“Who wants eggs and soldiers for breakfast?” my Mom used to ask me when I was a kid and I always answered “I do, I do!” You may be wondering what on earth are eggs and soldiers? As I have mentioned before my parents are originally from England and from what I understand “eggs and soldiers” hail from the UK and so even though I grew up in Canada and now live in Cancun, Mexico I am fortunate enough to have been brought up eating many British food delights.
“Eggs and soldiers” are simply put soft boiled eggs that have the tops lopped off and then you cut bread into sticks (soldiers) and dip them into the runny yolk. Wikipedia explains soldiers as:
“A soldier is a British term that refers to a piece of toast cut into thin strips reminiscent of the formation of soldiers on parade. The toast is sliced in this manner so that it can be dipped into the opening of a soft boiled egg that has had the top of its shell removed. Another belief for the origin of the name is from the childhood rhyme “Humpty Dumpty”. The bread refers to the soldiers who went to rescue Humpty Dumpty when he had his “great fall.”
Boiling the eggs
A while back I made my Mexican husband soldiers for the 1st time. We put some eggs into cold water and then let the water boil. We then set our egg timer (my Apple iTouch) for 3 minutes. While the eggs were boiling we toasted our bread. Next we buttered Cesar’s toast and made soldiers. I on the other hand am a Marmite freak https://ashlied.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/my-love-affair-with-marmite so I slathered Marmite on my toast.
Marmite Soldiers
Normally, you would then cut the tops of your eggs off and place them into an egg dish but seeing as we don’t have any egg dishes we had to improvise and use our tequila shot glasses…of which we have many…living in Cancun and all. 🙂
Finally, add a little salt and pepper to the opened egg and then dip your soldiers into the running yolk and enjoy! Cesar loved them and as always so did I. It brought back many pleasant memories of when I was a little girl and I hope one day to feed my child “eggs and soldiers” so that my MexiCanadian child will be able to enjoy some of the traditional British foods that I grew up eating and hopefully pass them onto his/her child one day too.
So I just have one question for you. Who want’s eggs and soldiers for breakfast?
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