An eggcellent birthday edition.
I promise that's the only pun.
Hi, hi, hi.
Today is my birthday. My 34th birthday.
I spent a lot of the last week trying to come up with a recipe that was worthy of such an occasion. Something that felt uniquely ‘me’, that represented the way I like to cook and to feed people, that I make all the time, and be simple, comforting, and delicious.
So we’re scrambling eggs, lol.
Scrambled eggs are one of the first things my mother taught me to make. And in true 90’s fashion, it was with the assistance of a microwave. I’m not sure at what age I was entrusted to crack two eggs by myself, whisk them with a splash of milk and a pinch of S&P, then blast them at 30-second intervals until egg sponges but I felt like I could be the next Dame Alison Holst.
Despite how it may appear, during the week, I mostly cook to fuel. We still eat well but it’s nothing to write about here. By the time it gets to Thursday, we’re often having eggs.
There are poached eggs with potato rosti, and ham. Or 6.5-minute soft-boiled eggs on rice with kimchi and greens. Eggs fried in any number of things; sage, Zataar, sesame seeds, chilli crisp, or a quick tomato sauce. But the majority of the time they’re simply scrambled with buttered extra thin vogels, an avocado at various stages of ripeness, and hot sauce.
I’ve run the gamut of egg preparation and I do enjoy making them.
I went through the same phase that I think most cooks learning the basics have gone through - I tried to master the French-omelette. I dedicated myself to making the perfectly blonde, just set, half-moon mounds of egg. I studied videos of Jacque Pepin and Wolfgang Puck and I often ripped them apart as I saw them fail, and resigned myself to scrambled eggs again. And eventually decided that I prefer them scrambled over an omelette anyway. I can now make a perfect French omelette maybe every third attempt, and I’m fine with that.
Anyway, after all of this, I’ve found that there are two ways to scramble an egg. The first is what I would call ‘cafe style’. This hard, quick, hot scramble produces a blanket of folded eggs, that have just set. Almost like that French omelette pre-fold. This is the perfect scramble for me.
The other way is a slow, luxurious, patient scramble. The eggs are cooked on low heat while constantly stirring to get small soft curds that are more unctuous and rich. This is how my boyfriend likes his eggs.
And one thing I’ve learned in my 34 years, is that in a relationship you must compromise. So each egg Thursday, we alternate.
Scrambled eggs. At two speeds. And two temperatures. For him and her.
There are only three ingredients here. Eggs, fat, and salt. Since each is important I’ll break them down.
Eggs - at least two.
Cracked into a bowl and combined. I like to use a fork instead of a whisk so you can mix without whipping and aerating them. Combine for at least 20 seconds.Fat - oil vs butter.
For the hard, fast scramble, the eggs are cooked in a hot, hot pan so we need a fat that can stand up to it. Skip the olive oil and butter which can burn and use a good canola, sunflower or I’m using rapeseed oil.
For the low, slow scramble, we’re cooking on low heat with no risk of burning so we can use butter - it’ll make them taste good too.Salt - before or after.
For the hard, fast scramble, we’ll add the salt to the eggs before we cook them. I find that it seasons the eggs more evenly throughout and we’re cooking them so quickly, that they don’t have a chance to get tough.
Alternatively, for the low, slow scramble, we’ll add the salt at the end. Since we’re cooking them slowly, adding salt at the beginning can draw out moisture and create watery, puddly, tough eggs. No, thanks.Extra - you can totally add a splash of dairy to make these more creamy. If you do, I highly recommend something with a high-fat content like cream, full-fat milk, or creme fraiche.
Last note: I’ve added videos at the bottom of each recipe to show the process more visually but it will take you to the web version to watch. I’m still figuring out how to do them in the actual email :)
Hard, fast scrambled eggs.
This will all come together in about 10 seconds. I can normally the whole thing before the toaster pops so put your bread in first.
Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 tsp cooking oil
S&P
Place a non-stick frying/cast iron pan on high heat. Crack two eggs into a bowl and whisk together well with a fork. Add a good pinch of salt and whisk to combine.
Once the pan is hot, add the tsp of oil and lift and tilt the pan to make sure the whole bottom of the pan is shimmering.
This will only take 10 seconds so get your spatula ready.
Pour the eggs into the pan, they should sizzle and start to form a cooked layer instantly. Hold the handle of the pan and push the spatula through the eggs toward the centre of the pan. Lift and tilt the pan so that uncooked egg now fills the gap.
Continue moving the spatula through the egg and tipping and tilting until all the egg is set.
Take off the heat, add another pinch of salt and a grind of pepper. Plate and eat.
Low, slow scrambled eggs
There are many ways to make low and slow scrambled eggs. Gordon Ramsey cracks the eggs directly into a cold pan, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt adds cornflour. Like above, I’m going to keep it to simply eggs, fat, and S&P.
Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 Tbsp butter, I just cut a good slice off the block
S&P
Crack two eggs into a bowl and whisk together well with a fork.
Place a non-stick frying /cast iron pan on medium-low heat and melt your butter. Once it is just starting to melt, pour your eggs directly into the pan. With a spatula or wooden spoon, slowly move the eggs around, constantly stirring and loosely combining them. The goal here is to always be shifting which bit of egg mixture gets in contact with the bottom of the pan.
Now - for the next 3-4 minutes you can’t. stop. stirring.
After three minutes of moving them around, start thinking about your desired doneness. If you like them fully cooked, keep going until you can run the spatula through the middle and it doesn’t collapse, like Moses parting the Red Sea. I prefer them just set so take them off while they’re still a little custardy. They’ll continue to cook a touch off the heat too.
Remove from the heat and give them a good S&P seasoning. Tip on to toast.
If you’re in the Hawkes Bay, eat this pizza. You’re welcome.
I stayed at a beautiful/cool house on the weekend (Hi Amelia!) and the eggs in the pantry had been decanted from their cardboard box and into a chic bowl. Now I think I need this.
Potato, anchovy, butter, egg, yes, please. This recipe has made the egg Thursday rotation. I want to make it clear that I am team ‘add a little potato’.
I don’t want to get too far down Sentimental Lane on my birthday as I’m known to turn sharply left into Melancholic Crescent and veer too far down Forlorn Avenue. Buttttt…… thank you so much for reading this silly little newsletter. Every week I press send, it blows my mind that there are real people out there, sitting on a bus or in a quiet moment at work reading it. It’s been a big step out of my comfort zone but I really enjoy doing it.
Instead of getting me a gift this year, may I shamelessly request that you click the button below and share it with one other person?
That’s it, that’s all. I’m off to eat cake.
Rosie xx