or the ham. Fry the eggs a nice brown in boiling lard, drain
them before the fire from their greasy moisture, dish them, and pour
round from 1/4 to 1/2 pint of good brown gravy. To enhance the
appearance of the eggs, they may be rolled in beaten egg and sprinkled
with bread crumbs; but this is scarcely necessary if they are carefully
fried. The flavour of the ham or anchovy in the forcemeat must
preponderate, as it should be very relishing.

_Time_.--10 minutes to boil the eggs, 5 to 7 minutes to fry them.

_Average cost_, 1s. 4d.

_Sufficient_ for 3 or 4 persons. _Seasonable_ at any time.

EGGS A LA TRIPE.

1667. INGREDIENTS.--8 eggs, 3/4 pint of Bechamel sauce No. 368,
dessertspoonful of finely-minced parsley.

_Mode_.--Boil the eggs hard; put them into cold water, peel them, take
out the yolks whole, and shred the whites. Make 3/4 pint of Bechamel
sauce by recipe No. 368; add the parsley, and, when the sauce is quite
hot, put the yolks of the eggs into the middle of the dish, and the
shred whites round them; pour over the sauce, and garnish with leaves of
puff-paste or fried croutons. There is no necessity for putting the eggs
into the saucepan with the Bechamel; the sauce, being quite hot, will
warm the eggs sufficiently.

_Time_.--10 minutes to boil the eggs.

_Average cost_, 1s.

_Sufficient_ for 5 or 6 persons.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XXXIV.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON BREAD, BISCUITS, AND CAKES.

BREAD AND BREAD-MAKING.

1668. AMONG the numerous vegetable products yielding articles of food
for man, the Cereals hold the first place. By means of skilful
cultivation, mankind have transformed the original forms of these
growths, poor and ill-flavoured as they perhaps were, into various
fruitful and agreeable species, which yield an abundant and pleasant
supply. Classified according to their respective richness in alimentary
elements, the Cereals stand thus:--Wheat, and its varieties, Rye,
Barley, Oats, Rice, Indian Corn. Everybody knows it is wheat flour which
yields the best bread. Rye-bread is viscous, hard, less easily soluble
by the gastric juice, and not so rich in nutritive power. Flour produced
from barley, Indian corn, or rice, is not so readily made into bread;
and the article, when made, is heavy and indigestible.

1669. On examining a grain of corn from any of the numerous cereals
[Footnote: _Cereal,_ a corn-producing plant; from