CHAPTER V
EGGS, OMELETS, SOUFFLES, CREOLE AND RICE DISHES
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
It is almost unbelievable until you have tried it--to discover how surprisingly delicious just a drop or two of =Lea & Perrins' Sauce= can make a soft-boiled breakfast egg taste. And when you have tried it, you will want furthermore to fry and poach, scramble, omelet and soufflé all of the eggs that you cook with just a little of Lea & Perrins' Sauce added as an inimitable seasoning.
SOFT-BOILED EGG
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
There are several ways of cooking a soft-boiled egg--the best of which is not to boil it at all.
Use one pint of _boiling_ water for each egg to be cooked. Carefully lower the egg into the water, cover the saucepan and let stand on back of stove for eight or ten minutes. Do not increase or diminish heat. The white of the egg will be tender and the yolk firm all the way through, instead of the yolk being partly uncooked and the white very tough as is the case with a three-minute boiled egg.
Still another way is to put the egg on in cold water and remove as soon as the water boils.
Remove egg from shell to a hot egg cup and add a large piece of butter, a bit of salt and 2 or 3 drops of =Lea & Perrins' Sauce=. Blend well and serve at once.
FRIED EGGS
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
Eggs should never be fried, as this method of cooking, like boiling, toughens the albumen. However, if your family must have fried eggs, you will find the addition of a teaspoonful of =Lea & Perrins' Sauce= to the fat in which they are cooked a decided improvement to the eggs. Put the =Lea & Perrins' Sauce= on the table and serve with the eggs.
POACHED EGGS
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
Brush a heavy iron frying pan with oil and add boiling water to the depth of an inch or more. Add 1 tablespoonful of =Lea & Perrins' Sauce= and a pinch of salt. Break fresh eggs into a saucer and gently slip from saucer to water. Cook without allowing water to boil until the egg is firm. Remove with skimmer or quickly dip piece of toast under egg and lift out at once. Drain, then put on hot plate and serve. If one is fortunate enough to have an egg poacher, poaching eggs is an even simpler matter. Serve with _Lea & Perrins' Sauce_ on the table.
BAKED EGG
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
Grease an individual glass or fire-proof ramekin with oil or butter and break an egg into it. Sprinkle with salt and season with a few drops of =Lea & Perrins' Sauce=. Bake surrounded by water in a moderate oven for from five to ten minutes and serve with =Lea & Perrins' Sauce= at the table.
EGG IN NEST
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
Beat the white of an egg with a sprinkling of salt until light and frothy and pile on top of a piece of toast in an individual ovenware dish. Make a slight dent on the top of the egg white and carefully place the yolk in the center; add a drop of =Lea & Perrins' Sauce=. Place in a pan of water and cook in a moderate oven until yolk and white are set. Serve with =Lea & Perrins' Sauce= at the table.
SHIRRED EGG
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
Add 1 teaspoonful of =Lea & Perrins' Sauce= to 2 tablespoonfuls of finely chopped ham or bacon and 2 tablespoonfuls of bread crumbs. Add enough oil or butter to blend well, and press against the buttered sides and bottom of an individual baking dish. Break an egg into the dish and sprinkle top with buttered bread crumbs. Bake in a moderate oven, the dish being surrounded with hot water. Serve in the dish in which it was baked with =Lea & Perrins' Sauce= at the table. Mashed potato, spinach or tomato are often used to fill sides and bottom of ramekin.
SCRAMBLED EGGS
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
In Scrambling eggs, great care should be exercised in the cooking, the mixture being of a custard-like, creamy consistency when finished, and not dry and lumpy as some scrambled eggs become. The secret is in allowing the egg to cook as much in the heat of the pan as over the fire. Keep stirring the mixture constantly removing the pan from the fire if the eggs seem to get too dry in any one spot.
In scrambling eggs, beat the egg until light and add for each egg used, 2 tablespoonfuls of water and a few drops of =Lea & Perrins' Sauce=.
OMELETS AND SOUFFLES
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
An omelet may be made with or without separating the yolks and whites of the eggs, the one being called a plain--the other a fluffy omelet. A soufflé is a fluffy omelet made with a white sauce foundation and baked in the oven.
Cheese, tomatoes, chopped meats and vegetables are all attractive additions to these dishes, but, no matter what else may be added, =Lea & Perrins' Sauce= as a seasoning for omelets and soufflés cannot be equalled.
PLAIN OMELET
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
1 tablespoonful of =Lea & Perrins' Sauce=. 3 eggs. 3 tablespoonfuls of water. ¼ teaspoonful of salt. 1 tablespoonful of butter.
Beat the eggs without separating and add the water. Add the salt, the butter melted and the =Lea & Perrins' Sauce=.
Heat a heavy iron frying pan and grease well with oil, bacon fat or shortening. Pour in the egg and lower heat under pan. Tilt pan backward and forward and from side to side, allowing liquid to run under egg as it cooks. When cooked throughout, run spatulate or knife under omelet and roll it into a roll. Turn out on platter and serve with toast or any desired addition.
FLUFFY OMELET
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
1 tablespoonful of =Lea & Perrins' Sauce=. 4 eggs. 6 tablespoonfuls of water. ½ teaspoonful of salt. 1 tablespoonful of butter.
Separate the eggs; add the water, salt and melted butter to the yolks. Also add the =Lea & Perrins' Sauce=. Beat the whites until light and frothy and carefully fold them into the yolks.
Grease a heavy iron pan with bacon fat and pour in the omelet. Lower heat under pan and let cook slowly until brown on the bottom and almost dry. Place lid over pan and let dry on top, or place in oven for two minutes.
Cut the omelet lightly on the top and fold over without breaking under part. Turn out on platter and serve at once.
