The Perfect Scrambled Egg February 16, 2012
Have you ever wondered how restaurants get their scrambled eggs so fluffy? I have – and I’ve been struggling for years to get that consistency. Most of the time they end up chewy. My poor family!
Turns out, I’ve been way over-thinking it. The secret is simply this: water!
Simply whisk water into your eggs until frothy, approximately 1/2 tsp per egg, cook them up in your non-stick frying pan and leave out the salt until the last minute of the cooking time. Try to move the eggs as little as possible as not to lose the air bubbles.
The water steams the eggs during the cooking process, causing air to build up and creating those beautiful fluffy golden eggs we all love. Adding your salt at the last minute of cooking before serving will save you from having chewy eggs.
The family has given me rave reviews, as if I’ve found the magic ingredient my eggs had lacked. Anybody else have egg cooking tips to share?
Stirring a dollop of creme fraiche into the eggs near the end of cooking adds a delicious richness and flavor.
What ruins scrambled eggs is cooking them at too high temps. If the pan is too hot then the egg whites coagulate into tough strands, squeezing out water. That’s what causes eggs that have a dry texture, and yet are in small puddles of water. So, have patience!
–Terry from HenCam.com
I’ve been experimenting with hard cooked eggs – my fresh eggs are so hard to peel. I’ve tried the “bring to a boil, then shut off the heat and cover for 30 minutes” and the add a tsp to a tbsp of salt to the water. What I’ve found that works the best is steaming the eggs. I use a double boiler (but you can use a steam basket). Bring the water to a boil, add eggs, turn heat low enough to keep the steam going, and cook for 10- 20 minutes (depending on how done you want your eggs). Now I can make deviled eggs and they don’t look like they’ve been through a war!
That works for a fluffy omelet also. 🙂
If you add milk, you also get fluffy eggs.
If you leave your “fresh” eggs in the fridge for a couple of weeks, they are much easier to peel when hard boiled. If I don’t have time to leave them that long,(like when I need them for a pot luck tonight) I usually just get some store bought eggs, as they are already that old by the time you buy them.
Yes, I ‘age’ all my eggs for boiling, I eat one a day and not being able to peel them is annoying. And yes, I have also bought eggs in a pinch (how awful, huh).
I never buy store eggs now I have chickens . I also got a chicken from a factory farm