[Sca-cooks] Mollycoddle was OOP: What are they teaching are kids?

[Johnna Holloway]

Looking up moll in EEBO, you run into literally mole hills, as spelled  
moll hilles.

mollet turns up in 1540? "quhill he be riddin with ane mollet brydyl."

Huloets dictionarie newelye corrected in 1572 does mention

"egge that is reare. Ouum edurum, Non durum. Oeuf à demy dur & a demy  
mollet."

Ok the full list of egg terms as listed by Huloet, Richard:

Egge. Ouum, ui. n. g. Oeuf. H.
Egge shell. Oui testa, Putamen, Cortex. Coquille. H.
¶Whyte of an egge. Oui albumen, Oui albor, O|ui candidum. Aubin. H.

Egge with two yoekes, or yolkes. Ouum geminū. Oeuf a deux moyaux.
Egge, called a wynde egge. Ouum irritum, Sub|uentaneum, Hypenemium,  
Zephyrium vento conceptum, è quo gigni nihil potest. Oeuf rempli de  
vent. H.
Egge that is addell. Ouum vrinum, Cynosurum ouum. Oeuf qui n' a point  
de germe.
¶An egge hatching. Ouum pullescens. Oeuf couué.

¶The strayne of an egge. Vmbilicus oui. H.

¶Yolke of an egge. Oui luteum, Vitellus. Moyeu d' vn oeuf. H.

Egge that is newe layde. Ouum recens. Oeuf fraiz.
Egge that is olde layde. Ouum requietum, non recens. Oeuf vieil. H.
¶Softe egge. Ouum tremulum, molle, sorbile. Oeuf en l' escaille H.

Egge that is reare. Ouum edurum, Non durum. Oeuf à demy dur & a demy  
mollet. H.
Egge fried. Ouum frixum. Oeuf poché. H.


Johnnae

On Jan 7, 2010, at 5:03 PM, Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius wrote:

>
> On Jan 7, 2010, at 4:31 PM, Johnna Holloway wrote:
>
>> You rang?
>>
>> Checked OED-
>>
>> For the noun mollycoddle it all leads in a number of ways:
>
> As the OED all too often tends to do, this all makes perfect sense,  
> and yet leaves me feeling only about 98% convinced by the logic. I  
> can't find a flaw in it, but still wonder if some 18th-century  
> English cook, who had been exposed to some French techniques and  
> terms, had in among his or her utensils for cooking eggs, a mollet  
> coddler for the purpose of cooking mollet coddled eggs.
>
> Adamantius