Sublime Scrambled Eggs

I'm a big fan of Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, and even Gordon Ramsey. This is a bit of a combination on how they make scrambled eggs. [There is an interview floating around somewhere of Mr Pepin saying something to the tune of '... and if you have a lady friend stay the night, the least you can do is make her a proper omelet.'

Eggs are amazing. I love eggs, and I have eggs for breakfast almost every day. This is the way that I prefer to make them. I think it shows off the best flavors of the eggs, it brings out the best.

The ingredients are simple, and it should take you less than 10 minutes from start to finish. Don't be afraid of eggs....

This is most of my breakfast in the morning, so adjust appropriately:


3 Eggs
Scallions
Cheddar Cheese
Splash of Milk
S and P to taste

Notes on ingredients--

Eggs
I go pretty far out of my way to get free range eggs. This is the most important ingredient. The eggs are beautiful. The hens are out amidst the cows on the farm, doing their chicken-y things. You can't get more free range than that.

Scallions
Preferably from your own garden, but these are just green onions, finely chopped (you don't need a lot, just to flavor.)

Cheddar Cheese
I use Trader Joe's Raw Milk Cheddar. Illinois law requires raw milk cheeses to be aged at least 60 days. No problems. Love the taste, and it is natural. DO NOT get pre-grated cheese. They have to add powdered silica to the cheese to get it not to all clump together. You don't really want to eat sand, do you? Any other cheese you like? Give it a try!

Milk
We use raw milk from my friends at Golden Guernsey in the western Chicago suburbs. We easily drink a gallon a week, and I make the drive out to visit once a week to keep it fresh. LOVE real milk. RAW milk. Give it a try...

The only 'prep' work you need to do is chop the scallion (Sacre Bleu!! Heavens forbid!) You will find what the taste you like is... but I found that about the area of an egg in scallions is a good flavor for 3 eggs scrambled. Not an exact number...



Here is about 'egg sized' little pile of scallions. You can re-use the green onion to get your scallions for maybe 2 weeks. If parts of it appear to be going soft, just chop them off and cut deeper. Discard when you get to the whitish part of the onion, unless you like a pretty pungent flavor.

Eggs-- When you crack eggs, hold them in your hand and rap them once, quickly, on a flat surface. this way, you don't break the egg yolk (Yes, we are making them scrambled, but if you do it the same way every time, when you want over easy you will do the same action.) So, hold like this (although slightly against the palm of your hand... I had to hold it like this to take the picture.) [Off the cuff, I have a record of weeks at a time without breaking a yolk. I seem to break every 4 or 5 yolks right now.... bad streak!!]

Now, you will be doing two things simultaneously. Get the butter going in the pan, and whisk your eggs. I use real butter, please stop using oils to cook in. If you use oil, add some butter or lard of manteca or schmaltz, or whatever... you need those saturated fats in the REAL fat to protect the unsaturated fats from oxidizing. And for God's sake, don't use Crisco. Throw it away. THAT shit will kill you.

You want your butter to reach the point that the bubbles are subsiding. Hard to get in a picture, but you don't want it to start browning. Hot, but not burnt. (All of this takes place over fairly low heat. I use a gas top, electric tops take some adjusting.)

While your butter melts, whip or whisk your eggs. Add your splash of milk here. Ramsey says to add butter, do what you'd like, but a little fat makes things a bit more 'sprightly.' You want them as uniform in color as you can once you start. I use a fork, some people use a whisk, Julia Child would use chopsticks... whatever works for you. Just don't over do it. Once it is at a uniform color, and the butter is hot, into the pan it goes! [Don't add S and P yet... supposedly, they'll make the eggs a little more runny.]

Once it is in the pan, you can add the scallions, scatter them around liberally. I usually just scrape them off the cutting board. These are for flavor, so if you find you like the flavor, add more!

You'll notice the edges of the eggs start to harden a bit. If you are using a non-stick pan, just scrape gently from the edges towards the middle, and the slightly more cooked eggs from the bottom of the pan will bunch up towards the center. When they start to form that way, grate the cheese directly into the eggs in the pan. Don't be shy, just get it right in there. The cheese will melt and incorporate a bit into the eggs. This way if they sit for more than 10 seconds, you don't have a cheese film on top of your eggs... they will all stay happy together.

You are going to keep pulling the eggs towards the center. Flip them over a bit as you do this, so that they are cooking evenly. I don't like dry eggs, so I just keep everything moving. Once they are willing to 'bunch up' for you a little tightly in the middle of the pan, you can bring them to the plate. As soon as they are plated, add a little S and P if you would like... I prefer just a touch of pepper, and I do not salt a lot of my food, but if you wanted to, now is the time.

And voila! Sublime Scrambled Eggs. Total time, 10 minutes, start to finish, most likely less once you have done it a few times. Dig in!

Cheers!

Scott

p.s... figuring out cost. Back of the envelope parsing here-- I get eggs at $6/dozen (you can get cheaper, but not REAL free range); Milk is $8/gallon, cheese is like $10/lb, and scallions are maybe $0.50 a bundle. So the total cost of this meal is about $1.90-$2.00. MAXIMUM. Even though they are all expensive ingredients, you can make REAL food CHEAPLY. Especially if the scallions come out of your own garden, or you have a little hen house (free eggs every morning!!) or, of course, you are totally farmsteading and have your own cows and make your own cheese.

But even buying the most expensive stuff that I can, breakfast comes in at under $2.50 (Being insanely generous with the pricing.) Time? <10 minutes. Price? ~$2.00. Why would you have anything else? Get cooking!!