hardest to find; if you have to leave it out, add a little more parsley rather than substituting another anise-flavored herb and doubling up on the tarragon.
- Ambiguous herb amounts"One branch chopped chervil" and "six leaves chopped tarragon" are not convertible with any precision. Read them as roughly a teaspoon of chopped chervil and half a teaspoon of chopped tarragon, and adjust by taste.
- French mustardIn an American cookbook of this period the term means a smooth Dijon-style prepared mustard rather than the bright yellow American kind. Dijon is the nearest modern equivalent.
- Trimming the endsCutting a slice off each end before halving crosswise gives each half a flat base, so it stands upright in the dish and can be filled generously. The recipe specifies crosswise, not lengthwise.
- The mortarA mortar and pestle gives a smoother paste than a fork, and smoothness is what is wanted here. A small food processor does the same job in seconds; scrape down once so the herbs distribute evenly.
- Oven temperature and timeNo temperature is given. Five minutes at 400–425F is enough to heat the filling through and take the raw edge off the crumbs. This is a warming, not a baking — longer and the whites turn tough and rubbery.
- YieldTwelve eggs cut crosswise give twenty-four filled halves, enough for eight to twelve people as a first course or a larger number as part of a buffet.
Fines herbes is a fixed French formula rather than a loose handful of greenery: parsley, chives, chervil and tarragon, all fresh, all finely chopped, and traditionally added late so their volatility survives. Its appearance in a book organized as "The World's Kitchen" reflects how thoroughly French professional technique dominated American hotel and restaurant cooking in the early twentieth century — the seasoning vocabulary was French even when the dish was not. Deviled eggs were also served warm, browned under crumbs and butter, not only cold as on the buffet tables familiar now.