Salt the water well; when it is _simmering_, drop lightly each broken
egg from a saucer into it. Cook one egg at a time, throwing carefully
with a spoon the water from the side over the egg, to whiten the top.
When cooked just enough (do not let it get too hard), take out the egg
with a perforated ladle, trim off the ragged pieces, and slip it on a
small, thin piece of hot buttered toast, cut neatly into squares. When
all are cooked, and placed on their separate pieces of toast, sprinkle a
little pepper and salt over each one.
Some put into the boiling water muffin-rings, in which the eggs are
cooked, to give them an even shape; they present a better appearance,
however, cooked in the egg-poacher, illustrated among the cooking
utensils. Poached eggs are nice introduced into a beef soup--one egg for
each person at table; they are also nice served on thin, diamond-shaped
slices of broiled ham instead of toast.
Delmonico serves poached eggs on toast, with sorrel sprinkled over the
tops.