I was in the mood for a hot breakfast and hadn't made any Oeufs Brouilles for awhile so I decided to try one of Julia's variations on the basic recipe found in "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." In case you didn't read my long ago post about Oeufs Brouilles, the French method of preparing scrambled eggs does provide them with a wonderfully unique texture. I'm not a particularly huge fan of scrambled eggs but I do love them when prepared using the French method of cooking them over a very low heat and stirring constantly as they cook. The creamy, custardy texture is absolutely wonderful and I even find the cooking process to be nice and relaxing as everything seems to happen in slow motion. A nice way to make a hot breakfast on a sleepy morning!
What I ended up making here was the basic scrambled egg recipe with a "cream enrichment." In other words -- Oeufs Brouilles au Creme. Everything starts out by beating the eggs together with some milk or water (1/2 tsp of milk or water for each egg) together with a bit of salt and pepper. The eggs only need to be beaten for about 30 seconds to blend the yolks and whites.
To cook the eggs, a cool pan is smeared with butter (about 1 tsp of butter for every 4 eggs). Note: The size of the pan should be such that the depth of the eggs in the pan are 2/3 to 1" deep when poured in the pan. The pan is then put on a low heat (yes, really, a low heat) and the eggs are slowly warmed while you continually stir nice and slowly. Remember, your starting off a relaxing morning so take a chill pill and accept the fact that this is going to take at least four or five minutes before anything seems to happen. Keep the faith though. Those little egg molecules are slowly getting to know each other as they warm up and when they are ready they suddenly begin to thicken into a custard.
As the custard begins to thicken, continue stirring until they are almost at the consistency you like. It is important to remove the eggs from the heat a little before they are the desired consistency because they will continue to thicken slightly. Ready for the new step? This is where you get to "enrich" your eggs. This particular time I enriched with 2 tablespoons of cream which was stirred into the eggs. This stopped the cooking and added a wonderful level of creaminess to the eggs. The eggs could also be enriched by adding 2 tablespoons of butter instead of the cream.
This wasn't the fanciest dish I've ever made but it really is a nice way to prepare the scrambled eggs. Fairly quick and definitely nice and tasty. Perhaps you'll try it next time you're in the mood for a hot breakfast?
Bon Appetit!
Eggs. Glorious Eggs. Did you have them with hot sausage and butter.