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Scrambled Eggs
1. Vegetable Scramble--Light scramble 1 beaten egg with 1 tablespoon milk, 1 tablespoon butter or margarine, little salt and pepper. When egg begins to set, add finely diced cooked carrots, or new potatoes, string beans or any proper vegetable in season. Heat thoroughly, pile on a slice of toast and garnish with a bit of jelly. 2. Children's Favorite Scrambled Eggs--Cut up 4 slices of bacon and fry with a small minced onion till the bacon is done. Add two large tomatoes, peeled and cut into small pieces, and simmer till smooth. Then add 6 slightly beaten eggs, and cook gently until eggs are scrambled, stirring constantly. Serve on toast.
Two scrambles from an invalid-cookery chapter: one a single-portion egg stretched with leftover vegetables, one a family-sized bacon-and-tomato scramble. Both live or die on low heat and patient stirring.
- Heat is the hingeBoth versions want a low burner and constant movement. Eggs set into curds somewhere around 145-160F; pushed past that they weep water and turn granular.
- YieldRecipe 1 is a single serving. Recipe 2, with six eggs, feeds three as a main dish or four alongside other food.
- That tablespoon of butterOne tablespoon per egg is generous by modern habit: fat keeps the curd soft. A teaspoon still works if you prefer.
- "Any proper vegetable in season"Means cooked, tender and mild -- carrot, potato, green bean, peas. Dice small so it heats through in the seconds before the egg finishes, and warm it in the pan first if it is fridge-cold, or it will stall the scramble.
- Simmer the tomatoes down properly"Simmer till smooth" is asking you to drive off the tomato liquid until the mixture is thick and jammy, five to ten minutes. Add the eggs to a watery pan and you get soup with egg in it.
- Bacon and onion togetherStart the bacon in a cold or barely warm pan so the fat renders before the onion colors. If the bacon throws more than a tablespoon or two of fat, pour some off before the tomatoes go in.
- The jelly garnishThe recipe calls for 'a bit of jelly'; a tart jelly or any sharp preserve gives a contrast to the egg.
- Toast timingMake the toast while the eggs are still loose and plate immediately. Scrambled eggs held even a few minutes keep cooking in their own heat and toast under wet egg goes limp fast.