A chef has shared a common mistake many people may make when they’re cooking scrambled eggs – and it’s all to do with timings. Eggs are a popular food choice due to their versatility and reasonable pricing.
Everyone has their favourite – be it poached, fried, soft-boiled or another variation – but a popular chef has said there’s many people who are getting the trusty scrambled egg all wrong. The blunder mainly comes down to a lack of understanding around the concept of ‘carryover cooking’.
This is where food continues to cook even after it’s been removed from the heat source. Sometimes called ‘resting’ or ‘residual cooking’, it’s a common occurrence that happens due to the heat from the interior of the food being hotter than the exterior.
Heat will continue to transfer from the hotter part of the food to the cooler part, which can make the internal temperature of the food rise despite it being removed from the source of heat.
New Zealand chef Andy, who posts across social media as Andy Cooks, recently detailed this phenomenon in a video demonstration on YouTube.
While preparing scrambled eggs, he explained to the camera: “So most people ruin their scrambled eggs with this one mistake.
“You’re going to start with three room temperature eggs and crack them in a bowl but that’s not the mistake.”
He then advised to “season them with salt and beat them well with a fork” before placing a “frying pan over a medium heat” and bringing it “up to temperature” while making sure “it’s not too hot”.
Andy continued: “Add your eggs and continuously mix them until you reach the desired temperature that you’re looking for – that’s not the mistake either.
“The mistake that most people make is that they don’t take them out of the pan soon enough and they overcook because of carry-over cooking.
“So, hot tip, take them out of the pan about 30 seconds before you think they’re perfect”.
In the comments section, people shared their thoughts. One person said: “Egg-cellent Tip! Love the pan btw”.
Another said: “Thanks for the tip” while a third shared: “THANK YOU! Overcooked scrambled eggs are the bane of my existence”.
Another commented: “The point isn’t to make soft or creamy eggs guys. It’s to remember carryover cooking is a thing. If you like ‘em overcooked to brown, fine.
“Don’t cook ‘em to brown, when you start seeing a little brown, pull ‘em, they’ll get to where you like via carryover. THAT’s the point.”
Adding clarity in a comment, chef Andy added: “There seems to be a lot of people missing the point. I wasn’t saying you have to soft scramble your eggs, have them however you like them cooked. What I was saying is that you should take them off the heat just before you think they’re perfect for your way of cooking them.
“That way, the residual heat will carry them to the point you actually like. Whether that’s soft scrambled or hard scrambled. I still believe you should pull them off just before they’re done.”
The NHS lists eggs among “good sources of protein” and stresses the importance of striving for a balanced diet.
It states: “Eating a healthy, balanced diet is an important part of maintaining good health, and can help you feel your best.
“This means eating a wide variety of foods in the right proportions, and consuming the right amount of food and drink to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.”