Although Christmas is officially over I am still eating far too much. The fridge abounds with left-over brussel sprouts, mince pies, Christmas pudding and fine cheeses. There’s still a decanter of port to be polished off and for some reason or other our cupboards abound with chocolate things and cheese nibbles.
Even so our eating habits don’t seem as extreme as those of our forebears. I have been browsing an ancient copy of Kettner’s Book of the Table which was published in the 1870s and feel that the time is right to recreate the Monster Egg:
Break a dozen or two of eggs, separating the whites and the yolks. Tie up the yolks in a pig’s bladder, boil them hard, and take them out again. In a still larger bladder place the whites; into the midst of this put the yolk; tie up the bladder tight; and boil the whole until the white hardens. Uncover the Monster Egg, and serve it on a bed of spinach...
In case one’s guests get over-curious you might suggest that it is a very small egg laid by a Madagascan aepyornis. This ostrich-like bird (now extinct) measured three metres in height and weighed in at half a ton. A single aepyornis egg would have been equivalent to more than twelve dozen hens’ eggs.
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