Stone Soup

I trust you're familiar with the folk tale about stone soup, where someone offers to make soup from a stone, but persuades people to add a little of this and a little of that?

Well -- Egg Soup, or actually "dressed eggs", from a cookery book on Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/hwife10.txt

I'd put it in the early 19th century, but I couldn't find a date.

Boil your Eggs till they are hard, and cut the Whites only into Rings or large pieces; then cut some Parsley and Onions small, and stew them with a little Salt, Pepper, and Nutmeg in half a Pint of Water, till the Onion andParsley is tender; when this is done, put in your Eggs [whites only, note] well flower'd, and as soon as they are hot, put half a Pint of Cream to them, and thicken them for serving at the Table.

The Yolks may be fry'd to garnish the Dish.

Or may not. I wonder if this was a plot to keep the good bits for the servants. There's another recipe for battered egg whites in gravy.... Ick. No mention of the yolks there at all.