On Eggs and Geekery.

Ask a French person what an egg means to them, they will say breakfast. Ask an American, they will say cholesterol. Ask an Englishman and he will say constipation, that's how the myth goes.

A brief post on the difference between the perfect scrambled egg and the perfect fried egg. Eggs have chemistry. Egg whites are mainly protein (mostly albumin) and of course water. The albumin protein can be teased into different structures by any cook, for example a towering mass of foam or a slightly bouncy solid. Egg yolks provide us with a chemical gadget for making emulsions. Lecithin will hold the chemical hands of water- and fat-based substances to perform a culinary marriage. Think custards, zabaglione, hollandaise and the rest.

So - on making scrambled eggs this weekend I was remembering a top tip given to me 20 years ago by someone who was a breakfast chef at Claridge's. He said:
- for perfect scrambled eggs, add NO MILK. add the eggs to the pan and cook the eggs as slowly as you possibly can.
- for a perfect omelette, whist two eggs in a bowl with a spoon of water, again NO MILK. Heat a pan to as high a heat as it can stand, add some oil and butter when it is hot, swirl round the pan and immediately thrown in the eggs, muddling at first and leaving to settle. The whole process of cooking should take under a minute.

This incredibly simple trick does, I admit, provide the best possible eggs. The scrambloids (family name) taste like they have a mound of butter in them when they don't, which is also a nice trick. Enjoy!