Take 10 cloves of garlic, cooked in water for 15 minutes (I skipped this – the French, at this point, were still afraid that garlic would DO THINGS TO YOU because it was too powerful), crushed with 2 anchovies, a good pinch of capers (do you pinch capers? That’s a funny measurement even for the time), thin with oil a bit of vinegar, salt, pepper; put this sauce in the bottom of the dish and serve the eggs over it, arranged appropriately.

Oeufs à l’ail:

Ayez dix gousses d’ail, cuites un demi-quart d’heure dans de l’eau, pilez-les avec deux anchois, une bonne pincée de capres, ensuite vous les délayerez avec de l’huile, un filet de vinaigre, un peu de sel, gros poivre; mettez cette sauce dans le fond du plat que vous devez servir, et des oeufs durs dessus, arrangés proprement.

I used salted anchovies – the taste can’t even be compared to the packed in oil or water variety. All you have to do is rinse off the salt, scale them, cut off the fins and heads, split them (as Macbeth said) from the nave to the chops, and pull out their spine. I actually had my wife take a Mortal Combat style picture of this last part, but it was too disturbing to include.

Instead of serving them under the eggs, I just served them on the side to be used condiment style. I ended up with a pretty dry sauce, but you can add oil to get the sauce any consistency you’d like.