Really? THE best? That’s a pretty strong claim, Mr. Bittman. However, I must say, the idea of having the best scrambled eggs ever is super appealing, especially when you point out that they take so long to cook that they’re great for dinners.
So, that’s what we had for dinner last night. Mr. Bittman’s scrambled eggs. Which were certainly better than my personal scrambled egg “recipe” which involves no specific recipe at all, but they did cause Jessie to miss her bus. Luckily Bill is an awesome guy and walked her home. Unluckily, I could not join them, because we didn’t know when, exactly, our CSA share was supposed to arrive. Further unluckily? It didn’t arrive until after Bill got back, so I could have joined them after all. Bummer.
So, were the eggs worth it? Read on and find out!
h2. Ingredients
4 – 5 eggs
Salt & freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp cream
2 tbsp butter or extra virgin olive oil (We used butter. Nom.)
h2. Instructions
Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat them just until the whites and yolks are combined. Or be like me and just dump in the cream and then beat, because you misread the directions. Season with salt & pepper and put in the cream if you followed the directions properly.
Put a medium skillet over medium heat for roughly a minute, then add the fat and swirl it around the pan. If using butter, turn the heat to low after it melts but before it gets foamy.
Dig deep and find your patience module.
Add the eggs to the skillet and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden implement of some sort (he calls for a spoon, I used a modified turner). The eggs will be super boring for the first 10 minutes or so, and this is a good time to cuss at your special bacon for not thawing fast enough. Once the eggs begin to form curds, start breaking them up gently with your wooden implement. Keep stirring and breaking up the curds as they form, occasionally working on the bacon (if you’re like us). Keep drawing on that patience resivour, and make a note that you’re going to have to walk your friend home, because you’re making her miss her bus.
After about 30 minutes (depending on how you like your eggs), the mixture will be “a mass of soft curds” and look awesome. Serve at this point, and devour.
h2. Cooking and Consumption Notes
h3. Cooking
Dang! Bittman suggests these eggs are great for a dinner because they take so long and are so easy to cook that one can do other things while making them. He’s not wrong, but I have to say that one of those other things oughtn’t be “agree to feed your friend who wants to catch the last bus home” unless you’re better at kitchen timing than I am. Mom, when you read this in a month or so, you can do so. I still am nowhere near your skill level. Bill walked her home while I waited for the CSA share to arrive.
h3. Consumption
I think Jessie forgave us (or at least mostly forgave us) for making her miss her bus, because the eggs were super good, and the bacon was LOVELY. It was “Black Forest Bacon” from Whole Foods. Very thickly cut, and I have no idea what seasonings, but tasty. We’ll be picking up some more of that. We won’t be making any of our own, because we didn’t own “Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393058298?ie=UTF8&tag=metaco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0393058298 before this challenge started, so we won’t for a good long time. I’ve wanted it for awhile though, so it’s on my wish list. We didn’t say we’d refrain from wishing for cookbooks, just buying them.
You guys don’t care about the bacon, though. You care about the eggs. Were they, indeed, THE BEST?
Hard to say, honestly. They were pretty freaking good, but I don’t know that they were so much better than my normal eggs that I want to stand around and wait on them for half an hour. Luckily, Bittman has a shorter scrambled egg recipe in there that might work. Unluckily, I didn’t see it before embarking on this great adventure.
Anyway, scrambled eggs. If you like ’em, you really should give this recipe a shot. It’s tasty, and would be fun for an in-home brunch, I think. No, Nicole, I’m probably not making these for this Saturday.