when it is of a nice brown it is done: the safest way to take it out is
to put a plate on the omelette, and turn the pan upside-down: serve it
on a hot dish; it should never be done till just wanted. If maigre,
grated cheese, shrimps, or oysters. If oysters, boil them four minutes,
and take away the beard and gristly part; they may either be put in
whole, or cut in bits. _Or_,

Take eggs ready boiled hard, and either fry them whole, or cut them in
half; when they are boiled (they will take five minutes), let them lie
in cold water till you want to use them; then roll them lightly with
your hand on a table, and they will peel without breaking; put them on a
cloth to dry, and dredge them lightly with flour; beat two eggs in a
basin, dip the eggs in, one at a time, and then roll them in fine
bread-crumbs, or in duck (No. 378) or veal stuffing (No. 374); set them
away ready for frying; fry them in hot oil or clarified butter, serve
them up with mushroom sauce, or any other thickened sauce you please;
crisp parsley is a pretty garnish. _Or_,

Do not boil the eggs till wanted; boil them ten minutes, peel them as
above, cut them in half, put them on a dish, and have ready a sauce made
of two ounces of butter and flour well rubbed together on a plate, and
put it in a stew-pan with three quarters of a pint of good milk; set it
on the fire, and stir it till it boils; if it is not quite smooth,
strain it through a sieve, chop some parsley and a clove of eschalot as
fine as possible, and put in your sauce: season it with salt to your
taste: a little mace and lemon-peel boiled with the sauce, will improve
it: if you like it still richer, you may add a little cream, or the
yelks of two eggs, beat up with two table-spoonfuls of milk, and stir it
in the last thing: do not let it boil after; place the half eggs on a
dish with the yelks upward, and pour the sauce over them.

N.B. Any cold fish cut in pieces may be warmed in the above sauce for a
sent dinner. _Or_,

Slice very thin two onions weighing about two ounces each; put them into
a stew-pan with three ounces of butter; keep them covered till they are
just done; stir them every now and then, and when they are of a nice
brown, stir in as much flour as will make them of a stiff paste; then by
degrees add as much water or milk as will make it the thickness of good
cream; season it with, pepper and salt to your taste; have ready boiled
hard four or five eggs--you may either shred