4 Tips for Creamier Scrambled Eggs
I’ve always had trouble making scrambled eggs – they turn out rubbery, big chunks of egg, and there’s that weird uneven texture. Milk makes them weird and I am not here for adding corn starch into eggs.
And so I avoided making scrambled eggs, until I learned these techniques in an absurdly delightful book called A Super Upsetting Cookbook About Sandwiches, and it changed the way that I make scrambled eggs.
Ingredients
These ingredients create one serving, you can scale this up or down with the same techniques.
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon butter
Pinch of salt
White pepper to taste
Method
Use a blender
The first technique is to use a blender. I know, you’re ready to unsubscribe right now, but hear me out.
Without getting too science-y, when you beat eggs you’re breaking the proteins so they can recombine into a mesh that traps air and water. Obviously you can do this with a fork; but with a blender its faster and better than you can do by hand.
Crack 4 eggs into your blender, blend until it looks fully uniform – about 30 seconds.
Okay, so you’re saying, Marko, I know you hate doing the dishes. How is using a blender better than using a fork and a bowl? Here’s the thing, you put hot soapy water in the blender, turn it back on, and then you rinse the blender. It is very easy. And if you have to make a lot of eggs for a lot of people it makes very fast work.
If you don’t want to use a blender, or don’t have a blender, use a fork and a sieve. The sieve will help break up the proteins as well, but it’s a slow process.
Cook Low and Slow
he mesh that you created in the first step needs to set, and the way you do that is with heat. Eggs will start setting around 140 Fahrenheit up until 160 Fahrenheit, and water boils at 2:12 Fahrenheit so you want to keep your eggs in the Goldilocks zone so as not to cause the water to boil and burst out of the mash. That is going to keep them soft and creamy and fluffy instead of tight and rubbery.
Temperature is the second way your egg proteins become a mesh. Immediate high heat causes a tight structure to the eggs. For soft eggs, you want to gently coax the eggs to thicken.
Cook at a lower temperature than you want – medium low. Use a nonstick pan and a silicon spatula.
Heat your pan for a few minutes, then add the butter – once the butter bubbles, but doesn’t foam, it’s the right temperature.
Egg whites and egg yolks thicken at different temperatures, which you can use to your advantage.
Control the Curd
The third way to manage your egg proteins is constant stirring. Stirring is moving the hot and cold parts of the eggs around so they set more or less evenly, giving you control over the final texture here.
For creamy, silky, almost pourable eggs you want to stir constantly.
For thick and fluffy curds, stir, wait, then stir again. The brief pauses allow the eggs to set up a little bit by being exposed to the heat for longer.
Take them off the heat early
Take your eggs off the heat when you think “Hmm almost!” and they’ll finish setting up through carry over cooking. If you’re making a sandwich, cook them a little bit further so they’re more likely to stay together instead of fly out of your sandwich.
And that’s it – you can modify these however you want.
Serving scrambled eggs
Scrambled eggs are like a blank canvas, they’re amazing on their own – maybe on top of some buttered rice – but you can change them to fit your mood.
Think of these three categories, look at what you have in the fridge.
What can you put IN the eggs?
Cheese, obviously. But you can pre-cook things like spinach, mushrooms, onions, bacon, tomatoes, or use things that are already melty like miso basically anything and put it in your eggs.
What can you put ON the eggs?
Cheese, obviously. But also herbs, sour cream, hot sauce, smoked salmon, salsa, blistered tomatoes…
What can you put the eggs ON?
Cheese? Make a sandwich on a baguette or english muffin. Put eggs on rice. On a tortilla. Make a stir fry. Put them on asparagus with hollandaise. Bi bim bap is amazing here.
The world is your oyster. But probably don’t put eggs on oysters.