The best vessel for this purpose is a frying pan; but it must be kept for that purpose only, or the grease will adhere to the water, and spoil the delicate appearance of the eggs. A wide-mouthed stew-pan will do as well. Both the vessel and water must be delicately clean. Break the eggs into separate cups; when the water boils, gently slip in the eggs, and set the vessel on the hob for a minute or so, till the white has set, then set it over the fire; let it once boil up, and the eggs are done. The white should retain its transparency, and the yellow appear brightly through it. Take up very carefully with a slice; trim off any rough edges of white, and serve on buttered toast, a piece tor each egg, a little larger than the egg itself; or on a fish drainer. Garnish with sliced bacon or ham, sausages, or spinach.

186. Turkeys, Capons, Chickens, etc., are all boiled exactly in the same manner,only allowing time according to their size. A chicken will take about twenty minutes - a fowl, forty - a fine five-toed fowl or a capon, about an hour - a small turkey, an hour and a half - a large one, two hours or more. Chickens or fowls should be killed at least one or two days before they are to be dressed.* Turkeys (especially large ones) should not be dressed till they have been killed throe or four days at least - in cold weather, six or eight - or they will neither look white nor eat tender. Turkeys and large fowls should have the strings or sinews of the thighs drawn out. Fowls for boiling should be chosen as white as possible: those which have black legs should be roasted. The best use of the liver is to make sauce. Poultry must be well washed in warm water; if very dirty from the singeing, etc, rub them with a little white soap, but thoroughly rinse it off before you put them into the pot. Make a good and clear fire; set on a clean pot, with pure and clean water, enough to cover the turkey, etc.; the slower it boils, the whiter and plumper it will be. When there rises any scum, remove it; the common method of some (who are more nice than wise) is to wrap them up in a cloth, to prevent the scum attaching to them; which if it do by your neglecting to skim the pot, there is no getting it off afterwards, and the poulterer is blamed for the fault of the cook. If there be water enough, and it is attentively skimmed, the fowl will both look and eat much better this way than when it has been covered up in the cleanest cloth; and the colour and flavour of your poultry will be preserved in the most delicate perfection.

*If they are dressed immediately after they are killed, before the flesh is cold all poultry eat equally tender.