Eggs in Sweet & Sour Bacon Sauce (Eier mit Süßsaure Specksauce)

Presumably invented in Berlin, where it is common and also where it is often served with mashed potatoes. By the way, English once used "ey" as the word for egg. See the "Word History" below.

8 eggs, hard-boiled, peeled
6 strips bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cups beef stock
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
2 tablespoons vinegar
3 teaspoons sugar

Heat a large skillet or heavy bottomed pan over medium heat, fry the bacon pieces and chopped onion. If you prefer, you can begin frying the bacon and pour off some of the fat, before adding the onion, but don't let the bacon get too done before doing so. When the onion is beginning to soften, add the butter (or you could use canola oil, or another taste-neutral oil) then sprinkle the flour over the mixture and stir well to combine, reduce heat to medium low.  Let cook a couple of minutes to make a lightly browned roux. Add the beef stock gradually, stirring continuously to stop the flour from lumping. Use as much broth as you need to reach the thickness of the sauce you want. As I've noted here many times, I like very thick sauces and gravies. Add the pepper and stir. Adding salt is optional, as the bacon and stock will have salt. Cook another couple of minutes, then stir in the vinegar and sugar. Again, adjust the vinegar and sugar to how sour or sweet you like the taste. Some people leave the eggs whole, some halve them, some quarter them, but do as you please. Add them to the sauce, or place the eggs on a plate and pour the sauce over them.  

No one has to coax me to have mashed potatoes, I LOVE 'EM!

 

 

 
WORD HISTORY: 

Egg-(noun) For such a common word, this form of the word has not really been around in English for all that long, although its relative has. Old English (Anglo-Saxon) had "aeg," with the "g" sound presumably not being emphasized (the same thing happened with "day," which was spelled "daeg" in Old English). Eventually, the Old English word came to be "ey, eye, eai,"* and pronounced like modern "eye," the sight organ (German and Dutch, very close relatives of English, still have "ei," pronounced "eye"). The plural was "eyren." So, my question is, if one Englishman traded a chicken "ey" for a duck "ey," would that be an "ey for an ey?" (hahaha! Excuse me while I get my composure.) Anyway, it is assumed by many linguists that the spelling, "egg," came to English by way of Old Norse (a North Germanic language, closely related to English, which is West Germanic), which also had "egg." There's always the possibility, however, that the original "aeg" survived in certain areas and spread to other parts of England, perhaps aided by the Norse word, which would undoubtedly have been brought to England by the Danes, who settled in large parts of northern England and spoke Old Norse (Old Norse was from the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages). The form "egg" didn't really replace "ey, eye, eai" until like the 1500s and 1600s!!! Whatever the true story, all forms, "aeg," "ey," "eye," "aei," and "egg" come from Old Germanic "ajja." This went back to Indo European "owo," (some spell it "owyo" and "oyyo") which developed in Latin as "ovvum" and in Greek as "oion." Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German "Ei" ("Eier," plural), Low German Saxon "Ai," West Frisian "aai," Dutch "ei," Danish "æg," Norwegian and Icelandic "egg," Swedish "ägg."                                                                                                                                                                        

"Egg," the verb, as in, "egg on or incite," came to English from Old Norse "eggja," which is, by the way, related to English "edge." (For the history of "edge," see:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2008/11/conservatism-unravels-part-two_28.html