OF BREAKFAST.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 483, 28 July 1871, Page 3

OF BREAKFAST.

[PEOil THK "QUEEN."]

Tseee is nothing on which tastes differ so much as on matters of food, and so much on matters of food as about breakfnst. Some people eat none; others make it Uieir principal meal. Englishmen mostly breakfast themoment they get up ; Frenchmen do not breakfast till some hours after the work or pleasure of tie day lias begun. I will not pretend to decide which is the pleasanter or the more wholesome course to pursue, nor will I say which I like best and practise myself. My own device is that, considering the shortness of life and the charm of yariety, we shoud each be allowed to please ourselves and welcome, as long as no excess be committed. But there are those in this world whose mission is not so much to please themselves as to please others ; und * thewomnn, be she wife or housekeeper, who has to provide breakfast for h^rlord and master, has no easy task before her, should he be at all of a critical turn of mind, and fastidious about his food, f-orae there are who are easily pleased ; others why hate to-day what pleased them yesterday. Now with such a one to cater for, thi3 matter of breakfast becomes a serious puzzle. The only cookery books worth anything are French, and in France to breakfast as you jump out of bed is a thing which is never contemi3)ated ; so that none or little help is to be found in the only quarter for which any help worth hnving could be given to the hopeless ignorance of cookery which mar. the happiness of many a home in these islands Thus it is that I am induced to give your readers the benefit of what little knowledge J may possess, and describe a few dishes which shall combine good cuokery with C 'Seeing of all breakfast dishes in to my ' miud a well marie omelet—of only two eggs, mind. True that you may consider yourself a very lucky person if you can get an English cook to do one decently ; out patience, they say, can move mountains, and I *ay may make omelets toGiven the ordinary British cook: this is how I should gradually tram her up to' he Karation of an omelet. By dint of great I should endeavour^6 make Jferkeep her omelet-pan perfectly clean »nd bright j that is a great step. n ext, x should teach her how to fry a couple ot eggs, thus •. melt a piece of butter in a small.frying-pan, and then break two eggs into it carefully, so as not to burst tne yolks ; let'them nicely set over the ore. and when nearly.set, slip them out on a hot dish ; pour the butter over them, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and serve ; or, haviDg dished up the eggs, let the butter get almost black, put in a few drops of tarragon vinegar, then pour over the

eges. • . . . Other forms of fried eggs consist in tbeir being sent up over a puree oi spinach or sorrel ; remains of the previous day s dinner do for this. Or over some tomato

sauce ;if there is none of this from the dinner of the day before, get some out of a bottle and warm it up in a saucepan with a little butter. Some practice and a little care are necessary not to break the yolks of the eggs in dishing them up. When you hate got your cook to dress and send up fried eg"gs decently,- thefl. you may put her on to the next stage, which is scrambled eggs. The proceeding is this : Having melted |[p"iece of butter in the frying-pan, break into it the eggs, and stir them up into a corner of it with a spoon until nearly set, then turn them out nestly into a dish and serve. A small quantity of tomato sauce may he scrambled into the saucepan with themi or also some finely-minced shallots, ham, sausage (Bologna), remaius of fish, such as salmon, or sardines, preserved tunny, &c., always finely minced. 'Die point to be observed is not to put in too much of the things, and .to put them in at the same time as the eggs.so that they may be set in with them. When this sti'ge is reached, and creditably, then you may begin to have some hopes for the production of an omelet. This may be divided into two operations —the mixing aud the cooking of the omelet. The first can easily be described in words, and is capable of numerous variations. The second is the most difficult to describe and to carry out, although simple enough when ouce you know it. I must again repeat that the omelet-pan should be perfectly clean ; this is indispensable. It should be absolutely clean, not what is called clean by the ordinary British cook. The fire should be bright. These conditions being fulfilled, put a peice of butter the size of an e«K into the pan, let it melt without browning, and as soon as it is melted and hot pour in your omelet mixture, and, holding the handle of the pan with one hand, you stir the omelet with the other by means of a flat spoon. The moment it bpgins to set, cease stirring, but keep shaking the pan for a minute or bo, then, with the ladle or spoon, double up your omelet and keep on shaking the pan ur til one side of the omelet has become a golden colour, when you dexterously turn it out on a hot dish, the coloured side uppermost. After the oinolet is doubled up. the insertion of a little piece of butter under it facilitates opera tions. Two points to be observed are, that the" coloured side of the omelet should be line gold, and that this result should be attained without the inside becoming too firmly set. .Practice alone can teach the performance of this operation successfully. . The G. O.