Elisabeth Ayrton

Mirrored Eggs

Preparation info

  • Difficulty

    Easy

Appears in

The Cookery of England

The Cookery of England

By Elisabeth Ayrton

Published 1975

Mirrored Eggs are supposed to have been cooked by the great Soyer for a dawn breakfast in a London ballroom on his newly invented portable stove. It seemed like a miracle to the guests, hungry from dancing, to see the hot eggs being cooked in those elegant surroundings with no coal, smoke or dirt. Hundreds were cooked in large flat copper pans by the great chef and his assistant, lifted two at a time with a spatula on to small hot plates and handed direct to the guests to eat with crisp rashers of bacon and fresh rolls.

Ingredients

  • 1 oz. (30 g.) butter
  • 1 or 2 eggs per person
  • pepper and salt

Method

In a flat fireproof dish, earthenware or enamel, melt the butter over a very low heat. Break in 1 or 2 eggs per person. Sprinkle a little pepper and salt on each egg and spoon a little of the melted butter over the yolks. Place the dishes on low heat for 1½ minutes, then finish under the hot grill or on the top shelf of the oven for another 2 minutes or until the whites are just set. They should form a thin film over the yolk which looks like a mirror. The eggs should not stick to the dish, or show any sign of browning or crisping.

Alternatively, heat 2 oz. butter for 6 eggs in a heavy frying pan, break the eggs into it, sprinkle with pepper and salt and spoon the butter over the yolks till they film over. Do not let the butter colour or get too hot.

©1975 The Estate of Elizabeth Ayrton

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