Scrambled eggs is a dish made from beaten whites and yolks of eggs (usually chicken).
Only eggs are necessary to make scrambled eggs, but salt is often used, and other ingredients such as water, milk, butter, cream, vegetables, black pepper and other spices, ham and grated cheese may be added.
The eggs are cracked into a bowl with some salt and pepper, and the mixture is stirred or whisked. The key to making perfect scrambled eggs is whisking the eggs thoroughly and vigorously before cooking them. Whisking incorporates air, which produces fluffier scrambled eggs.
The mixture can be poured into a hot pan containing melted butter or oil, where it starts coagulating.
The heat is turned down and the eggs are stirred as they cook. This creates small, soft curds of egg. With continuous stirring, and not allowing the eggs to stick to the pan, the eggs themselves will maintain the pan temperature at about the boiling point of water, until they coagulate.
It is important to take the eggs off the stove right before they are done because they undergo “carry-over” cooking. This basically means that the residual heat from the pan and in the eggs continues to cook them even after being removed from the source of heat.
Properly made, the eggs should be moist and creamy consistency.
In American style, the eggs are scooped in towards the middle of the pan as they set, giving larger curds.
In English style, the scrambled eggs are stirred very thoroughly during cooking to give a soft, fine texture.
In the classic French cooking method, Escoffier describes using a double boiler as the heating source, which does not need adjustment as the direct heating method would. The eggs are directly placed in the cooker and mixed during the heating and not before. Cooking by this method prevents the eggs from browning while being cooked and gives aerated and creamy scrambled eggs. This method was used in the “old classical kitchen” and guarantees the eggs are always cooked perfectly – it is, however, more time-consuming than the modern skillet method, taking up to 40 minutes to ensure perfect quality.
It is not clear who was the first person to decide to scramble an egg – however, humans have been scrambling eggs for centuries. The Ancient Romans are documented as the earliest people to scramble eggs.
In the 14th century Italian book “Libro della cucina” references scrambled eggs: “There is so much known about fried, roasted, and scrambled eggs that it is not necessary to speak about them.”
Egg scrambled with acidic fruit juices were popular in France in the 17th century – this may have been the origin of lemon curd.
Mauritius is the proud home of the Guinness World Records title holder for the Largest scrambled eggs ever cooked. 35,000 eggs were used and the final weight recorded at 2,466 kg (5,436 lb 9.58 oz). After months of preparation the record was broken at Bagatelle Mall in Mauritius on Saturday 27 October 2018 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Inicia Ltée, the country’s largest egg production and distribution company.
The largest serving of scrambled eggs weighs 3,112 kg (6,860 lb 12.57 oz) and was made by Federación Nacional de Avicultores de Colombia – at Paque Principal de Soacha, in Cundinamarca, Colombia, on 11 October 2019. The main ingredients used to prepare this large serving of scrambled eggs were 59,758 eggs, milk, onion, garlic and butter.