Poached Eggs

Ingredients

• eggs
• 3 parts water
• salt
• vinegar
• butter
• hot water
• lemon juice or vinegar
• 1 dash tabasco
• bread
• grated cheese

Instructions

1. Use a deep skillet, three parts full of water on the bubbling boil, slightly salted and well dashed with vinegar.
2. Break all the eggs separately before putting one in.
3. Slip them in, one after the other, quickly, taking care not to break the yolks.
4. Keep the boiling hard, and use a knife or spoon to prevent the whites from cooking together.
5. Take out in six to seven minutes, using a skimmer and draining well, then trim the rags off the white.
6. Lay in a deep hot dish and pour over real melted butter, made with butter, hot water, salt, pepper, lemon juice or vinegar, and a dash of tabasco.
7. Send to table covered — a poached egg chilled has lost its charm.
8. Or serve the eggs on squares of hot, well-buttered toast sprinkled thickly with grated cheese and set for a minute inside a hot oven. Served thus, pass the melted butter with them rather than pouring it over, as poured over they might be too rich for some palates.