Scrambled Eggs
When my grandmother was alive she made the best scrambled eggs on the planet. And she taught me how to make them from when I was a little girl. She said to cook them low and slow, and to be patient. I became her apprentice, and pretty soon everybody raved about my scrambled eggs, too. And I felt proud of myself.
But as I got older, I wanted to make them even better and faster. So I watched the Food Network, because these are the experts. They are the finest chefs in the world. One chef said to add cream of tarter to make them fluffier. I did that. One chef on a “test kitchen” show said to turn the heat up to high and make them quickly. I did that, and enjoyed the speed of the process. Add seasoning. Add mayonnaise. Beat them with a blender. Cook them in bacon grease. Etc. (I did all of that.)
And while I technically got edible scrambled eggs every time, they seemed to be lacking in something. They didn’t taste like Maw Maw’s scrambled eggs. In fact, they seemed to be getting worse. Not better. How could the foodies not know what my grandmother knew?
This morning I decided that Maw Maw may have not been a food expert, but she lived to be 104 and had a lot of experience cooking for a big family. So I took two eggs, beat them with a fork and just a pinch of salt and pepper. I poured out just a “tad bit of milk” and whisked it all together.
Next, I cut off a pat of butter, flipped into in the skillet, and turned it on low heat. When the butter melted and at the point when it just began to steam, I poured the yellow creamy mixture into the pan and waited as I patiently stirred the eggs and moved them across the pan until they lumped up and eventually became the perfect consistency. Taking a small bite, that wonderfully comforting taste of Maw Maw’s love danced about my taste buds delightfully and euphorically.
Sure, I had to resist the temptation to use the other methods of cooking scrambled eggs, and breathe…and feeling comfortable trusting in a new process. Which was really an old one. A forgotten one. But the time investment and payout was worth it… because today (and from now on)… I make the most satisfying scrambled eggs on the planet. Which I knew how to make all along, but had somehow forgotten.
