“In former times, the old fraud used to whine about poverty and palm him off with cheap cheese and few flavors. But since he had left she got up little delicacies of value which lasted her a week, such as stewed beef smothered in carrots and onions; baked mutton with potatoes as large as melons; or calves-foot, decked with pickled shallots; or a giant omelet sprinkled with parsley or dotted with slices of fat pork of which one sufficed for a meal even when she had an appetite.”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
2 eggs 1 tablespoon melted butter ⅛ tablespoon salt Few grains cayenne 1 tablespoon grated cheese Beat eggs slightly, add one-half teaspoon melted butter, salt, cayenne, and cheese. Melt remaining butter, add mixture, and cook until firm, without stirring. Roll, and sprinkle with grated cheese. Serve with Graham bread sandwiches.
Sources: The passage is from Alexandre Dumas, The Hero of the People: A Historical Romance of Love, Liberty and Loya, tr. Williams, Henry Llewellyn, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Farmer, The Boston cooking-school cook book of 1896, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — slate cloth, cheese stamp.