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Scrambled Eggs (Teaspoon salt teaspoons)
6 eggs 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 teaspoons shortening 1 tablespoon milk shake of pepper Break eggs into bowl, add seasonings and milk; give two or three strong strokes with fork. Heat shortening in omelet pan, add egg mixture; do not stir, but as egg cooks scrape gently from bottom of dish, drawing cooked mass to one side. Remove from fire before it is quite firm through, turn into hot dish and serve quickly. Will serve six persons.
A plain, well-judged method: the eggs are barely beaten and barely cooked, which is what separates soft scrambled eggs from the rubbery kind.
- The hinge: pull it earlyTake the pan off the heat while the eggs still look slightly loose. Residual heat in the pan and in the eggs themselves finishes the job in the time it takes to turn them into a warmed dish.
- Two or three strokes, no moreThe instruction is deliberate, not lazy. Barely mixed eggs cook into soft curds streaked with white and yolk; beating them smooth gives a uniform, denser texture closer to an omelet.
- ShorteningIn this period the word means lard or a vegetable shortening such as Crisco rather than butter. Three teaspoons is one tablespoon. Butter is the obvious modern substitute and adds flavour the original lacks.
- Omelet panA heavy skillet with sloping sides, sized to the quantity of egg. A nonstick pan makes the "scrape gently from the bottom" step much easier.
- Heat levelMedium-low. High heat is the main cause of weeping, grainy scrambled eggs, and on a modern gas or induction burner the eggs will set quickly.
- MilkOne tablespoon for six eggs is a token amount and mostly softens the curd. Cream or nothing at all both work; more liquid than this makes the eggs prone to separating in the pan.
- YieldSix servings from six eggs means one egg per person, which implies other dishes alongside. For eggs as the centre of a modern plate, count two per person.