There is nothing new under the sun. But on Wednesday I found something that was new to me. An egg coddler. We were on Metropolitan Avenue and I went in to the antique store named
Frieda's. I asked if there was anything on sale and she pointed me to two book cases full of antiques. One on the left and one on the right. On the left what stuck out at me was a blue Chinese round ceramic dish with a lid which I thought would be good to store incense in. Blue, blue, craft blue. On the left was this ceramic dish with a metal lid that screwed on and off. I had no idea what it was but I thought the birds on it were beautiful. It came with instructions that told you how to prepare eggs. It was 15 dollars so I bought it and took it home.
At home I washed it off with warm soapy water and read the instructions:
First, lightly butter the inside of the dish. Then crack the eggs and put them in the dish (I put in two). Then add butter over the eggs and salt and pepper to taste. Then put the dish in the boiling water to cover (I found it easier to put the dish in cold water before boiling it so you would have just the right amount of water). Then boil for ten minutes. After ten minutes take the dish out of the boiling water by the ring (I used the handle of a wooden spoon to lift it). Then as you unscrew the lid, grasp the entire lid (I used an oven mitt). Check the eggs and if they are not done cooking, put them back in the boiling water for a few minutes. After ten minutes my eggs were not done cooking so I put them in the water for three more minutes for a total of thirteen minutes cooking time. After they finished cooking, I lossened the eggs with a butter knife and they slid out of the coddler and on to my plate. I ate them with buttered toast.
They came out well, similar to poached eggs, only better, as I do not know how to poach an egg well without them falling part and this was, the coddler prevents the eggs from falling apart. Now I know how to make coddled eggs. You can learn something new every day.