plain jane cooking - recipes for the novice:

scrambled eggs

Is there anything better for a quick snack, a tasty breakfast or a filling, easy dinner than good scrambled eggs on toast?

But how many times have you ended up with rubbery eggs and water running around your plate? This is because they have been overcooked. Avoid the temptation to thoroughly cook in the pan; the eggs will continue to cook when removed from the heat.

If allowed to cook in the pan syneresis will take place, this is the overcooking of eggs when the protein will toughen and squeeze out the liquid, resulting in watery scrambled eggs.

This method, while differing from the usual but produces wonderfully light and creamy eggs.

ingredients

butter eggs - large cream

25 3 2

gm pc tbs

method

1. Pre-heat a thick based pan over a medium low flame
2. Break eggs into a bowl, and break 25 gm of butter into small knobs (do not whisk or season the eggs, the eggs will break down and combine as they cook)
3. Pour eggs into pre-heated pan and allow to slowly cook while stirring continuously with a rubber spatula, until the butter has melted, the eggs have broken down and combined and the eggs are cooked to a soft baveuse stage (approximately 6 minutes)
4. Remove from the heat and stir in cream (or use mascarpone, sour cream or crème fraiche)
5. Season and add any other ingredients at this stage : cooked mushrooms, smoked salmon, freshly chopped herbs, etc

chef notes:

These should never be cooked in an aluminium pan, as they will discolour and become grey due to a chemical reaction with the aluminium.

If I am feeling particularly decadent I use garlic butter.

Eggs must be kept in the fridge, remember they are animal product
and require being kept chilled just like the chicken they came from.

Eggs have a shelf life of approximately 8 weeks after being laid, but after the first week the egg white will start to break down

• the older the egg gets the more it will spread and run when
  cracked open
• a fresh egg will stay tight and oval when cracked into pan

email chef@tallyrand.info