Monday, March 09, 2009

Experimental Cookery Breakfast #5: Boiled Eggs

In Rob Grant's novel "Fat", there is a running gag about a cookery book which opens with a long and lovingly-detailed recipe for boiled eggs. It's really quite amusing. And so it was some measure of merriment that I tackled Jamie's recipe for the same. Yes, seriously.

The ingredients list for tackling this most complex of tasks was long and obscure, including such diverse items as eggs.

Anyway, I duly followed the instructions, producing two nice soft-boiled eggs. (No, I don't concern myself with salmonella. The latest studies suggest there isn't a link after all. And besides, they weren't that soft-boiled.) I also decided to go dangerously off-book and cooked up a slice of toast for soldiers. Truly I am a rebel.

Anyway, having cooked up the eggs, I found myself vexed by two issues. The first, and the lesser of the two was a complete lack of egg-cups. Since I don't eat eggs, I don't keep egg-cups in the apartment, since there is never a need for them. Um...

But, more challeging, I was faced by that most controversial of software engineering questions: little-endian or big? Now, I have made many enquiries into this matter, but in all my Travels I have not found a definitive answer. And let's not understate the importance of getting the right answer: wars have been fought over such things.

In the end, I settled for little-endian. I then proceeded to attack the egg with soldiers, then pepper, then knife and fork, until such time that I had eaten just enough to persuade myself that I had fulfilled my obligation to try the meal. And then I fed the rest to the bin.

Really not a fan of eggs.

So, that will be 4-1. He's not getting the mark for a recipe that is basically "boil it into submission, then chuck it in the bin", especially since I didn't like it.

Next up in the egg-odyssey is fried eggs. Then scrambled, poached, and then omlettes. It's like the fish-trilogy all over again.

Now, I'm sure there's some egg-themed pun that I could end the post with, but I don't know what it could be. Indeed, trying to bring it to mind has left me quite Dizzy.

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