Cooking with eggs is a versatile art, which is why we believe it is important to explain all the basic methods. This may sometimes seem trivial, but it is by no means so, as the (not so) simple act of poaching eggs alone demonstrates.
In North America, fried eggs are cooked until crispy and brown; in Europe, however, such a thing would be firmly rejected (quel surprise!).
When it comes to scrambled eggs, however, both sides agree that they shouldn’t be dry.
What is desired, rather, is creaminess. And so, particularly online, one finds many descriptions of how to prepare the egg before cooking in order to achieve precisely that. People add milk or cream, water (still or sparkling), melted butter, and who knows what else.
You don’t need any of that. A traditional, incredibly simple method is all it takes. For us, scrambled eggs consist of eggs and a little salt, with black pepper and herbs – particularly chives – to taste. And nothing else. The eggs are cooked in butter and served with toasted or very fresh sourdough bread. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Scrambled eggs should be cooked in a non-stick frying pan; anything else is not advisable. A silicone spatula is the best tool for stirring; otherwise, use a wooden or plastic cooking spoon. The eggs – as with a classic omelette, three is the ideal number for one portion – are cracked open and beaten until homogeneous with a fork. The mixture should be smooth, without incorporating too much air. Add a pinch of salt at this stage, and a little pepper if desired.
Nothing else is added to the eggs – no water and no dairy products. Instead, about a quarter of the mixture is set aside before cooking – and that’s the whole secret.
Set the pan only to medium heat, as eggs cook very, very quickly. Melt the butter in the pan until it foams. The bottom of the pan needs to be just covered with butter; a little extra will add more flavour.
Then pour the majority of the egg mixture into the pan and stir continuously and rapidly. The egg cooking at the bottom of the pan sets almost immediately, and as you stir, pockets of set egg form amidst the runny mixture. The slower you stir, the larger the folds or waves that form. If you stir very quickly, only small, firmer pieces form within a more liquid mixture – resulting in particularly creamy scrambled eggs.
So, by adjusting the speed of the stirring (and the low temperature), you can control the texture of the scrambled eggs. This is simple. However, the problem remains that there are only seconds’ difference between perfectly creamy eggs and ones that are too dry. Many recipes aim to remedy this by adding other ingredients.
However, there is an easier way: once the scrambled eggs look just right to you, take the pan off the heat and immediately pour in the remaining egg mixture, stirring as you go. This cools the eggs in the pan just enough to ensure that the residual heat from the pan and the eggs can no longer spoil the result you’re aiming for. Instead, it cooks the raw egg to perfection.
Serve immediately. Deliciousness can be very simple.
Enjoy.
And may the taste be with you.
For those of you who have patiently read this far, we’ll quickly explain how to make scrambled eggs according to Auguste Escoffier, the founder of French Grande Cuisine.
Those days, scrambled eggs should never come into contact with the intense heat of a frying pan or the base of a saucepan. Instead, they were cooked over a water bath, known as a bain-marie.
Here is the equipment we use:
If you don’t have that, use a pot at the bottom, place a fine-mesh sieve of a suitable size on top, and then place a metal bowl inside the sieve. This works just as well, and the sieve acts as a handle, allowing you to move the hot bowl over the steam.
Melt the butter that you would normally use for frying, then allow it to cool slightly before whisking it thoroughly with the eggs and a pinch of salt in the still cold bain-marie (i.e. the bowl set over the pan).
Bring a small amount of water to the boil in the pot – it must not touch the bottom of the bowl under any circumstances. The rising steam heats the bowl placed on top, and that is the cooking method.
So, whilst the bowl is warming up, keep stirring the egg with a whisk. Once it reaches a certain temperature, you will notice that thin layers or splashes of the egg mixture begin to set on the sides of the bowl. All of this is continuously whisked into the still-liquid egg mixture, which slowly turns into a crème. Its consistency is determined by time and contact with the heat of the steam. When you are satisfied, remove the bowl from the pan, continuing to stir. The residual heat of the bowl will continue to cook the mixture a little further.
Now you can fold in some fresh herbs, for example; today we’re using an unusual blend of dill, lovage and savory.
There was also some trout roe from another dish; that always goes well with scrambled eggs.
