Basic scrambled eggs recipe

Step 1

Scrambled eggs are made by mixing eggs together with milk, cream or water to produce moist, soft folds or "clouds" of egg when cooked. Free-range eggs tend to have more flavour than battery-hen eggs and generally give scrambled eggs a richer yellow colour.

Step 2

Crack the eggs into a medium mixing bowl. This is best done by first cracking each egg, one at a time, into a small bowl before sliding it into the mixing bowl, so that you can remove any blood spots or pieces of shell (to remove these, use the egg-shell half). Add milk and salt. Measure the milk carefully, as cooked egg will only hold a certain amount of liquid and too much will cause the egg to "weep" moisture. Use a fork to whisk the egg mixture lightly until the ingredients are just combined. The eggs should be mixed through evenly to ensure a consistent yellow without streaks of egg white (which will result in white streaks through the cooked eggs).

Step 3

There is one main rule when cooking scrambled eggs: do not cook on heat that is too high, as this will cause the eggs to stick to the pan and become flaky and dry. Heat the butter in a medium, deep heavy-based frying pan over medium heat on the largest hotplate or gas burner (to ensure even cooking) for 1 minute or until the butter begins to foam. Swirl the pan to lightly coat its entire base with the butter.

Step 4

Add the egg mixture to the frying pan and cook over medium heat for 30 seconds. Use a flat-topped wooden spoon to gently push the egg mixture, scraping the top of the spoon along the base of the pan, from one side of the pan to the other in 4 different directions. Soft folds of cooked egg will begin to develop.

Step 5

Repeat the pushing action with the spoon every 10 seconds (or slow count to 10), including around the pan edge to prevent the egg mixture sticking. The important part of this step is to push the spoon through the mixture and lift and fold the eggs rather than stir, as stirring will break the egg up into small lumps. Do this often during cooking to prevent the egg mixture sticking and forming more of an omelette rather than moist, soft folds of scrambled eggs. Cook for 2 minutes or until about three-quarters of the mixture is cooked and one-quarter is still liquidy.

Step 6

Remove the pan from the heat and use the wooden spoon to gently fold the egg mixture twice more. The residual heat in the pan will finish cooking the eggs.

Step 7

Spoon the eggs onto the toast and serve immediately.