[cooking sounds]
[percussive music ]
- I'm Hannah, and I'm a level one chef.
- Hi, I'm Gabrielle, andI'm a level two chef.
- Hi, I'm Palak, and I'ma chef at the Institute
of Culinary Education.
[percussive music]
- My scrambled egg recipe is very simple,
it's always the same every time,
and it's always very good.
- We are going to add in alittle bit of Asian flavor
into these scrambledeggs, and serve them up
a little bit differentlythan your traditional
breakfast-style scrambled eggs.
- My scrambled eggs hasa very unique technique
where the eggs never hit a pan.
You actually cook themin a whirlpool of water.
You should be making yourscrambled eggs like this
because you'll never goback to a pan ever again.
[chimes]
- So first step is toget the eggs in a bowl,
get them mixed up, so I'll take an egg,
I'll use the side of the bowl to crack it.
- I typically like to crackeggs on not quite so thin
of a rim, the thinnerit is, it may puncture
the egg shell a little bit more and leave
more little bitlets andstuff, so I actually like
to really crack mine onthe corner of like a stove
or even the pan itself.
- Give it a good whack soit definitely cracks through
all the way and then just peel it open.
Of course I did justget a shell in the bowl.
I'm like hyper afraid of salmonella.
When I'm making eggs, I probably wash
my hands like 15 times.
- I'm pretty relaxed withgetting my shells out,
I have my hands washed, I'm very sanitary.
I like to break the yolksfirst, you really want
to beat the heck out of themso that a lot of the egg white
disappears, becausethat's what's gonna make
the eggs really creamyand fluffy and delicious.
- We are gonna take the scrambled eggs
and put them right back in the shell,
so in order to get a clean cut,
you need a little device,it's called an egg topper
and you're gonna holdit, pull up the lever,
and what that does isit's gonna create a crease
right around the egg and thenwith a sharp paring knife,
just kind of work your wayaround and get a clean cut.
And before we can use the eggshell,
we have to sterilize it, so Ijust have some boiling water,
drop that shell in there.
- Usually I make about two eggs per person
so let's say this isfor a breakfast for two,
if you know what I mean,you add in the water,
you can add a pinch of salt.
- Some people reallydon't like adding salt
into their eggs beforethey cook because they say
it dehydrates it.
- And a little jush of pepper.
- My first ingredient is my mirin,
which is a sweet rice wine.
It's going to really nicely tie together
my soy and my ginger.
And then I have just a little bit of soy,
I really want to add in this soy now,
rather than later so thatit's nice and uniform
throughout my eggs.
My last ingredient is goingto be my fresh ginger.
It has such a nice,delicious, pungent flavor,
so you really don't need a lot of it.
My rule of thumb is to goat it for about 30 seconds,
maybe tilt the bowl a littlebit to get that whipping
in circular motion.
- It's been five minutes, myeggshells have sterilized.
Now we have two perfectlysterilized eggshells.
That's gonna be the vesselfor our scrambled eggs.
- I tend to make more cheesethan I need just in case.
You can never go wrong with cheese,
unless you're lactose intolerant.
- I'm gonna make a cucumber salad
with a little honey and rice vinegar.
I have my Persian cucumbers, which are
the little baby cucumbers.
- So next step is toget the bacon started.
I like when the bacongoes on and there's like
already that sizzle.
Probably should've waitedlike a minute longer.
And I'm just laying themvertically next to each other.
- So I'm just gonna like very quickly
chop the very end off, thenI'm going to take my mandoline.
Rather than individually chopping all of
these cucumbers and it makesit really nice and uniform.
Thing about the mandolineis you have to be really,
really careful with yourhands and your fingers,
so be careful, kids.
- Bacon smells so good.
Now I'm gonna go aheadand add in my rice vinegar
and my honey.
I'm just going to combineit until the honey
is pretty much totallydissolved in the vinegar.
They're gonna have this little bit of
a pungent, acidic flavor.
Add a little bit of salt justto kinda tie it all together.
- While that's cooking,I'm gonna sort of prep
some of my chives.- Chives.
- That's gonna add a bright green color
and a little bit of extra.
- Chive party.
- So now we're gonna make thecream topping for the eggs.
We want to zest a whole Meyer lemon,
and then to that we're gonnaadd some creme fraiche.
Creme fraiche has a little bit of tang,
and we're gonna mix thiswith the whipped cream.
Season with a little salt.
Next I'm gonna whip my heavy cream.
I wanna start with cold cream so that
you wanna make sure it doesn't separate
when you're whipping it,and go for soft peaks.
It's a decadent dish soyou need to work out.
- Watched bacon never cooks,I think that's the saying.
- One of my other toppingsthat I want to add
are some fresh scallions.
I think they taste great on anything.
They're a little pop offlavor, pop of color.
- Ooh, we got some popping bacon, yummy.
- Be careful of flyingoil, I feel like every time
I eat eggs, I get injured.
- Throw some sesame in a dry pan,
and you know, and then itgets this nice golden color
and it adds a nice littlecrunch nuttiness to the dish.
