Cooking eggs is maybe one of the first things any young chef attempts to do. When you reach that ripe age of being able and allowed in the kitchen unsupervised, making yourself breakfast seems like an easy first step. It’s so gratifying when you successfully crack an egg, transfer it to the frying pan all while ensuring no egg shell bits have found their way into the egg mix. After the first few successful breakfasts you develop the urge and interest to play out those tutorials where you flip the egg in the pan, trying to act all professional. While these moments are all a part of the learning process and are looked back on fondly, cooking a good egg still remains an art.
Most of the time we all get used to our own skills and abilities and therefore develop a taste for what we make. If it’s somewhat acceptable we allow ourselves to continue on that track and slowly after trial and error we become better and the quality of what we are cooking automatically improves. Our tastebuds become happier with every bite of finer cooking.
Eggs are such a delicate ingredient to cook with. The easiest way to begin cooking an egg is to scramble it. What could go wrong? Whisk it up and scramble it in the pan as it cooks. A minute later you plate it up and voila you are done. From now onwards for the remaining years you will remain a chef in your kitchen, you will attempt scrambled eggs hundreds maybe thousands of times. Each time the result will be slightly different from the last. Some days it will be tough, other days it will be dry. The worst attempts are when you get distracted and over cook them and they become rubbery. For every bad attempt with scrambled eggs you fish around online for the perfect way to scramble an egg.
As you dream of the soft fluffy eggs with the right amount of moisture, you start to attempt all the hacks that surface in your online search. Somebody will tell you to add a little water when you are whisking while someone else will tell you to add some sour cream. In another video, the secret is to cook in brown butter. Every video you watch, the chef is giving you the Michelin star tips and you are convinced that the chef is a pro and has mastered it. Sometimes the tips work and other times the tips send you on a wild goose chase to the supermarket to procure ingredients which otherwise you never use and probably will be sitting in your cabinets for a long time. Trust me, I have a shelf full of ingredients which I can show off and say yes that is in my pantry but I have yet to regularly use those ingredients.
Eggs, for me, are categorized in the simple comfort food section and I can eat them at any meal time. When there is nothing interesting to eat, eggs become the quick fix satisfying meal. They are packed with all the right nutrients so no guilty feelings surface. Simple foods are made simply. All you need is to not complicate it. Upon request, I recently made scrambled eggs and after breakfast I was told, “that was some good scrambled eggs.” The best thing for any chef is a good review. However, it got me thinking. I didn’t really do much so what made the person appreciate it so much? Scrambled eggs in my experience, requires nothing but a dash of salt. The key to getting it fluffy is….get ready to flex your muscles. You need to whisk it till it’s frothy. Maybe you own a milk frother. I do but it has no batteries in it so I brush that gadget aside. Instead, use your hands and arms and a fork or whisk and keep at it until the eggs get really frothy. If you get lazy or tired before you see the froth then you won’t get the perfectly scrambled eggs. Once the eggs are frothy and you transfer the eggs to the pan, do yourself a favor, don’t get distracted and don’t overcook them. Remove them from the pan once you see the fluffy moist texture. Your eggs are done. Eggs-elent breakfasts make for satisfied tummies!
I love eggs - they cook up so quickly and are delicious and nutritious.!