How to Boil an Egg

It just might be nature’s most perfect food. Gratifying on its own and an essential component in so many recipes, the egg is the epitome of delicious simplicity. And in my kitchen it’s an ingredient that gets pretty much daily traction. So I was especially delighted when How to Boil an Egg (Phaidon) landed on my desk. The new book by Rose Carrarini, owner of the widely-lauded Rose Bakery in Paris, is the ultimate paean to that most humble of ingredients in all of its incarnations from the most basic scramble or poach, to a classic scotch egg or Italian egg soup, to an elegant chawanmushi. Not to mention the countless recipes like zucchini and eggplant gratin, leek and curry scones and Rose Bakery’s famous chocolate mousse, that would be nothing, quite literally, without eggs. Delicate detailed illustrations by Fiona Strickland scattered throughout are a lovely touch. I’m thinking this weekend, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, some fried green eggs might be in order. FIORELLA V.