Naturalpath

he course of running our b&b, 'Ive eaten alot of scrambled eggs. I've gone dozens of articles and scoured the e internet to find the perfect recipe and method to create what - for all appearances - would seem like the easiest dish in the world to make.

Eggs are little packages of goodness. And they are cheap. Or used to be, before eggs stopped being “eggs” and became “cage free,” “organic,” “antibiotic free,” “fed a vegetarian diet,” and the like. The egg is no longer an egg, but a choice. And eating eggs is no longer just about taste or health, but about food purity and animal rights as well.

Eggs come from chickens, not cartons. But in the grocery store I, too, pause at the egg case in frustration. What do all the labels really mean? Which eggs should I buy, and for which reasons?

Conventional egg production, otherwise known as the battery system, crams as many as six chickens into a cage at a time, leaving each bird with less personal space than a sheet of ordinary notebook paper. Critics say the battery system causes the spread of disease, requires the painful debeaking of birds, and restricts natural bird behaviors, such as dusting or nesting.

I didn’t want to buy eggs from these birds, but wasn’t sure how to figure out which eggs came from which birds. So, after talking to farmers, poultry scientists, and a physician, I put together the following guide to egg-carton terminology.
Brown eggs

Brown eggs come from chickens with brown feathers, and white eggs come from chickens with white feathers. The color of the shell indicates nothing about the egg’s nutritional profile, taste, or the manner in which the laying hen was raised.
Natural

“Natural” sounds swell, but the label is unregulated and lacks meaning.
Vegetarian / Vegetarian diet

This label indicates that no animal by-products, such as beef tallow or chicken feathers, are in the chickens’ feed. And “vegetarian” sure sounds healthy. But chickens are natural omnivores who like to spend time outside digging for protein in the form of insects and worms, so the “vegetarian” label is really just another way of saying that the hens can’t go outside.

Still, an all-vegetarian diet is nutritionally possible for chickens with the addition of synthetic vitamin B-12.

Regardless of your choice , truth to tell, scrambled eggs are easy to make. Unfortunately, they are also the easy to make wrong. At a root level, scrambled eggs are simply beaten eggs which are fried and - for lack of a better word - scrambled. But like most things that are simple people have found ways to make them needlessly complex. So in it's purest form, sans cheese or flavorings. Just eggs and what it takes to make them taste and look like great eggs.

First - what Not to Do

Don't beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. With or without added ingredients like sugar and cream of tartar, the result of scrambling looks like a big dollop of melting Crisco crossed with cottage cheese.

Don't stir eggs slowly for an extended period.

I came across one recipe that actually instructed to stir the eggs in the fry pan (heated at your stove's lowest setting) with a wooden spoon for 30 minutes. First of all, the eggs didn't set after 30 minutes at the lowest heat setting. I tried once more at a slightly higher setting. After 10 minutes, the eggs began to show subtle signs of setting. I continued to stir the eggs in the pan for 10 minutes. The result looked more like butternut squash than any eggs I've ever seen. The texture was close to chewy and the extended cooking time seemed to have cooked away all the flavor of egg.

And now... The Art of Scrambling - The Best Way To Beat Your Eggs

One of the most important ingredients in scrambled eggs is hardly ever mentioned... air. It would be nice if we could just dollop a Tablespoon of air into the mixing bowl, but for the time-being, incorporating air into beaten eggs requires good old-fashioned elbow grease (or the electric equivalent).

The more you whisk -- the more air bubbles become trapped in the shaken and unraveling protein of the eggs. As the eggs cook, protein molecules firm-up around the air bubbles resulting in a spongy texture and hopefully full and fluffy scrambled eggs.

The American Egg Board describes well-beaten eggs as "frothy and evenly colored". When your eggs match that description (generally after about 2 minutes) you should stop beating.

Over-beating will completely unravel the protein molecules and destabilize their ability to form a microscopic casing around the air. In terms of whisking motion, a tilted wheel motion works far better than a vertical stirring motion. A fork works as well as a whisk but requires a slight bit more time and energy.

The Best Way To Scramble In The Pan
Crack one to three large eggs in a bowl.

1. Add a splash of milk.
2. Add a dash of pepper and salt.
3. Beat with a fork or whisk until well combined.
4. Heat a skillet over a medium-low flame.
5. Melt 1/2 tbsp. of butter in the skillet.
6. Pour the beaten eggs into the skillet.
7. Let the eggs cook undisturbed until they begin to set, then stir them off the bottom of the pan gently.
8. Continue cooking until the eggs are the consistency you like.
9. Stir cheese or any other additions into the eggs 1 or 2 minutes before you're going to serve them.

Tips & Warnings

* Eggs cooked for a shorter period of time are "scrambled soft." If cooked longer, they are "scrambled hard." The "ideal" of scrambled eggs is soft and creamy, but some really like 'em hard - even browned on the edges. (These people might well try omelettes; see Related eHows.)
* Cooking the eggs at a higher temperature makes them rubbery. Some of the "hard scrambled" types like this! If that's you, by all means, crank it up. But stir the eggs more often so they don't burn.

The actions you take once the eggs hit the fry pan will dictate the size of the scrambled egg pieces (curds). Some recipes suggest stirring the eggs with a wooden spoon immediately as the eggs hit the heated surface. Others direct you to let the eggs start to set before stirring/scrambling. Of the two, the second method results in larger fluffier pieces.

Getting Hungry?

Before we scramble our brains contemplating the best plate to eat scrambled eggs off of, the texture differentials of eating with a spoon and the ideal temperature of the chair you sit in as you eat... let's get back to the reason we're here. For your breakfast pleasure...

This recipe serves 2 hungry people.

6 large eggs
6 teaspoons (1 teaspoon for each egg) low-fat milk
3 dashes of salt (1 dash for every two eggs)
1 Tablespoon butter for frying

Heat a large non-stick frying pan to a setting just above medium. A 12-inch pan works well for 6 eggs. Do not add butter yet. We just want get the pan ready.

In large metal or glass mixing bowl, whisk the eggs with the milk and salt. Beat vigorously for 2 minutes.

Alternatively, you can place the eggs, milk and salt in a blender and blend for 20 to 25 seconds. Allow the mixture to set for a couple minutes to let the foam settle.

Melt the butter in the frying pan. As the very last of the butter is liquefying, add the egg mixture.

Do not stir immediately. Wait until the first hint of setting begins. Using a spatula or a flat wooden spoon, push eggs toward center while tilting skillet to distribute runny parts.")

Continue this motion as the eggs continue to set. Break apart large pieces as they form with your spoon or spatula. You will come to a point where the push-to-center technique is no longer cooking runny parts of the egg. Flip over all the eggs. Allow the eggs to cook 15 to 25 seconds longer. Transfer eggs to serving plates. Add salt and pepper to taste. Eat up!