I’ve hard of adding certain substances to various culinary preparations as stabilizers. Gelatin for Whipped Cream. Cream of Tartar for Meringue. Now, there’s word of a hack that elevates your Scrambled Eggs way above the everyday…
Cornstarch-stabilized Scrambled Eggs… Taste as fluffy and sumptuous as they look!
Dogged determination…
The author of the source post for today’s featured food hack, Lee Mandy, prefaces her how-to with a brief retelling of how the technique came to be…
“In an attempt to feed liquid-food to my temporarily anorexic dog-son, I tried thickening a beaten egg with a bit of potato starch (or cornstarch) to make an egg-goo (which I rubbed on his mouth so he would lick it…). And who knew, that unappetizing glob… [Would] lead me to one of my greatest kitchen-revelations realized. I thought, ‘Wait a second… Maybe… A thickening agent is the answer to the previously-thought-impossible scrambled eggs-fantasy…’ Speed, and creaminess, all together.”
What you need…
Is basically only four ingredients (if you don’t count the obligatory pinch of salt):
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 tbsp whole milk (1/2 tbsp for each egg)
- 2 1/4 tsp potato starch, or tapioca starch/flour (3/4 tsp for each egg) *
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter (1 tbsp for each egg)
* DO NOT use Cornstarch – It can leave a pasty, powdery mouth feel if not cooked at a higher Temp than this recipe calls for…
What you do…
Crack the eggs into a squeeky-clean stainless steel or glass bowl.
Whisk, or beat using a fork, the milk and starch. (This is what we culinary types call a ‘slurry’.)
Add the milk-starch slurry to the eggs and beat until smooth.
Add the salt only after you have finished beating the egg-milk-starch mixture.
Pre-heat a non-stick skillet over high heat. Add the butter and swirl it until melted and bubbly – but NOT brown.
Pour in the beaten egg mixture and wait a few seconds, until the edges start to bubble.
Remove the pan from the heat.
Start to stir the eggs making one full circle every second.
IMPORTANT: As soon as the eggs have absorbed all the butter (10-12 seconds), but are still undercooked, remove the pan from the heat.
Transfer the eggs to the serving plate immediately. ‘Carry-on cooking’ will finish them perfectly.
The result…
… Is a firm but fluffy egg mass, creamy in texture and light in weight. The butter flavour will come through pleasantly – you might even say luxuriously. You will not be able to detect the starch; it has transformed the way flour does in pan gravy to another form completely. And in spite of the eggs’ outward appearance, they are fully cooked, and totally safe to eat.
My take
These Scrambled Eggs are so simple and so fast, and so downright wonderful, that I see no reason for anyone to make their breakfast eggs any other way!
~ Maggie J.