TOMATO OMELET
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
Spread sliced and fried tomatoes in between the omelet before folding and pour the tomato gravy, which cooked out of the tomatoes in frying, over the finished dish.
SPANISH OMELET
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
Just before folding omelet over, spread with the following mixture and pour what is left, over the whole omelet after it is placed on the platter: 2 finely chopped onions, 1 chopped green pepper, a few cut olives, and, if possible, a few mushrooms. Sauté these ingredients in 2 teaspoonfuls of oil, add 1 cupful of tomato juice and spread in between and pour over omelet.
CORN OMELET
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
Spread the omelet with cooked corn before folding.
VEGETABLE OMELET
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
Spread the omelet with any desired combination of, or individually cooked vegetable, as peas, carrots, asparagus, cauliflower, onions. This also helps to use up any vegetables of which too small a quantity has been left to permit using them alone. The vegetable used should be heated in a little butter or cooking oil to which a few drops of =Lea & Perrins' Sauce= have been added.
CHEESE OMELET
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
Sprinkle grated cheese over the omelet before and after folding. Or add ½ cupful of grated cheese to the omelet in the making.
BACON OMELET
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
Fry four or five slices of bacon until crisp. Use the bacon drippings in place of the butter in making and frying the omelet. Spread the bacon, cut into small pieces, on the omelet before folding. Garnish the plate with bacon. Serve at once.
HAM OMELET
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
Chop previously fried ham very fine and reheat in some fat to which =Lea & Perrins' Sauce= has been added. Spread on omelet.
SARDINE OMELET
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
Sauté some sardines in a little cooking oil to which =Lea & Perrins' Sauce= has been added and spread on omelet before folding.
KIDNEY OR CHICKEN LIVER OMELET
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
Reheat previously cooked chicken livers or kidneys in a little cooking oil to which =Lea & Perrins' Sauce= has been added and spread on omelet before folding. Pour a little kidney or liver gravy over omelet.
PLAIN SOUFFLÉ
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
1 tablespoonful of Lea & Perrins' Sauce. 2 tablespoonfuls of shortening. 2 tablespoonfuls of flour. ½ cupful of milk or water. 3 eggs.
Melt the shortening, stir in the flour until smooth, remove from the fire and slowly stir in the liquid. Add the salt and cook for three or four minutes or until a thick, smooth sauce is made. Beat the yolks of the eggs until creamy and add to the sauce. Remove from the fire and add the stiffly-beaten whites of the eggs. Add the =Lea & Perrins' Sauce=. Pour into a buttered baking dish, place dish in a pan of hot water and bake in a slow oven for twenty or twenty-five minutes. Serve at once.
The dish in which a soufflé is baked should be broad and wide, rather than high and narrow, to prevent the soufflé from rising too high in the center and then falling. It is a big help to pin a buttered paper band around a soufflé dish before baking, so that it will rise easily without overflowing.
CHEESE SOUFFLÉ
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
For this, use tomato juice in place of the milk or water in the plain Soufflé recipe and add 1 cupful of grated cheese just before folding in the egg whites. Pour into a buttered baking dish and bake as usual.
MUSHROOM SOUFFLE
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
Use 1 cupful of mushroom gravy in making the sauce for the Basic Soufflé and add 1 cupful of finely chopped mushrooms before folding in the egg whites.
OLIVE AND PEPPER SOUFFLE
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
Add ¼ cupful of finely chopped olives and the same amount of finely chopped peppers to the Plain Soufflé before the egg whites are added. Proceed and bake as before.
CHICKEN SOUFFLE
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
Increase the amount of liquid in the Plain Soufflé recipe to 1 cupful and add 2 cupfuls of very finely ground chicken meat to sauce before folding in egg whites. Chicken stock may be used as liquid.
OYSTER SOUFFLE
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
Substitute oyster liquor for water in making the Plain Soufflé recipe and add ½ cupful of finely chopped panned oysters to the Soufflé before folding in the egg whites.
HAM SOUFFLE
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
Increase the liquid used in the Plain Soufflé recipe to 1 cupful and add before folding in the egg white 1 cupful of very finely chopped ham.
RICE AND CREOLE DISHES
CREOLE RICE
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
2 tablespoonfuls of =Lea & Perrins' Sauce=. 2 green peppers. 1 onion. ½ cupful of ham. 4 tablespoonfuls of oil. 1 cupful of rice. 3 cupfuls of tomato juice. 4 tomatoes.
Melt the shortening, and sauté in this oil the green peppers finely chopped, the sliced onion, and the ham, finely ground. Put the rice in a sieve and dip into rapidly boiling water for five minutes. Add with the tomato juice to the other ingredients. Cook directly over the fire for twenty minutes, add the whole tomatoes cut into slices and finish the cooking in the top of a double boiler. Add the _Lea & Perrins' Sauce_. When the rice is puffed and flaky the dish is ready to serve.
SCALLOPED RICE AND CHEESE
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
1 tablespoonful of =Lea & Perrins' Sauce=. 2 cupfuls of cooked rice. 1 tablespoonful of oil. 1 tablespoonful of flour. 1 cupful of finely grated cheese. 1 cupful of rice water. Bread crumbs.
Stir the flour into the oil until a smooth paste is formed. Add the rice water slowly, stirring constantly. Add the =Lea & Perrins' Sauce= and the grated cheese. Arrange the cooked rice in a well-greased baking dish and pour the cheese sauce over it. Sprinkle the top with bread crumbs and brown in the oven. Serve hot.
MACARONI AND CHEESE
_Improved with Lea & Perrins' Sauce_
This dish is made in the same way as the rice and cheese dish, filling the casserole with macaroni instead of rice.