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Basic Scrambled Eggs

A simple egg dish cooked in butter with optional milk, salt, and pepper.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Basic Scrambled Eggs

Serves 1

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Crack eggs into a measuring cup.

  2. Add the milk (if desired) and salt.

  3. Using a whisk or fork, beat the mixture until foamy.

Cook

  1. Melt butter in a frying pan on medium heat.

  2. Pour eggs into frying pan.

  3. Stir mixture to break up the egg as it cooks and allow more liquid to touch the hot pan. Stirring rapidly will create small curds, while slower stirring will create larger curds.

  4. Cook until just before you feel that they are done, since the eggs will continue to cook after being removed from the pan. The eggs are done when the sheen disappears; stop cooking just before this happens.

  5. Transfer to a plate.

  6. Season with black pepper (black pepper will burn and become bitter if seasoned before cooking).

  7. Eat as is or with ketchup (tomato sauce), salsa, and/or butter on toast.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

335Calories
15 gProtein
25 gFat
14 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set into soft curds as they cook, forming the body of the dish.
Butter
Enriches the eggs and coats the pan so they cook gently without sticking.
Milk
Adds moisture and makes the scrambled eggs softer and more tender.

The step that matters

Stop cooking just before the eggs look done. Eggs keep cooking from residual heat after leaving the pan. Removing them while the sheen is still visible prevents them from becoming dry and rubbery.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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