- All right, so I've got my bacon done,
I'm gonna go ahead and putit on some paper towel,
just let some of the grease dry off there.
Four beautiful bacon slices.
- Now I'm gonna add onemore ingredient to this,
and that's vodka.
I'm just not trying to be fancy,
there is a purpose for this.
The vodka helps stabilizethe cream mixture,
plus there's caviar inthe dish, I need vodka.
Take the creme fraiche,and you want to gently
fold it into the whippedcream because you just spent
all that time addingair, so you don't want
to deflate your cream.
Little cayenne, because why not?
I'm gonna put it into a pastry bag.
This makes it easier topipe the cream mixture
on top of the eggs.
- Finally we're at theeggs, the main event.
We're gonna drop a littlesquare of butter on the pan.
- I'm going to add inghee rather than butter,
tying in again more of the Asian theme.
- And while that's cooking, I'm just gonna
mix up my eggs a little more.
Sometimes the like,the salt and the pepper
can separate a little and we want it
to be like really togetherwhen we start scrambling.
You don't wanna make toomuch of a sizzle sound,
I feel like every time I pour the eggs in
and it's like actively sizzling, it burns.
- The secret, in my opinion,to great scrambled eggs
is cooking them low and slow.
It cooks so quickly, youdon't wanna overdo it
too quickly or they'regonna dry out and be gross.
- Eggs cook really fast and you don't want
to overcook them so I would rather have
a lower heat for longer thanjust fry the crap out of them.
- Once it kinda sets around the edges
a little bit, I'm gonnastart pulling it in
so that the egg kindafills in all the places
where it's already cooked.
Ooh, I can smell the ginger.
- I really break them up a lot
instead of just havingsort of an omelet-like egg,
flipped over.
- I want to make sure thatI'm not overcooking them
because they're gonnado the rest of their job
as I plate them.
- You don't want a rapid boil, you do want
a very gentle boil.
You're gonna take the back of a spatula
and just clockwise, create a whirlpool.
Once I take the scrambled egg mixture
and put it with the hotwater, those pockets of air
are just gonna expand and the egg size
is gonna double.
Lid, count to 20.
- Gonna go ahead andgrab my cheddar cheese,
mix that in a little bit, let that melt.
I just love cheese somuch so I'm gonna add
a little bit more, but that'stotally your preference.
These are starting to look really good,
starting to smell really good,
I feel like we're almost there.
- You can smell the ghee,you can smell the mirin,
you can smell the soy,everything is actually
already kind of incorporated.
- When you get to the end,just put it through a strainer.
They're just so soft andairy, that's the fastest
scrambled egg you'll ever make.
- So for my side I have a piece of toast.
I do like two eggs aperson so I put about half
on this plate, going tosprinkle a few of the chives
over that, go ahead andgrab my bacon slices.
- I'm actually going to be serving mine
with some white rice.
It's adding a little bit more than just
your typical breakfast toast.
So I'm just gonna go ahead and put this
right on top of my rice, I'm going to give
my cucumbers one more stir,and then I'm just going
to go ahead and sprinkle a few on top,
sprinkle my scallionson, last but not least
my toasted sesame.
- Take a little of thatfluffy scrambled egg,
some finishing salt, thiswill give it a nice texture
and it's a milder salt, alittle bit of olive oil,
our cream mixture, the decadent part,
little bit of chives, andlast but not least, caviar.
Because you know, every day is special.
- And here are my scrambled eggs.
[camera clicks]
- And here are my scrambled eggs.
[camera clicks]
- And that is your fancyeveryday scrambled egg.
[camera clicks]
[calm music]
- Okay, moment of truth,let's see how this went.
- Let's go for it.
Oh my gosh.
- That tastes exactly likethey taste every single time,
which I love, very consistent,
they're like that friend that's always
gonna pick up the phone.
- It has a lot of greatbalance, you have salty,
you have a tiny bit ofsweetness, you have the ginger
and the cucumber and a crunchiness,
so I'm really happy [laughs].
- The eggs are theheaviest part of this dish
and then when they hit the cream,
you get a burst of citrus and then
the saltiness from the caviar,
and then a little pop of chive.
- This is perfection.
- Eggs are one of the most versatile
and functional ingredients in any dish,
whether as an additionor a main ingredient.
Let's see how each of ourchefs scrambled theirs.
[percussive music]
- Hannah took four eggs and cracked them
directly into her bowl and used a fork
to mix together with a little water.
Be careful when you dothis, since you might
crack part of the shell into your eggs.
The shell is a complexof calcium carbonate,
deposited in a protein matrix,
which is harmless ifeaten but not digestible.
- It happens to the best of us.
- Water creates steam, makingvery tender scrambled eggs,
but it's not necessary if your eggs
are cooked correctly.
She added salt during egg preparation,
which isn't recommendedsince salt is a coagulant.
It can make your eggs less tender.
It's better to add salt justprior to eating your eggs.
She used brown eggs which areno different from white eggs
when it comes to structureand functionality.
