Victorian Eggs A La Suisse

This comes from the oldest of my cookbooks – a recent score from Help The Aged. It’s C.E Francatelli’s Cook’s Guide, first published by Richard Bentley of London in 1860 (as far as I can tell), and this edition is from 1864. Part of me is incredulous that I would find a 145 year old book for £1.50, but it appears I did. It’s a fascinating read, the vast majority of the dishes look like they would be pretty hard to make, for want of obscure or obsolete cuts of meat, brands of seasoning or kitchen equipment. The end of the book does have a series of adverts, including one for Adams and Son, Kitchen Outfitters of Haymarket, and one for Crosse and Blackwell (‘Purveyors in Ordinary to Her Majesty’), both merchants advertising a staggering array of goods unfamiliar to modern cooks

I was expecting this to be inedible as it is incredibly rich, but it was rather nice. Admittedly I could only eat a small portion before starting to feel queasy and I’m not sure I can face the other three quarters of the dish that’s leftover, but the cream works nicely with the albumen, the yolk firms up nicely, and the Gruyère is vaguely chewy on the bottom and the cheese on top crisps up like sugar on a crème brûlée. It occurs to me that that’s a fairly accurate description of the dish – savoury crème brûlée. With a fried egg in it.