In the 1950’s when my parents got married, my grandmother had these eggs at a restaurant in NYC. Whenever she or my mother would go to a restaurant and be told they could have their eggs “any way”, they asked for Eggs Eiffel Tower as a joke. Never got them, of course. After years of searching, I finally found a recipe a few years ago and was able to make it for my mother before she passed away. They’re fussy, but fun for a special occasion. Recipe will be in comments.
by Impossible_Cause6593
1 Comment
Read through the recipe well before starting. There’s a lot of prep, plus 30 minutes baking, so plan on it taking 45-50 minutes or so in total. It must be served immediately or the merengue will start to collapse.
Eggs Eiffel Tower, Serves 2
* butter
* 1 slice of toast
* 1 slice of bacon, cooked and crumbled (opt.)
* 3 to 4 Tablespoons shredded cheese
* 3 eggs, separated, pref. room temp.
* 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
* Pinch of salt
* 1/2 teaspoon mustard (prepared, not dry)
Prep: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Place 2 buttered ramekins (I used 7-oz Corningware ramekins) on a baking sheet. Toast the bread, grate the cheese, cook the bacon, and have the butter, cream of tartar, salt, and mustard out and ready to go before you start separating and beating the eggs.
Butter the toast and cut it into 2 rounds, and fit them butter-side up into the ramekins. It’s OK if you cut smaller pieces and fit them in. Sprinkle the crumbled bacon evenly over each of the toast rounds. Sprinkle 1/2 Tablespoon of cheese over the bacon in each ramekin.
Separate the eggs carefully. The yolks are meant to stay intact, but you will only use 2, so if you break one you’re still good. Putting each egg yolk in a separate cup will make it easier later.
Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar and salt until soft peaks form. Add the mustard and beat until stiff peaks form. It’s important that the egg whites are able to hold their shape.
Spoon a heaping tablespoon of egg white into each ramekin and gently smooth it out with the back of your spoon. Carefully place one egg yolk over the bed of egg white in each ramekin. (One yolk will be unused.) Sprinkle with about 1/2 tablespoon cheese per ramekin.
Add another layer of egg white and another 1/2 tablespoon of cheese. Each dish will start to resemble a soft-serve ice cream cone. Add a final layer of egg white, building as tall as you can without the structure tipping.
Carefully transfer the baking sheet to the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the egg whites are golden brown. At 30 minutes, the yolk should be mostly solidified but soft and tender. Serve immediately.