Heston Blumenthal's Scramble With Brown Butter

When I watch cooking shows on TV, I am often inspired to try the dish the chef/cook on TV is making. In most cases, I'd have to go shop for the ingredients first and so the dish never gets done. Or maybe it does ... months later. But when I saw British chef Heston Blumenthal demonstrate his method of cooking scrambled eggs on MasterChef Australia (Season 5, episode 49), I got up right after the episode and tried his recipe out - all I needed was eggs, milk, cream and butter, all staples in my pantry.

Heston doesn't scramble his eggs in a pan. What he does is combine all the ingredients (eggs, milk, cream and butter) in a heat resistant bowl and place it over a saucepan of boiling water. He then stirs and stirs and stirs the mixture until the butter melts into the egg and milk and cream (and salt and pepper) and the eggs start to curdle. 

To get the creamiest eggs, Heston says you have to cook the eggs very gently - not directly over the heat but  over a water bath/bain marie. Well, he's right, of course.

What you end up with is a deliciously creamy bowl of eggs that are as smooth as satin. Well, kinda. But boy, are they creamy and nice.

But that's not all. He tops the eggs with some brown butter or beurre noisette (literally translated to mean hazelnut butter). OH MY GOD. Is this the food of kings or what! (He also adds a few drops of sherry vinegar which I didn't have and so didn't use).

Eaten with toast and maybe with a sprinkling of chopped parsley and this is a breakfast to get you going!

Heston's Scrambled Eggs

3 large eggs
15g butter
15g milk
15g cream
salt and pepper

Put all ingredients in a heat resistant bowl. Boil a saucepan of water. When the water has started boiling, place the bowl on top of the pan (make sure the water doesn't touch the base of the bowl). With a spatula, gently stir the mixture until it starts to curdle. Take it off the heat and plate.

Brown Butter
Heat some unsalted butter in a pan over low heat. Swirl the butter around until it melts and then starts to brown and smell nutty. Take it off the heat and strain through a coffee strainer. Spoon over the eggs.