On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 146

Among industrialized countries, only France and Australia have remained independent of the handful of multinational corporations that provide laying stock to the egg industry.. Mass Prod

Among industrialized countries, only France and Australia have remained independent of the handful of multinational corporations that provide laying stock to the egg industry

Mass Production The 20th century saw the

general farm lose its poultry shed to the poultry farm or ranch, which has in turn been split up into separate hatcheries and meat and egg factories Economies of scale dictate that production units be as large as possible — one caretaker can manage a flock of 100,000, and many ranches now have a million or more laying hens Today’s typical layer is born in

an incubator, eats a diet that originates largely

in the laboratory, lives and lays on wire and under lights for about a year, and produces between 250 and 290 eggs As Page Smith and

Charles Daniel put it in their Chicken Book,

the chicken is no longer “a lively creature but merely an element in an industrial process whose product [is] the egg.”

Arboulastre (An Omelet)

[First prepare mixed herbs, including rue, tansy, mint, sage, marjoram, fennel,

parsley, violet leaves, spinach, lettuce,

clary, ginger.] Then have seven eggs well beaten together, yolks and whites, and mix with the herbs Then divide in two and

make two allumelles, which are fried in the

following manner First you heat your

frying pan well with oil, butter, or

whatever fat you like When it is well

heated, especially toward the handle, mix and cast your eggs upon the pan, and turn frequently with a paddle over and under; then throw some good grated cheese on top Know that it is done thus because if you mix the cheese with the eggs and

herbs, when you fry the allumelle, the

cheese that is underneath sticks to the

pan… And when your herbs are fried in

the pan, shape your arboulastre into a