scrambled eggs

= whole eggs, beaten to mix the yolk and white, stirred while cooking.

Boiled eggs vary from very soft to hard boiled. Scrambled eggs come with the same choices from very soft to hard cooked.

How do you like your scrambled eggs: pourable, soft and moist or dry?
You don’t really know until you’ve tried them all.

I found a page of a guy who did try them all.
All pictures on this page were borrowed from the internet.

 

Pic1: spoonable eggs
Pic2: soft and moist
Pic3: dry  

Variations on a theme:

Pic4: with vegetables, meat
Pic5: on bacon and bread
Pic6: in puff pastry

 

B. Spoonable ‘Eggs Picabia’

no date available. I was too busy stirring to take pictures.

This is what you will get when following the instructions  from The Alice B. Toklas` Cook Book to the letter: liquid eggs that you can pour in a cup and drink up.

This extreme method takes a lot of time and effort. By cooking on very low heat and stirring unrelentingly, the formation of the egg curds is completely disrupted and the scrambled eggs get a very creamy consistency.

 

INGREDIENTS

This is what you need for 2 servings:

  • 4 eggs
  • up to ¼ lb. butter
  • salt, no pepper
Pic1: spoonable eggs

Mrs. Toklas states in her book as follows: (source)

 “I learned to make this kind of scrambled eggs from the French painter, Francis Picabia, who understood that scrambled eggs should not be fluffy curds, but a dense, almost custard-like concoction that you eat with great joy and concentration. To achieve that, Mr. Picabia had five rules:"

  1. Cook them in a sauce pan, not a frying pan.
  2. Cook slowly, over very low heat.
  3. Stir constantly using a spatula.
  4. Use no less than 1/4 lb. butter for 4 eggs
  5. Don’t rush. It takes at least 30 minutes.

 

my comments on this:

  1. I have tried this recipe once and didn’t care much for it. 
    It’s too much like eating a jar of mayo or drinking Hollandaise sauce for breakfast. I do occasionally spread mayo on my bread, but not anywhere near an entire cup of it.
  2. Mr. Picabia preferred 2 tablespoons of butter per egg - which comes out to a stick of butter for every 4 eggs that you’re cooking. “More,” he counseled, “if you can bring yourself to it.”
    I do not agree with this: the slow cooking is what makes these eggs spoonable, not the butter.
  3. "Don’t rush. Mr. Picabia says to take half an hour to prepare the eggs."
    It can be done in about 15 minutes. As long as you keep the heat low and your hand moving until they’re creamy but nearly set, you’ll still end up with “the most luscious eggs of your life” as he calls them.