Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 2 persons
- four elements
- one end of the egg
Directions
1659. INGREDIENTS.--4 eggs, 1/4 lb. of lard, butter or clarified dripping.
_Mode_.--Place a delicately-clean frying-pan over a gentle fire; put in the fat, and allow it to come to the boiling-point. Break the eggs into cups, slip them into the boiling fat, and let them remain until the whites are delicately set; and, whilst they are frying, ladle a little of the fat over them. Take them up with a slice, drain them for a minute from their greasy moisture, trim them neatly, and serve on slices of fried bacon or ham; or the eggs may be placed in the middle of the dish, with the bacon put round as a garnish.
_Time_.--2 to 3 minutes. Average cost, 1d. each; 2d. when scarce.
_Sufficient_ for 2 persons. _Seasonable_ at any time.
VENERATION FOR EGGS.--Many of the most learned philosophers held eggs in a kind of respect, approaching to veneration, because they saw in them the emblem of the world and the four elements. The shell, they said, represented the earth; the white, water; the yolk, fire; and air was found under the shell at one end of the egg.