A Fannie Merritt Farmer original.
Her version, from 1896’s The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, had a slightly less rich sauce:
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Eggs à la Goldenrod
3 hard boiled eggs. Make a thin white sauce with butter, flour, milk, and seasonings. Separate yolks from whites of eggs. Chop whites finely, and add them to the sauce. Cut four slices of toast in halves lengthwise. Arrange on platter, and pour over the sauce. Force the yolks through a potato ricer or strainer, sprinkling over the top. Garnish with parsley and remaining toast, cut in points. |
It’s not hard to see where it came from–the sieved egg yolk looks a bit like a spray of goldenrod. (In the Eastern U.S. and Canada, there’s also a goldenrod with white petals and a yellow interior, but I feel like, if you were going to name it on that bases, you’d call it eggs à la daisy.)
Still, most Americans moved away from the French prepositions and opted for just “goldenrod eggs” or “eggs goldenrod” in republishing the recipe, because these eggs aren’t really “in the style of” goldenrod, which are plants that neither produce nor consume eggs. If they ever turn sentient, they’ll be totally baffled by the tribute.
But hey, the book was written entirely by Farmer herself and has 1,849 recipes in it. So what if the names weren’t all poetry.
From the box of C.N. sold in De Soto, Kansas.
Eggs ala Goldenrod
3 hard-boiled eggs
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. flour
1 c. milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
5 slices toast.
Melt butter, add flour, stir until smooth; add the milk slowly, stirring constantly; cook until smooth. Add salt and pepper. Separate yolks from whites of eggs. Chop whites (all) fine and add them to the sauce. Cut 5 slices of toast in halves lengthwise; arrange on platter and pour the sauce over them.
5 servings
Catherine Nichepor