Julia's scrambled eggs

[velreid]

Hello,

I haven't written in awhile due to my %#@!*&*&@ computer. I wanted to tell everyone that I am still experimenting with some French cuisine. I have become this french food-a-holic, thanks to SE. Bless her!

I just finished reading Julia Childs book, My Life in France and it was wonderful and now makes me want to live there even more.

I also have her Mastering the Art of French Cooking which I am sure a lot of you have or have read. Anyway, yesterday I made her scrambled eggs. They were "heavenly". The ingredients were the same as I always use it was the technique that was quite different. If anyone would like me to share that with you I wll, but thought you may already know. I am a novice at all of this FRENCH stuff.

Glad to be back online agiain.

Lucky Mama, aka Paris Reid

[Happygoin]

Ms. Deneuve, you need to get your %$*&# computer fixed. We'd LOVE to hear from you more often.

PS. If Julia's method of making scrambled eggs is to whisk them while cooking, thus making a creamy end result (is it?), I must tell you that I had a Breakfast Revolt over them. Everyone refused to eat them because they said the eggs weren't cooked.

Heathens!

[Jody]

Hi again , Mama! If you enjoyed My Life in France, you might also enjoy Appetite for Life ,another biography. I couldn't decide which I liked best.


I have been doing Julia's eggs ever since I read the cookbook many years ago. The only ones better are my English MIL"S. However her's are so time consuming and the washup afterwards so messy, I stick to Julia's except on Christmas morning when Mummy's eggs are on the menu!

[Anne]

happygoin said:

If Julia's method of making scrambled eggs is to whisk them while cooking, thus making a creamy end result (is it?)

How else do you guys make your scrambled eggs

[Roniece]

well... my son just made scrambled eggs tonight! (as I don't do kitchens, and my husband wasn't home in time to cook so my son stepped up to the mark to feed his Momma!).... his recipee is to blend them ... hmmm, the broken eggs yes, in the blender, he feels that this makes them very light and fluffy and enjoyable to eat... go figure, they just tasted like scrambled eggs to me! sshhh, don't comment, he might be listening!! LOL

[Jody]

Oh dear Anne, you obviously have never had scrambled eggs at an American breakfast place. They are usually like 1 big solid lump of dried out eggs!

David's mother's recipe calls for whisking them in a double boiler over simmering water until they just begin to thicken then adding a knob of butter and continuing whisking just until soft little curds form! They are delish but the pot is almost impossible to clean in under a half hour!

[Happygoin]

Quite right, demarais. Anne, while they cook, American scrambled eggs are pretty much left alone to form big curds instead of small, creamy ones. When they're set, then they're turned over or moved around a bit...but they're definitely not creamy. They're quite dry in the end. And most Americans (at least the ones I've run into) will not eat creamy scrambled eggs.

[velreid]

Yes, it is to continually move the eggs in the pan while they cook on med low heat. The result is a really creamy texture which I loved. I can see why some folks would not like them if they liked the traditional scarmbled eggs.

Demarias, thanks for telling me about the other book. I will be sure to read it.

I love anything about France or COOKING. My greatest joy is to sit and read a new cook book. Of course, making the recipes are great fun too.

I don't know what my next feast will be. Yesterday, I made a roasted chicken from one of my french recipes. I did add some of my own ingredients to it and it was yummy. i also made "Madame Cartets Potato Gratin" out of one of SE's cookbooks. Can't remember which one. Maybe a Particia Wells.
Everyone loves this one and it is so easy.

1 clove garlic
2 lbs baking potatoes, peeled and sliced thin
1 cup Swiss Gruyere cheese
1 cup heavy cream
salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Rub a baking dish with garlic. Layer half of the potatoes in dis, sprinkle with half of the cheese and half of the cream. Sprinkle with salt and add another layer of potatoes and cheese.
Bake uncovered until gratin is crisp and golden, 50 to 60 minutes.

makes 4 to 6 servings

[sistereurope]

Whew! It's a good thing that she didn't cook like that when I lived at home...I'd have had to live at the gym 24/7!!!

I think that her friends are happy that I took her to France - they are benefiting from her new found passion for sure.

[Happygoin]

Vel, those are pretty much the same potatoes I made for our Super Bowl party. They ARE great aren't they!? Like you, I could (and DO!) sit for hours reading cookbooks. I thought My Life in France was quite a bit more personal than Julia's original biography (by whats-her-name Fitch)...I'll be curious what you think after you read it.

[Becky (Berkeleytravelers)]

The scrambled eggs as described are pretty much how I make them. I beat them lightly in a bowl with a small amount of water (used to add a little milk or cream but then read that it separates and that's why you can get some watery runnoff), then cook on the lowest possible heat with a small amount of butter (sometimes a few Provence herbs, sometimes some grated cheese), stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until creamy/fluffy. I hear you about the pan, but I just set it to soak with hot water and by the time I've finished breakfast it's easy to clean.

[geordy]

I think the "food police" as Emeril calls them also have Americans scared of eggs..and salmonella. Not to mention cholesterol..remember "The incredible, edible egg" campaign?

I like soft scrambled eggs, and runny fried and poached eggs. And potatoes with cream and butter in any fashion....having my left over chorizo, potato, egg dish for dinner tonite.

But your point is very well taken Sis!

[Happygoin]

Well POO. There is salmonella in ONE in 22,000 eggs. Those are odds I'm willing to take to enjoy a wonderful vinaigrette with a raw yolk in it or some such thing.

Emeril can eat dirt.

[Jody]

I'm not bragging, but I make a mean omelet. David says mine are better than 90% of the ones he's had in France.

I make up duxelles, freeze them , and when we want mushroom omelets all I do is zap some in the Microwave. His new favorite is the mushroom duxelle omelet sprinkled with a few drops of truffle oil!

[sistereurope]

Well, as someone who is married to a "chicken farmer" , I have to agree with happy's well-worded response to that!

We make Cesar salads all the time with our eggs...actually, using Julia's recipe in the book "Jacques and Julia"...another GREAT Julia cook book, mom!

[geordy]

Actually Emeril, in this case, makes jokes about the food police...like you have to wash the car that you brought the chicken and eggs home in as well as everything else!

[Happygoin]

Oh good. I thought you meant he was seriously The Food Police (I don't watch him).

[geordy]

Not one of my favs either...though he hails from your neck of the woods...but he is sometimes on target. I think he was criticized for use of raw eggs in things and the use of bare hands and not enough washing so now he kind of sarcastically goes overboard.

But I also hear there will be less of his shows on though the bad news to my way of thinking is that they are trying to appeal to a "younger demographic" so I don't think I'll be thrilled with the replacements either!

[velreid]

Well, SE, I don't have to buy Jacques and Julie just borrow yours.

I am online now looking for Perisian Home Cooking. Gee, this site is great, recipes, books, etc, etc. Glad I have my computer working again.

I agree with the uncooked egg thing. What are the chances?

[sistereurope]

I think it depends, Gitte. I have no problems with making our Cesar salad dressing with the eggs from our chickens...of course, I'm not so sure I would do that with some other eggs...

In any even, I do LOVE me some scrambled eggs, so mom, we are gonna have to swap cookbooks soon ;D