Scrambled eggs

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

Yesterday, I was reading Julia Child's memoire, My Life in France, in which she speaks of learning to cook scrambled eggs at the Cordon Bleu cooking school from Chef Max Bugnard.

Her description of his method is:

I volunteered for scrambled-egg duty. Bugnard watched intently as I whipped some eggs and cream into a froth, got the frying pan very hot, and slipped in a pat of butter, which hissed and browned in the pan.

“Non!” he said in horror, before I could pour the egg mixture into the pan. “That is absolutely wrong!”

With a smile, Chef Bugnard cracked two eggs and added a dash of salt and pepper. “Like this,” he said, gently blending the yolks and whites together with a fork. “Not too much.”

He smeared the bottom and sides of a frying pan with butter, then gently poured the eggs in. Keeping the heat low, he stared intently at the pan. Nothing happened. After a long three minutes, the eggs began to thicken into a custard. Stirring rapidly with the fork, sliding the pan off and on the burner, Bugnard gently pulled the egg curds together—“Keep them a little bit loose; this is very important,” he instructed. “Now the cream or butter,” he said, looking at me with raised eyebrows. “This will stop the cooking, you see?” I nodded, and he turned the scrambled eggs out onto a plate, sprinkled bits of parsley around, and said, “Voilà!”

It was a remarkable lesson. No dish, not even the humble scrambled egg, was too much trouble for him. “You never forget a beautiful thing that you have made,” he said. “Even after you eat it, it stays with you—always.”

I just tried making scrambled eggs that way. The best scrambled eggs I have ever tasted.

[Major Nikon]

1. I've posted about cooking eggs extensively in this group

I have a few different threads on the subject.

Julia Child was very interested in food science which is part of what made her a great chef. After she learned how she wanted to know why. I go into much of the why. If you're interested you can dig up some of my old threads and even explain how you can make fried eggs (although not really fried) and boiled eggs (although not really boiled) using the same principles of slowly cooking egg proteins to a custard like state.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

2. Sorry, I had not seen them. N/T

[pinto]

3. I seriously mangled scrambled eggs for years 'till I got it. Low and slow and a light hand works.

Now I can reasonably do moist, medium or dry pretty well.

Who knew? I started out tossing mixed eggs into a too hot, buttered skillet and just scraping it all around.

[Fumesucker]

4. I never went to Cordon Bleu or any other cooking school for that matter

But I figured most of that out on my own, particularly the part about not over-scrambling the eggs. I probably cook a bit faster than Bugnard and I don't salt or pepper until after cooking is done or nearly so but everyone who tries my scrambled eggs, toast and bacon breakfast compliments me on the flavors and textures.

I also cook my bacon in the microwave on a ridged tray with a cover, since I like bacon moderately crisp but not burned the final cooking is done on defrost for a couple of minutes, then I absorb as much grease as possible with a paper towel or two.

After reading this I will try cooking the eggs even more slowly, thanks for posting.

[JBoy]

5. Low and slow is the key

I put a little butter into a nonstick frypan, crack 3 eggs into it, break the yolks and then gently, almost continuously stir with a spatula. Coffee in one hand, spatula in the other, I can take my time. The eggs start to firm up, shut off the heat just before they're done.

Also discovered that scrambled eggs with a dollop of sour cream and salsa is pretty good.

[MrMickeysMom]

6. I like your post...

I'm sure there are plenty of archives, but that was a good description of what is old is new.