Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Lifestyle
Lauren Taylor

How to make the perfect scrambled eggs

Ant Duncan

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

Prue Leith’s scrambled egg technique might surprise a lot of people.

“I once had an argument about how to scramble eggs with the famous French chef Albert Roux,” says Leith. “He claimed anything other than eggs gently and lovingly stirred in a double saucepan over simmering water for 20 minutes or so, until you have a mixture as smooth as Hollandaise sauce, was sacrilege. So, I apologise to any like-minded perfectionists – my eggs are scrambled in seconds.”

“The trick is to yank them off the heat and tip them on to the toast while some of the mixture is still just liquid. And the toast is important. I like it well toasted, so there is a bit of crunch round the edge. Sourdough bread makes the best toast because it’s tough enough not to disintegrate under the wet scramble.

Marmite and rocket aren’t traditional, but “after hundreds of Sunday-night scrambles in front of the telly, I think this version is probably my favourite”, she says.

Perfect scrambled eggs

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

4 thick slices of bread with about 60g butter

Marmite (optional)

8 large eggs

100ml whole milk

A few good handfuls of rocket leaves (optional)

Salt and black pepper

Method:

‘Life’s Too Short To Stuff A Mushroom’ is Leith’s 15th cookbook
‘Life’s Too Short To Stuff A Mushroom’ is Leith’s 15th cookbook (Carnival)

1. Toast the bread. Use about half the butter to butter the slices and spread them lightly with Marmite, if using. Put them on heated dinner plates. Keep warm.

2. Blitz the eggs and milk briefly together in a blender, or whisk them in a bowl until there are no streaks of egg white. Season with salt and pepper.

3. On a medium heat, melt the remaining butter in a large non-stick frying pan and pour in the eggs.

4. Using a spatula or fish slice, keep the mixture moving. Don’t stir wildly – just scrape the mixture from edge to middle as the eggs solidify. When they are almost all cooked, with only 20 per cent or so still runny, spoon the mixture on to the toast – by the time you are done, all the egg will be cooked, but still moist and shiny.

5. Drop a handful of rocket on to each plate, if you like, and serve at once, perhaps with a little extra black pepper over the top.

‘Life’s Too Short To Stuff A Mushroom’ by Prue Leith (Carnival, £25).

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.