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CHAPTER IV. 



EGGS I THEIR PRESERVATION FOR CULINARY PURPOSES. 



I HAVE taken some pains to ascertain the best means of 

 preserving Eggs. I have visited country-produce dealers, 

 freely exchanged views with them on the subject, and the con- 

 clusion in every case was that lime-water ('tis not very mate- 

 rial whether salt be added or not) is the only means of pre- 

 serving Eggs that will remunerate for the trouble. I have seen 

 hogsheads of Eggs thus preserved in cellars from midsummer 

 to the following spring, and preserved very well too. The 

 water must be kept as highly charged with lime as it will bear. 



Mr. Dixon, quoting Mr. Cobbett, says, "Preserved Eggs 

 are things to run from, not after. " Perhaps so, perhaps not, 

 as the case may be. At any rate, many articles of cookery, 

 which cannot be made without Eggs, are not things to run 

 from ; and, therefore, preserved Eggs must be had, unless you 

 choose to disappoint the little folks of their Christmas plum- 

 pudding. The greater part of the Eggs brought to market in 

 Norfolk during winter, are certainly displeasing enough, quite 

 uneatable as EggSj and only not offensive to the smell. They 

 are saved from putrefaction by immersion in lime-water, to 

 which salt is added by some housewives. When wanted, they 

 are fished out of the tub, wiped, rubbed with a little silver-sand to 

 give a fresh-looking roughness to the shell, and sold at the rate 

 of eight for a shilling, if the season happen to be severe 



