Eggs au gratin // 1920's recipe

Happy 2020 or should I say 1920! At the end of last year I was surrounded (as I am sure you were too) by countless guides on the internet on how to welcome the new year in the flare of the roaring twenties. I don’t like New Years celebrations much, nor parties in general to be honest. However I do want to welcome the new decade with the flare of the bygone one which brings me to today’s recipe.

A while back I came across a wonderful book on Google Books called The Downstairs Cookbook. It was written in the 1970’s by Margaret Powell who worked in the domestic service in the 1920’s as a cook. After buying and cooking through numerous modern cookbooks where one is asked to navigate his way through new and exotic ingredients, odd flavour combinations and well anything novel, it is refreshing to cook something simple and grounded. While I do enjoy cooking from those kind of cookbooks, comfort food exist for a reason, and that is exactly what I got from The Downstairs Cookbook. The author not only provides simple wholesome recipes but also a story and sense of place for them, which as they say nowadays sparks joy for me. Even if you don’t intend to cook from it, I do recommend reading the introduction because it is true today as it was 50 years ago when this book was written.

So, as I add this to the hundreds of cookery books already published, let me say that even if it is only history, it is history that can be brought to life, and, who knows, with the way the world is going, with greater mechanisation leading to more leisure, perhaps one day people will again find the time to give to cooking the attention that it deserves.

Margaret Powell, 1970

The original recipes ingredients are as follow - 6 hardboiled eggs, 1 1/2 oz Parmesan cheese, 2 egg yolks, 1 oz butter, 1/2 oz flour, 1 gill milk, 1 tablespoon cream and paprika pepper. As you can see I haven’t changed much however as with most recipes I came across, I haven’t been able to resist a tweak or two. I think that is what is so great about cooking - there always is place for a personal touch however small it may be.

Eggs au gratin

Serves 2 - 4

6 hardboiled eggs, cut into half lengthwise
30 grams butter
15 grams flour
150 ml milk
2 egg yolks
S&P
1/4 tsp ground chilli
1/4 tsp mustard
1 tbsp finely chopped chives
45 grams Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp cream

for serving
chives and bread or croûtons as Mrs Powell suggests

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Mix in the flour and let it cook off for a minute or two. While continuously stirring slowly add the milk. Do that until it comes to a boil then let it simmer for 2 - 3 minutes. Mix in spices, mustard, chives and 3/4 of the cheese and take the sauce off the heat. Add the yolks (one at a time) and cream and mix until the sauce is smooth.

Place the hard-boiled eggs into ovenproof dish and pour the sauce over the eggs. This time I choose to serve the in individual dishes with 1 1/2 egg per serving. Bake for 10 minutes. Serve with chives and a slice of bread for mopping up the sauce.

Bon Appétit,
Liga