Simple, creamy scrambled eggs are a delightful breakfast. It’s a dish designed to highlight the egg’s flavour without the need for any other strong flavours. Yet, I have friends who keep telling me they can’t get it right, or that it wasn’t as good as one they had at a hotel or restaurant. It is for people like them that I am writing this guide to simple, delicious scrambled eggs. Oh, and it has pictures too.
What you need
Fresh Eggs – 2 (There are 4 eggs in the pic because I was cooking for 2)
Cream – 1 tbsp
White pepper – A pinch or two (Black pepper is all my friend had)
Butter – 1 tbsp
Salt – 1/2 tsp
Cheese – 1 tbsp (Optional. I’ve used Pecorino Romano. Also try Parmesan.)
A simple list, isn’t it?
How to make it
First, make sure your eggs are at room temperature and are as fresh as possible. Don’t use those two week-old eggs from the fridge, OK?
Pop some bread into your toaster now and set it to “light” so you don’t get black toast. You need the bread only lightly toasted, and it should be done by the time you finish your eggs.
Add the eggs, salt, pepper, and cream into a bowl.
Now whisk it till blended, but don’t overdo it. We don’t want a big, frothy mix. We just want to make sure everything’s mixed together.
Alrighty, now find yourself a nice non-stick omelette pan, will you? (I made this at a friend’s house, so had to make do with the “once used to be non-stick” pan she had.) It will make life simple. Something 8″ or 10″ like this one will do fine. Heat the pan up on medium heat and make sure it’s warm, but don’t let it get too hot or start smoking or you’ll have an omelette before you get the chance to make scrambled eggs.
Then add your butter to the pan. If your pan is the right temperature, it should slowly start melting. If it’s too hot, it will melt immediately and start turning brown.
Let the butter foam, but don’t let it get brown or your eggs will have a nutty flavour. This should not take more than 15-20 seconds after you put the butter in.
When the butter foams, pour in your egg mixture.
Yes, that meaty hand is mine. Why do you ask?
Now comes the fun part. If you’re making this at home, do as I tell you. If this is for a restaurant and you need to make them faster, well, you probably shouldn’t be reading Internet recipes for scrambled eggs.
Turn the heat down to low or medium-low. With a wooden spatula (this is a non-stick pan, remember? Metal spatulas will scratch it.), scrape the outer edges of the eggs and pull them towards the center, allowing the eggs to form curds and letting the uncooked top parts of the eggs to flow to the outsides.
Then just stirring the mix every 10-20 seconds gently in a figure “8” motion for around 5 minutes or till the mass starts getting more creamy and solid. If you’re using cheese, toss it now.
And eventually, you’ll get to this (no, don’t get impatient and turn up the bloody heat!)
Yay! We’re almost there, and by “almost” I mean 1 minute away from being done. Excellent, keep at it – the stirring, I mean. If you really want a sexy taste to the eggs, add another teaspoon or two of butter at this stage and let it just get cold-whisked into the mix.
Another minute will give you this stage:
And that, my friend, is when you immediately turn off the heat. Turn it off! Don’t wait. Timing is everything. The eggs will continue to cook for another 30 seconds in the residual heat, and you do not want hard, rubbery scrambled eggs. This is just right. Notice the creamy texture? Mmm… good stuff.
Alrighty then, your toast should be ready by now. Put the slices on a plate, and spoon the eggs over them. I’ve used a sprinkling of dill on top, but chives would be more traditional. If you have neither, just forget about it. Don’t add strong herbs to this please.
Now enjoy the wonderful flavour and texture of scrambled eggs done just right. They really are that simple.
(If they turn out well for you, post the recipe link on your Facebook page. You can also follow me on Twitter @madmanweb)
Discovered your gem of a website yesterday. Made this and the rice w/o rice cooker so far. Excellent. Thanks for the radness, madman