Foods of England - Eggs in Moonshine

Eggs in Moonshine

Eggs
Historic

Cooked eggs with a spiced sauce. The phrase also appears in Elizabethan and early modern texts to indicate 'an impossible fancy'.

Compare with: Masked Eggs
See also: Moonshine Pudding

Original Receipt from 'A Proper newe Booke of Cokerye', Anonymous, around 1550 (Proper Booke 1550)

To make egges in moneshyne. Take a dyche of rosewater and a dyshe full of suger, and set them upon a chaffyngdysh, and let them boyle, than take the yolkes of viii or ix egges newe layde and putte them therto everyone from other, and so lette them harden a lyttle, and so after this maner serve them forthe and cast a lyttle synamon and sugar upon them.

Original Receipt in 'The Accomplisht Cook' by Robert May, 1660 (Robert May 1660);

Eggs in Moon shine.
Break them in a dish upon some butter and oyl melted or cold, strow on them a little salt, and set them on a chafing dish of coals make not the yolks too hard, and in the doing cover them, and make a sauce for them of an onion cut into round slices, and fried in sweet oyl or butter, then put to them verjuyce, grated nutmeg, a little salt, and so serve them.

Eggs in Moon shine otherways.
Take the best oyl you can get, and set it over the fire on a silver dish, being very hot, break in the eggs, and before the yolks of the eggs do become very hard, take them up and dish them in a clean dish; then make the sauce of fryed onions in round slices, fryed in oyl or sweet butter, salt, and some grated nutmeg.

Otherways.
Make a sirrup of rose-water, sugar, sack, or white-wine, make it in a dish and break the yolks of the eggs as whole as you can, put them in the boiling sirrup with some ambergriece, turn them and keep them one from the other, make them hard, and serve them in a little dish with sugar and cinamon.

Otherways.
Take a quarter of a pound of good fresh butter, balm it on the bottom of a fine clean dish, then break some eight or ten eggs upon it, sprinkle them with a little salt, and set them on a soft fire till the whites and yolks be pretty clear and stiff, but not too hard, serve them hot, and put on them the juyce of oranges and lemons.

Or before you break them put to the butter sprigs of rosemary, juyce of orange, and sugar; being baked on the embers, serve them with sugar and beaten cinamon, and in place of orange, verjuyce.

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