…But Not for Lunch
Sun., February 3, 11:30 AM
“I married him for better or for worse, but not for lunch!” I don’t know who said it first, but whoever she was, I have been quoting her for at least fifteen years. It explains (partly) why I continued to work after Husband retired; it also explains how he manages to make me nuts.
On weekdays when he isn’t at day care, lunch is at 1 p.m., so that Husband can watch “Millionaire” while he eats. Lunch is a sandwich (on plain white bread, of course) and coffee. I balance it against what he will be having for supper, naturally, keeping in mind dietary restrictions. And I try not to give him the same thing every day, even though he would probably accept egg salad every day.
I watched a video of my friend Bev making “the perfect [egg] sandwich,” and I thought, “that wouldn’t work here.” For one thing, she cooks only one egg at a time, a simple task that tells me she is eating alone. (On the days that I’m eating alone, I treat myself to something a little more elaborate than eggs.) Another thing I noticed is that she uses a famous, very good mayonnaise that I do not use. It is far too salty.
There was a time, before we we became aware of raw egg Salmonella, that I did home-made mayonnaise. To my surprise, some recipes called for four times the amount of salt as others. We automatically cut down the amount of salt for cardiac patients, and I use even less depending on what else I add to the mix.
There are dozens of “fool-proof” methods of hard-cooking eggs. Julia Child’s method works the best for me. It may take longer over all, but I don’t have to babysit them. You begin with eggs at room temperature.
I don’t leave the eggs out on the counter; I place them in a pot of cold tap water for half an hour. When the eggs and the water are the same temperature, I can start. Husband once told me that putting a little salt in the water would make them easier to peel, and it seems to be true. (I suspect that it has something to do with osmotic pressure, and I no longer question it.) I turn up the heat to medium high.
This is the only time I actually watch it, because as soon as the water boils, I remove the pot from the heat (electric stove — I can’t just turn it off), cover it, and set the timer for twenty minutes. The eggs have to sit for twenty minutes, but the nice part is that, if I can’t attend to them immediately, they still won’t overcook and discolor.
The next hint comes from Graham Kerr, who is no longer as comical as he was, but whose assistance continues. Pour off the hot water and shake the pot around, so that the shells break all over. Then cover the eggs with cold water. There have been times when this works so well that the shells float right off; in any case, unless the eggs are too fresh, they are easy to peel.
Here comes the l’empress hint: put the eggs into a flat-bottomed bowl. Sprinkle them with dry ingredients like salt and pepper, or Mrs. Dash®, or my own secret spices; then get the potato masher. One stroke of the masher for each egg, and you are nearly done.
Now the wet ingredients — chopped onion or celery, pickle relish (watch the salt!), maybe a dash of horseradish. Mix in whatever dressing suits your fancy (or, in my case, Husband’s fancy). Light mayonnaise with a touch of mustard, or Miracle Whip®, or maybe Russian dressing.
You have enough salad for one hearty sandwich per egg. The old goat is happy. Personally, I will have a scoop of this stuff in the middle of salad vegetables, to eat with a fork. Choose yer poison.
