I don’t make them that often, but I really do like scrambled eggs. Not only can they be truly delicious, but they’re incredibly flexible! You can make dozens of types of scrambled eggs, each fabulous in its own way.
When I was a youngster, of course, I’d just heat up a pan, plop in some butter (frequently burning it), crack open a couple of eggs and move them around with a spatula until they were done, maybe with some salt and pepper. Simple, quick, and mostly effective, this kind of scrambled egg got me through my time in collage as an undergraduate.
I first discovered the trick to not burning butter: Put it into a cold frying pan you’ll be using for the eggs, then turn the heat on. When the butter melts, you’re ready to add the eggs, and the butter won’t burn. Later, I found I liked to use about ½ butter, ½ olive oil for a different flavor.
I started to think that maybe there was more that could be done, however, and started experimenting with a few spices. I found garlic salt to be far superior to ordinary salt. Ground pepper was better than pepper out of a can. Onion powder could add some interesting flavor. But the one that, for me, was most interesting: Just a pinch of curry powder. Something about that flavor really complemented the flavor of the eggs and the other ingredients. I also experimented with adding a bit of milk; after years and years, I found I liked the taste of almond milk better. When I started adding milk, I also started using a whisk, so a typical recipe looked like this:
Put 2-3 tablespoons of butter in a cold frying pan (nonstick recommended). Turn the pan up to about 50%-60% maximum.
Crack 2-4 large eggs into a mixing bowl
Add milk or almond milk (around 1/8 cup, or about 02% of the volume of the eggs themselves, whichever)
Pinch of curry
Onion powder — a few shakes
Garlic salt — a few shakes
Ground pepper — to taste; 3-4 turns of a grinder
Wisk all together until the eggs get just a bit foamy and everything is fairly homogenous.
When the butter melts, use a spatula to coat the bottom of the pan with it, and add the eggs all at once. Now you have two choices: (1) let the eggs solidify for an omelette, or (2) move them around to scramble them.
Optional add-ins when the eggs get close to being done: cheese (typically shredded cheddar, but others are good), cherry tomatoes cut in ½, diced onion (use less onion powder if you add this), diced green peppers, bits of sausage, bits of bacon, salsa, fresh diced cilantro.
In the recipe above, less cheese is preferable to more. I like to add tomatoes or cilantro fresh so they’re warm but not cooked at the end. The onions or green pepper can be added the same way, but they’re also good sauteed separately and added to the almost-finished eggs. I found less is more with the sausage and bacon, too — it’s basically a flavoring. If you want a lot of bacon or sausage, just prepare them separately from the eggs.
I happily used the method above for years. Recently, however, I stumbled on another method of preparing scrambled eggs that’s fairly different, and which I like a lot:
(Serves 2)
Put 3 tablespoons of butter in a cold frying pan (nonstick recommended). Turn the pan up to about 50%-60% maximum. Allow the butter to melt and add approximately an equal volume of olive oil.
Obtain a large yellow or white onion (5-6 inches across) and dice it into pieces about 1cm square. When the butter and olive oil are ready, dump all of the onion into the frying pan. Turn several times with a spatula to coat the onion with the butter and olive oil. Heat the onions slowly and with frequent turnings with the spatula — if you see pieces turning brown, turn the heat down or stir the onions more frequently. What you’re aiming for is onions that are mostly translucent and tender.
Add pepper and garlic salt to taste while the onions are cooking.
Take 5 large eggs, and quickly crack them directly into the onions. Stir the eggs in so that they coat the onions as much as possible.
Optional add-ins: Cheese (we tried grated manchego, about ¼ cup, and its nutty flavor went really excellently with the eggs and onions); a combination of (1) salsa or halved cherry tomatoes and (2) fresh diced cilantro; other ingredients as above. Have these ready to go just after you add the eggs, as the eggs will cook quickly. Remove everything from heat when the eggs are just done (perhaps even slightly before, as the heat from the onions will tend to cook the eggs a little more).
You can vary the above recipe with lots of different add-ins or spices, as the egg+onion base is at once flavorful in its own right, and a palette for other flavors. I haven’t added curry to this one yet, however, as the focus is the combination of egg and onion flavors.
I hope this has been a fun diary! If you love eggs, I hope you like these recipes and exploring new flavors and dishes.