Custardy French-Style Soft Scrambled Eggs Recipe

Making the perfect scrambled eggs is dependent on some key techniques (should you pre-salt your eggs?), and also the preference of the diner. There is American-diner style, with big, fluffy curds (this recipe includes lots of detailed information on cooking techniques, adding liquids, and more). I love soft-scrambled eggs with delicate, small curds. Then there are these French-style, almost pourable scrambled eggs. These are the scrambled eggs made famous by the chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and the trick to making them yourself is using incredibly low heat and a whisk.

Start by adding the beaten eggs and a pat of butter to a cold saucepan.

Then set it over very low heat (you can also use a double boiler, but it's not required), and cook the eggs, whisking gently the entire time.

The goal of the constant whisking is to break up the curds as soon as they form; the whisk's multiple wires help with this, slicing through the eggs over and over as they cook. If done properly, it's a slow, boring process, at times leaving you to wonder if the eggs are cooking at all.

The whisking has another effect: It makes the eggs less fluffy. The fluffiness in scrambled eggs (and also soufflés) comes from the expansion of heated gas and water vapor that's trapped in bubbles within the eggs. Through whisking, those bubbles are repeatedly broken and disturbed, allowing the gas and water vapor to escape. The low heat of this method also reduces fluffiness, since the eggs never get hot enough for the gas and water vapor to expand the way they would under high heat.

Eventually, the eggs thicken to a custardy texture with tiny curds. They're not just spoonable; they're actually still pourable—the overall effect is very luxurious, though, I have to admit, this isn't a style of scrambled eggs I'd want to eat in large doses, or on a plate, like in the photo below. This is the kind of scrambled egg that's better suited to being delicately spooned in small dollops onto toasts, then topped with things like caviar or lobster.