As a “House” fan, I was initially bummed that on the Sept. 29 episode, the good doctor wasn’t going to be in the hospital, making his underlings’ lives miserable even as he wowed them with his medical mastery. But that disappointment soon turned to glee when he started to cook.
Some women get excited by men who can chop wood or execute a fireman’s carry without breaking a sweat. Brawn is great, but talent, especially in the kitchen, is nigh irresistible. But then again, it’s Hugh Laurie, and he can do no wrong (you notice I’m conveniently forgetting the previous week’s episode in which he “rapped.”)
After leaving the psychiatric hospital and quitting his job, House is stuck at Wilson’s (Robert Sean Leonard) trying to channel his addictive personality into something, anything. Hey, let’s try cooking! It’s a natural fit. The diagnostic genius is engrossed in the intricacies and creativity that comes with the culinary arts. It also allows him to wield a needle.
Check out two clips, which I’ll try to replace with cued-up Hulu embeds later. Just go to the 3:32 mark to see him make Wilson taste a ragout recipe and then to the 6:00 mark to see Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) try out an unborn egg:
That unborn egg thing was quite fascinating (and sexual), right? Some people don’t like that unborn label, preferring to call them unhatched (who eats hatched eggs though?) or immature eggs. “Unlaid” is probably the most accurate term.
Whatever you call them, these eggs never made the great escape out of the chicken. They’re like concentrated yolk without the pesky albumen or shell. I know they’re used in Asian cooking (one San Francisco Chowhounder spotted them in his pho) and Jewish old-school cooking. Chicken soup or fried in butter seem like popular old-school choices. The New York Times also had a story in 2007 about one chef who was trying to inspire the unborn egg comeback.
Tony Cenicola/The New York Times
One of the few unborn egg recipes I could find out there is Sidney Harris’s Grandmother’s Chicken Soup with Unborn Egg Yolks. If you don’t have unborn eggs on hand, you can fake them with the “egg ball” recipe, but that just seems to be cheating … yourself.
My favorite passage:
“If you have the chicken ovary at the ready, return the broth to a simmer when you are ready to serve the soup and slip in the unborn eggs.”
Ovary? I love it. Just like that time when my cousins and I were eating soup at my aunt’s place and I was badgering my mother to tell me what all the unidentifiable bits were. Besides some tendon, there was uterus! Only my brother, one other cousin and I finished eating the soup. Not just offal, but SEXUAL OFFAL! (<– The name of my Rock Band group)
Anyway, I’d love to make this recipe, but don’t know where I can get unborn eggs. I’ll probably hit up the Asian markets first or get me to a hatchery.
Anyone else have any leads or ideas on obtaining unborn eggs?
