Eggs Blashill

2 Jan

My maternal Grandmother, one Beulah Blashill was a character. She was born just before the turn of the 20th century as substantial woman not to be messed with. She was what is often described as a real “force of nature.” She dropped out of school at the age of 16 and joined the Volunteer Aid Detachment.


Beulah Blashill in her VAD uniform CA. 1914

 

Beulah Blashill late in life
Beulah Blashill late in life

As a boy, visits to and with grandma Blashill were both interesting and to be feared. While my mother got along with everyone, her mother was, on and off, the notable exception. They were like two peas in a pod and you know when that happens to mother and daughter when they are so temperamentally alike: there can be some friction.

One of the many things that grandma Blashill insisted on was a recipe that she swore was hers (and hers alone) invention: “Eggs Blashill.”

You start with a slice of bread, buttered and then, using a cookie cutter, cut out the center of the buttered bread and place it buttered side down in a hot pan.

Step 1

Fry the buttered bread on medium high heat for a few minutes until it starts to brown on the bottom. Then flip it over.

Step 2

Then take a dollop of butter and drop it in the hole.

Step 3

Let the butter melt for just a few seconds and then crack an eg into the hole.

Step 4

Fry the egg for a minute or so and then flip it over and fry for another minute on the other side.

Once the egg is done to your preferred doneness put it on a plate and serve.

Step 5

In this case the Eggs Blashill was served with fresh avocado slices as my wife prefers it.

One day many years ago when I was just a boy and fixing myself breakfast mom inquired, passing through the kitchen to verify I was not burning the place down, “watcha making?”

I responded, “Eggs in a hole.”

She paused for a moment and with the resigned sigh of a woman long annoyed by family stories of her mother, told me that her mother insisted that she, in fact had invented that dish when she was a young girl in the VAD. She had named it Eggs Blashill and referred to it as such for the remainder of her days. And seemed to take quite a bit of satisfaction correcting many people who “incorrectly” referred to it as “toad in a hole” or the more prosaic “egg in a hole.”

And, sure enough, the next time I saw grandma Blashill I made a point of cooking this for breakfast in front of her and referring to it as egg in a hole.

For which I was sternly corrected.