Eggs Goldenrod

Serves 4

Warmly soothing on a winter morning or a stormy evening, Eggs Goldenrod takes its name from the dusting of grated hard-boiled egg yolk over the creamy base. Also known under tags as varied as creamed eggs and egg vermicelli, the preparation appears in many major national cookbooks as far back as Fannie Farmer's original 1896 tome. It flourished particularly, it seems, in the upper Midwest, where Cheryl's mother, Betty Alters, grew up thinking of Eggs Goldenrod as one of the world's finest foods.

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (see Ingredient Tip below)
3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
2-1/2 cups whole milk
2 large egg yolks
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of cayenne pepper, optional
Salt and freshly milled black pepper to taste
4 slices crisp toast

Separate the hard-boiled egg yolks from the egg whites. Dice the whites so that they are in more or less even toothsome bits, not chunky. Reserve the whites and whole yolks.

Melt the butter in a medium-size skillet over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook the mixture for 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk in a steady stream and cook until lightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Whisk several tablespoons of the warm mixture into the uncooked egg yolks, then whisk it back into the milk, along with the nutmeg, cayenne if desired, salt, and pepper. Simmer briefly until the sauce develops a bit more body but still pours easily from a spoon. (The dish can be made to this point up to the night before. Refrigerate the hard-boiled egg yolks and whites and the sauce, reheating the sauce before proceeding.) Stir in the hard-boiled egg whites and heat through. Arrange a piece of toast on each plate, then spoon the sauce over. Using the fine holes on a box grater, grate a shower of hardboiled egg yolks over each plate. Serve immediately.

Ingredient Tip

This is one of the subtly flavored dishes where homemade butter really shines. See the book for our recipe.

Waikiki Eggcess

When architects in the 1980s restored the splendor of Honolulu's Moana Hotel, one of the grand dames of Waikiki, the main restaurant reopened with a selection of some dishes from its original 1901 menu. The breakfast choices included Eggs Volga, a tour-de-force preparation of poached eggs, artichoke hearts, and ham with a silky blanket of bearnaise sauce and a caviar topping. We ate it once and loved it but feared our departing plane would never get off the ground.

Buy the Book!

A Real American Breakfast
The Best Meal of the Day, Any Time of the Day
By Cheryl Atlers Jamison and Bill Jamison
Morrow Cookbooks/HarperCollins Publishers
Copyright 2002. All rights reserved
Hardcover, 464 pages
$34.95; $52.95 (CAN)
ISBN: 0060188243
Recipe reprinted by permission.