RECIPES FROM THE GHOST BOOK: Eggs
Poor little boy! He’s dropped his bag of eggs and they have broken. Now he cries with his little dog looking on. Doggie may be in for a treat after all. Do dogs like raw eggs? I only know about cats, who usually don’t.
What a different time that was! From the boy’s costume to the eggs in a bag. Can you imagine buying eggs by the piece and then taking them home in a brown paper bag? If we still did this, there would be a lot less egg cartons, but likely a lot more broken eggs.
The “Egg” category of my grandmother’s cook book boasts six recipes: Eggs in a Nest, Egg Shortcake, Savory Omelet, Potato Egg Toast, “Eggs, Nellie Kable,” and “Eggs in Potatoe Nests – Boston Apr ’12.”
Eggs in a Nest, a short newspaper clipping, seems like a cross between Toad in a Hole and meringue. Apparently this is served with ham, broiled pineapple or tomato slices, and fried apple for a popular Easter breakfast.
Egg Shortcake, another newspaper clipping, turns out to be creamed hardboiled egg and green peas on a biscuit. I prefer my shortcake to be cake.
Savory Omelet was cut from a magazine and includes a black and white picture. A complicated recipe for a relatively simple dish.
Potato Egg Toast is another variation on hard boiled eggs in sauce over bread. The twist here is that the potatoes are whisked into the sauce. Sounds filling.
“Eggs, Nellie Kable” is a handwritten family recipe from my grandmother’s cousin Nellie. Looks to be a glop made of milk, cheese, eggs, and crackers boiled until thick.
“Eggs in Potatoe Nests – Boston Apr ’12” includes a Dan Quayle spelling mistake, but we won’t fault my grandmother for it. Perhaps she was going to write “potatoes” and forgot to finish. “Boston” refers to the Fannie Farmer 1896 Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, of course. I still have my copy. How about you? The recipe itself is vaguely interesting, making nests of mashed potatoes and then filling them with egg and ham.
This chapter held a bonus, though I imagine it was dropped into the book at random since it has nothing to do with eggs. It’s a newspaper clipping headed: The Housewife’s Idea Box.” This handy hint is for cleaning glass with kerosene. Copyright 1924.
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