How to Make the Best Scrambled Eggs
In this time of costly eggs, chef and author Samin Nosrat’s counterintuitive, unorthodox recipe makes for apex scrambled eggs
Egg money’s the new shrimp money. I won’t write about class warfare here (yet) but know that eggs are so expensive, many people are finding substitutes or simply eating corn flakes. Consequently, if you’re choosing to pay the price for your eggs that you enjoy scrambling, it’s best to make them count.
So ditch the cream, sour cream, milk, and any other type of gooey lactose-based substance when you’re making them. Instead, squirt lemon juice in your scrambled eggs. Trust me, or don’t– but you should trust Samin Nosrat’s recipe. Because the eggs by Nosrat, of Salt Fat Acid Heat fame, will blow your mind.
Eggs and Things
Scrambled eggs are the easiest, most elemental breakfast protein one can make. They take a splash more leg work (egg work?) than sunny side up eggs, yet they’re much easier to master than over easy or over medium, and way simpler than poached eggs or omelettes. Not to mention soft and hard boiled eggs, the latter of which kind of smell like farts.
Their versatility lends itself to myriad applications, from chilaquiles to tacos and burritos. Plus, they’re simple to make.
But for years, I sucked at making them. Don’t get me wrong, I thought they were pretty good. In fact, so did others– or, at least that’s what they told me. Damn. But maybe I got away with it because most scrambleds are mediocre. Denny’s? Their eggs taste like a math lecture. They call it the Grand Slam, but it’s really a culinary bunt at best (this essay brought to you by IHOP).
Hence, scramby eggs are the most popular form of egg, from your local greasy spoon to your mediocre motel serving pallets of them for free breakfasts from Alaska to Maine. They’re America’s eggs.
You put the lemon juice in the eggs
That’s right. Lemon juice. Jugo de limon. It’s controversial for sure. Lemony eggs? No way! That must be something the gentilic hipsters in Williamsburg do, not ordinary, hard-working, egg-blooded people like us. Don’t you just put milk or cream in the egg batter, after all? Why would anyone use lemon juice?!
Because it works. And when it comes to kitchen activities, the maxim is always “Whatever works.” The basics of the recipe are as follows: crack 2-3 eggs in a bowl. Add a healthy squirt of lemon juice, along with salt and pepper.
Whisk with a fork or whisk until it’s ready to be poured into the pan. Then, make sure to scramble the eggs softly and keep them moving so they don’t overcook in one spot. As you’re doing this, add a couple of nugs of butter. Plate it, along with some peppers (either cut and mixed in or on the side) or top with whatever you’d like.
The results are silky, creamy eggs so rich you might want to go to South Coast Plaza and buy a Birken after eating them. Now, why does this work? How does this not come out tasting of acidic lemon?
Because the acid in the lemon juice allows the eggs to retain moisture through some sort of magic/chemistry/some high school science subject I failed, making them fluffy and moist. Scrap the cream and milk, add the lemon juice, and be loving with the butter. Be eggful and multiply.