How to scramble eggs

Scrambling eggs is not complicated but there are a few tricks for perfecting this mainstay of breakfast menus – fresh eggs, a light hand and good timing will guarantee perfect, creamy eggs every time.

Allow two eggs and approximately 10g of butter per person.

Whisk the eggs lightly – they need a gentle touch, not a harsh beating

Heat the butter in a pan over a medium heat. Once the butter is foaming, pour in the beaten eggs

Wait a few moments so the eggs begin to set then steadily and constantly stir with a spatula into the centre and around the pan so the eggs don’t have a chance to stick, folding the setting mixture over as you go

When the eggs look creamy and have almost set but there’s still some liquid left, remove from the heat. The timing of this is the trickiest part of the process as it seems counterintuitive to take under-cooked eggs off the heat but there will be enough heat left in the pan to finish the cooking process

Season with salt. It is important to do this at the end of the cooking process as any earlier and the salt will draw moisture out of the eggs, resulting in a rubbery texture

Serve immediately

Variations

Once the eggs are cooked, fold in other ingredients – black pepper, chives, parsley, grated cheese or smoked salmon trimmings, for example.

This method also works for duck and goose eggs.

Serving suggestions

For breakfast, serve scrambled eggs on buttered toast with mushrooms as Shaun Rankin does or as part of a full English. Mark Dodson wraps his scrambled eggs with ham in potato pancakes for a crowd-pleasing kid’s tea while Dominic Chapman cures some Alaskan salmon to be served with his scrambled duck eggs. However, Gary Jones takes it to a whole new level with his recipe for Sea urchin with scrambled eggs and Ossetra caviar.