Perfect Scrambled Eggs

Well, you asked for it. In the comments to this post, to be exact.

And the idea for this post came at a good time. If we're friends on facebook or if we follow each other on twitter--and if not, why not?--then you know that I've complained all week about a terrible gastric incident that hit both Bruce and me out of the blue. Wow. We were down and out for days. Literally. I wasn't upright for 48 hours.

When we came back to the land of the living (and mobile), I started making scrambled eggs. They're good on the stomach. But honestly, I make them for lunch once a week. I love a vinegary salad, some creamy scrambled eggs, and a piece of crunchy toast. On my days off, I might add a glass of red wine. Now that's living at lunch!

But I'll admit: I'm fussy about them. I want them creamy, not in dry curds. Bruce has often laughed about my technique. "He goes in the kitchen and comes out thirty minutes later with scrambled eggs." Well, it's not quite that bad. But still. . . .

So here are all my secrets. . . .

First, go back to that first picture. Note that I give my forearm a good work-out whisking those eggs. (I think there are five large ones in that bowl.) There must not be one speck of floating white. I also want a creamy foam that doesn't instantly dissolve.

Note also what I don't do. I don't mix anything into the eggs. No milk, no stretchers. There's no need. Perfect scrambled eggs are a thing of beauty. Pure and simple. They don't need to be made "more creamy" than you can in fact make them on their own.

And by the way, no salt at this point. Salt toughens eggs as they cook. So save the salt for the table.

OK, next, I set a nonstick skillet over low heat. Low. I use one of the large burners but set it as low as it will go. And I'm not afraid of nonstick cookware here because the heat will never go through the stratosphere. I swirl in a tablespoon or two of fat--in these pics, I'm using olive oil; but I love butter, walnut oil, or even avocado oil--and then pour in the eggs, not all in the center, but all around the skillet.

No sizzle. I want silence. No sound at all. The skillet's still fairly cool. Low heat, after all.

I begin to stir with a heat-safe spatula. And stir I do. The whole time. I don't stop. As the mixture begins to take on a little heat--and you can bump the heat up just a tad if you're impatient--the curds begin to form. I don't let them. I smoosh them back in place. At no point should the skillet be hot enough to "scrape" the eggs off its surface. Instead, everything stays very low, very slow, with my stirring all the while. (Notice in that picture how liquid the eggs are at the edges of the skillet.)

Soon, the curds become more prominent--although I keep stirring them back, smooshing them, always moving. In the end, I'm making custard. Stirring, stirring, stirring. They start to hold their shape but are still luscious, almost (dare I write it?) lubricious. Creamy and decadent.

Finally, toward the end of the process, there is some sticking. It's inevitable. The skillet will continue to take on heat. But I keep stirring. I'm not looking back. Stir, stir, stir. Slowly, too. No fast motions at all. This is very Zen. To get to this point, it might take as much as ten minutes, sometimes more if I'm using six or eight eggs.

At the end, they're custard-like, wet, creamy. They may not look "done" in the traditional sense. If you're in doubt, remove the skillet from the heat and stick an instant-read meat thermometer into the mass. The temperature should be about 154F (68 C).

Dish them up. No more waiting. They're perfect. No, not like the diner's scrambled eggs. Instead, a pure egg custard. Salt and pepper them at will. And settle in. Because all that effort is about to pay off.

Comments

[Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial]

No milk, no cream? These really do look like the perfect scrambled eggs, Mark. One that lets you enjoy every nuance and subtlety that the egg has to offer. Thanks for sharing! :)

[thefarnz]

I follow u on every step. one question: the correct moment to add the eggs to the oil. is there a sign/heat moment? Hold your hand over the pan? Bubbles or foam stoppage? I'm eager to try your tecnique to compare with Cooks illustrated's.
H ( the farnz)

[Mark Scarbrough]

TheF: No moment at all. You're trying not to heat things up. Whisk the eggs first, put the skillet over the heat, add the oil or fat--a friend recommended bacon fat--and pour in the eggs. If you're using butter, it may not completely melt. Let it melt a tad, swirl it around the skillet, and pour in those beaten eggs. Again, the point is very little heat in the skillet to start.

Arthur Boehm reminded me last night on facebook that you can do a very similar trick in a saucepan, not a skillet. It takes much longer. Much. Up to forty-five minutes. But the eggs will be even creamier.

M.

[amy]

this is just how i like them, too. thanks for the post. passing on oatmeal tomorrow for some of these!