Precise query: How do you want your eggs? Your scrambled eggs, particularly? Are you a firm-and-folded individual? A loose-and-scoopable fan? “There is no such thing as a such factor as a superbly scrambled egg,” writes Ella Quittner in her new extraordinarily enjoyable cookbook, Obsessive about the Finest. In it, Ella tries out each attainable cooking methodology, to seek out the very best routes to traditional dishes: juicy roast hen, melty cabbage, chewy chocolate chip cookies, or on this case, soft-scrambled eggs. “So custardy that they’re midway to dessert,” she says.
After dozens of trials, Ella developed her personal exact (however very doable) approach for reaching, if not the right scrambled egg — as a result of that’s, after all, subjective — then actually the softest and creamiest. “That is considered one of my favourite solo dinners on a busy evening,” says Ella. “I like that it takes such little effort and time, however tastes like one thing you’d pay an arm and a leg for in a brunch restaurant.” Serve with a chilly glass of white wine, she says, “and well-buttered toast — after all.” Nicely, naturally.
Right here’s Ella’s methodology:
Caramelized Shallot Gentle Scramble with Comté
From Obsessive about the Finest, by Ella Quittner
Serves 1
3 eggs, chilly from the fridge
1/2 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, plus a pinch for the shallots
1 heaping tbsp chilly crème fraîche
3 tbsp salted butter
1 massive or 2 medium shallots, peeled and finely diced
1/4 cup grated Comté cheese
Flaky salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
Be aware: Whereas Ella’s recipe requires shallots, she notes that you would be able to swap them for any allium — like yellow onion or leeks.
Crack the eggs right into a small bowl. Add the kosher salt. Use a fork to interrupt the yolks, then forcefully whisk the eggs collectively for 30 seconds, or till completely homogeneous. Add the crème fraîche to the eggs in 5 or so little parts (so it’s not multi function clump). Refrigerate the bowl whilst you cook dinner the shallots.
Set a small-to-medium skillet (nonstick, chrome steel, or well-seasoned carbon metal) over a excessive warmth. Drop in 2 tablespoons of the butter. When it melts and foams, regulate the warmth to medium-low and add the shallots with a pinch of kosher salt. Sauté, retaining the warmth reasonable to keep away from burning the butter, for 8-10 minutes, till the shallots are translucent and browning across the edges they usually style candy and concentrated.
Flip the warmth to low and push the shallots to the perimeters of the skillet. After about 1 minute, add the remaining tablespoon of butter. Add the chilly eggs. Don’t contact them for 90 seconds! Critically, I’ll know. After 90 seconds, the eggs ought to have begun to arrange across the sides, just like the very early levels of a French omelet. Rotate the pan 180 levels, so its deal with is going through the alternative method it was going through earlier than. Use a silicone spatula to attract within the eggs and shallots from the sides, virtually to the center, however off to at least one aspect by a couple of levels — just like the spatula is a pilot taking a airplane simply off track. As you scrape towards the center, you should definitely scrape beneath the set eggs you’ve simply drawn inward earlier than transferring on to the following stroke.
Don’t contact for an additional 90 seconds! I’ll positively know. After 90 seconds, repeat this spatula movement. Sprinkle the grated Comté over the center of the eggs, the place the big, set curds are hanging out. Flip the warmth as much as medium for 20-40 seconds, and end cooking any runny egg across the edges that has stubbornly refused to agency up. Pull the eggs from the warmth whereas nonetheless shiny on high, and slide onto a plate.
High with flaky salt and black pepper, and serve.
Thanks a lot, Ella! We completely love your e book.
P.S. Two extra egg recipes: a simple make-ahead strata and Austin-style breakfast tacos.
(Photographs by Michael Graydon and Nikole Herriott. Excerpted from Obsessive about the Finest by Ella Quittner, on sale now from HarperCollins Publishers. Copyright © 2026 by Ella Quittner. All rights reserved.)