Brown eggs simply come from red hens
while white eggs come from white hens.
Gabrielle used a whisk to mix her eggs.
A whisk adds more air thanthe fork that Hannah used
because of its structuredue to its special design.
Forks can mix ingredients thoroughly
but a whisk is designed tocreate a more smooth texture
as the whisk moves through the bowl.
The viscosity of egg whites in particular
helps them to cling tothe tines of the whisk,
allowing the proteinstructure to trap more air,
creating a lighter, fluffier egg.
Palak was very careful to use fresh eggs.
- My eggs are fresh.
- One indicator offreshness is the thickness
of the albumin or egg white.
The thicker it is, the fresher the egg
due to the presence of aprotein called ovomucin,
which degrades and becomesthinner as the egg ages.
She kept her shellsintact for later service,
but sterilized them by boiling
to reduce the levelsof potential pathogens
such as salmonella orcampylobacter jejuni.
[percussive music]
Hannah and Gabrielleboth used nonstick pans
to scramble their eggs.
Hannah used whole melted butter
which includes the milk solidswhile Gabrielle used ghee,
which has the milk solids removed.
Ghee can get hotter than whole butter
yet won't burn.
- It's a better alternativethan regular butter.
- Both slowly cooked theireggs over medium heat
and used a spatula to stir.
Hannah had some marblingwhen she initially
mixed her eggs, which means the egg whites
and the yolks were not completely blended.
- You don't want to overmix it 'cause then
it will be just like too tough.
- Since they coagulate atdifferent temperatures,
she may have some unevencooking in her eggs.
Coagulation at lower temperatures
yields a soft, tender egg, so medium heat
works very well here.
The approximate temperature of coagulation
of whole eggs is 176 degrees.
Gabrielle added mirin, ginger, and soy
prior to cooking.
The soy will raise thetemperature of coagulation
and season the eggs alongwith the complex blend
of mirin, which is a lowalcohol, high sugar rice wine,
and ginger impartingan acidic, sweet, salty
and slight spiciness to the eggs.
Palak poached her eggs veryquickly, only 20 seconds.
- 20.
- This is so interesting and unusual.
Just being in water preventsburning and crust formation
and keeping the water below boiling point
keeps the egg from beingtorn apart by turbulence.
Because she left the lid on her eggs,
she created a closed steaming vessel
which heated the eggs fromthe top and the bottom,
making eggs that were extremely tender.
[percussive music]
Hannah went classic withcheddar cheese in her eggs
and a side of bacon and toast.
Additions like cheese may raisethe coagulation temperature
of eggs because added fat has the impact
of increasing the heatstability of egg proteins.
- This cheese can't fitin the bowl, so I'll just.
- She used a toaster whichis a radiant heat source
that crisps and browns the bread
and served them with butter.
As an extra step, she added chives
which are bright green witha hint of raw onion flavor
from the compound allicin.
Gabrielle served her soft scrambled eggs
over white rice, which isa starchy and satiating
complement to thehigh-protein eggs she made.
She topped her eggs with sesame seeds,
which are nutty in flavorand add a subtle crunch
to her dish.
She served her eggs andrice with a side of crunchy,
sweet, and sour pickledcucumbers, sliced perfectly thin,
giving her dish an added depth of flavor.
Palak carefully spoonedher soft scrambled eggs
back into the sterilized eggshell,
which makes a beautiful presentation
and she topped it witholive oil which adds
a layer of richness.
She also made an indulgent whipped cream
by blending creme fraiche,which is a fermented,
high-fat dairy item with heavycream and Meyer lemon zest.
Meyer lemons fromCalifornia are large, juicy,
and sweeter than othervarieties of lemons.
She used vodka and cayennepepper to flavor this cream.
The vodka may look like water,
but it's mostly alcoholso it doesn't hydrate
the other molecules inthis complex emulsion.
The vodka also breaks down fat
and prevents it from separating.
The cayenne pepper addsheat and color to the cream.
Bowfin caviar is salt-cured roe.
It's expensive and decadentwith a wonderful taste.
Maldon salt is English sea salt.
It's flaked so it adds crunch,
as well as a very pure salt taste
and the perfect way tofinish her scrambled eggs.
Whether you're makingbreakfast, brunch, or dinner,
eggs offer many possibilities.
Each of our chefs took a different take
on this staple dish withthree very different
but delicious outcomes.
We challenged chefs of three different skill levels - an amateur, a home cook, and a professional - to prepare scrambled eggs. After each of them had presented their fluffy creation, we asked a food scientist to review their work. Whose huevos would you choose? Check out the level 3 recipe on the ICE blog: https://www.ice.edu/blog/scrambled-eggs-served-in-egg Still haven’t subscribed to Epicurious on YouTube? ►► http://bit.ly/epiyoutubesub ABOUT EPICURIOUS Browse thousands of recipes and videos from Bon Appétit, Gourmet, and more. Find inventive cooking ideas, ingredients, and restaurant menus from the world’s largest food archive. 4 Levels of Scrambled Eggs: Amateur to Food Scientist | Epicurious