Breakfast a la mode used to be, not that cereal stuff, but a fresh egg, boiled to a not too hard consistency and eaten with a little salt and pepper. Sometimes preceded by porridge. That was in the days before battery hens. Not quite a mention here of the Hen in the Hedge brought a letter from a man of the cloth listing the varieties of hens he had, in his garden, beyond the few mentioned at that time.
Of course, battery hens, industrialised hens, made chicken available in price to more people, but the egg was never the same. All questions of disease apart, the industrialised egg just is not the gourmet item it could be. And an article in a supplement to the Meath Chronicle (Provincial Farmer) tells of the enterprise of a couple at Kentstown in that county which, it is claimed, was the first purpose built free range egg producing farm in Ireland. And they have won both the Quality Mark and the Hygiene Mark. Brownstead Farm is the centre of activity, with 10 acres, incorporating four paddocks, where the hens move freely throughout the year.
The paddocks are, of course, rotated to allow the grass to recover. Then there are six satellite farms beyond the original Brownstead acres, where the grading, packing and dispatching is done. Pat and Imelda Kenny were always interested in organic food. They had just a quarter of an acre in organic vegetables and then thought that free range eggs would have a market. So Pat took early retirement from Tara Mines and with the backing of some research by Teagasc and the Department of Agriculture, set out on their enterprise. They were just starting when they heard of the salmonella scare in England. "We thought it would affect our start up and it did. It turned people away from battery to free range eggs." And, recalls Pat: "I was going to send a Christmas card to Edwina Currie."
The great test of a cook, says the best cook in Ireland, is in the making of a souffle. Savoury or sweet. Mrs Beeton is peremptory about the correct way to do it. And she notes, in the usual fashion, the money. "Average cost, 10d; sufficient for 3 or 4 persons." And, just in case you have forgotten, how to boil an egg. You have your saucepan of boiling water, put the eggs in gently with a spoon, letting the spoon touch the bottom, so that the egg does not fall. Three minutes for very lightly boiled, three and three quarter to four minutes, she says, to set it nicely.
Now just get your egg, ideally from your own hen in the hedge, and that's not many of you. Or from the free range counter. One present this Easter was a pack of the free range from BELFAST!