The Best Scrambled Eggs: A Quick How To

This is my first post on this lovely blog, and I wanted to begin by saying how grateful and honored I am to be in the company of such thoughtful and kind women.  If you like my posts and want more, I write my own food blog here

I have come to rely on Stringtown Grocery in Kalona, IA for most of my bulk needs.  The store is run by the Amish, who order and repackage bulk foods from beans and grains to herbs and teas.  I have also discovered their meats and dairy, which are locally produced and of very high quality.  All the beef is grassfed and processed locally.  I went last weekend and picked up some local eggs for a quick but lovely weekend breakfast.

Weekday breakfasts for me are always oatmeal or green smoothies (i.e. totally free of animal products), so when I have a little more time to throw something together, I make breakfasts a little more indulgent and special.  That said, including making toast and coffee, this breakfast takes less than 15 minutes!

The Best Scrambled Eggs

Begin with the best eggs you can find.  Pull them out of the fridge well before you're ready to cook, 15-20 minutes.  Eggs really perform best when at room temperature.

You'll also want some good butter, a little cheese of your choice (I use parmesan or sharp cheddar), and some milk of any kind.  If you like hot sauce, I recommend Frank's, one of those rare grocery store products with a great ingredient list (aged cayenne red peppers, distilled vinegar, water, salt, and garlic powder)

Crack your eggs into a bowl and add a little milk.  For these three eggs, I estimate that I added between 1/4 and 1/3 c. milk.  Season generously with, salt and freshly ground black pepper, add a small dash of vinegar (maybe 1/2 tsp), and whatever cheese you like.  I used 1/4 grated parmesan.

When you're mixing up the eggs, it's important not to whip too much air into them, so I try to keep my movements to a minimum, beginning by popping each of the yolks and then slowly stirring everything together with a fork.

I only use non-stick pans for my eggs.  If kept to a low temperature, from what I understand, they're safe.  Put a small pat of butter in your pan and coat the bottom.  This is your insurance against sticking, which eggs love to do.  Then pour in your egg mix and wait.

When I worked in a university cafeteria, I learned all about eggs from making hundreds of them each morning.  You want the bottom layer to mostly cook through before you start moving them around so you can achieve big "curds", as they're called.  Then, slowly scrape up the bottom layer and stir, so the uncooked eggs move into the space left by the curds you've made.  In this photo, you can see the eggs starting to cook on the outer edge and some of the curds in the middle. (You can see some of the browned butter on top, too. mmm)

Keep going until the eggs still look just slightly wet.  You are going to think you're stopping too early but you aren't.  They will continue to cook for a few seconds after you take the pan off heat.  Here's where I stopped:

Have them with some toast with apple butter, coffee, and an orange if you can, since citrus is so great right now.

Enjoy, and happy weekend!