Poached Eggs Mornay

Œufs pochés Mornay (poached eggs with Mornay sauce) teaches coordination. The sauce must be smooth and hot, the oil-fried toast crisp, and the eggs deliberately underpoached before they meet the fierce final heat. Get that timing right and the fork passes through bronzed cheese, ivory sauce, tender white, and a yolk that still runs into the toast.

The original entry assumed a saucier with Mornay ready, an egg cook beside the poaching pan, a stock never off the fire elsewhere in the kitchen, and a salamander waiting to glaze the finished dish. At home, the stockpot can stay cold: one saucepan builds the roux-based Mornay, one wide pan poaches eight eggs for four people, and the broiler supplies the salamander's fierce top heat. Separate cooks, holding pans, and brigade portions were scaffolding, so they go. The Mornay, oil-fried toast, cheese mixed with fine bread raspings, melted butter, and fast glaze are the dish, so every one stays.

One cook, one stove, one evening. Have every component ready before you poach, then pull the eggs while their yolks are still very loose. The glaze can bronze cheese in seconds, but it cannot give an overcooked yolk back.