Talk:Scrambled eggs/Archive 1

Archive 1

explanation of removal of material from 熱雞蛋 paragraph

I removed most of the following added by User:218.254.84.171 on 07:56, 2 July 2006 [1]:

In China scrambled eggs are know as "re ji dan" or, 熱雞蛋，and are made in a special way. Firstly, the eggs are scrambled, or beaten, with a whisk or fork to blend the egg white and yolk. Some salt and pepper or other seasoning is usually added and the mixture is then cooked. To make lighter, fluffier scrambled eggs, some milk, cream, soy milk or water is also added.Then, instead of being put of a heat-transferring equipment, it is fried lightly on a pan with seaweed. It is served with rice or dumplings

The reason is easy to see when you compare one of the paragraphs in the beginning describing the cooking of scrambled eggs:

To make scrambled eggs, the eggs are first scrambled, or beaten, with a whisk or fork to blend the egg white and yolk. Some salt and pepper or other seasoning is usually added and the mixture is then cooked. To make lighter, fluffier scrambled eggs, some milk, cream, soy milk or water is also added. Cheese may also be added when cooking the eggs. The eggs are finally cooked on a heat-transferring surface, such as in a frying pan coated with melted butter, margarine, or cooking oil...

As you can see, the first three sentences for cooking 熱雞蛋 are just copied from the top (which is especially funny since milk and cream are not widely used in Chinese cooking). The sentence that is slightly different:

Then, instead of being put of a heat-transferring equipment, it is fried lightly on a pan with seaweed. (熱雞蛋)

Compare with:

The eggs are finally cooked on a heat-transferring surface, such as in a frying pan coated with melted butter, margarine, or cooking oil... (scrambled eggs)

Well, if frying pans are considered heat-transferring, why is that not the case for 熱雞蛋? The "instead" just makes no sense.

So the only differentiating factor we're left with is the supposed addition of seaweed. However I'm strongly disputing this. While seaweed is used in Chinese cuisine and Chinese cuisine can be quite varied due to the vastness of China and the diaspora of ethnic Chinese all over the world, I have never heard of eggs cooked with seaweed in Chinese cuisine. No doubt someone out there might cook their eggs with seaweed, but it's definitely not something common in Chinese cuisine--you find me a restaurant that serves the eggs cooked that way! Indeed even in Japan where seaweed is used more commonly, eggs are still more likely to be cooked without seaweed, and then maybe you sprinkle some seaweed on top for garnish or seasoning after the eggs are finished (or for sushi, you may see the egg omelette tied with seaweed to a block of sushi rice). So anyway, I'm not believing this unless you can point me to a relevant source.

So when all said and done, we're only left with the Chinese name and that it may be served with rice and dumplings, which is what I left unremoved. 24.19.184.243 14:49, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

Update: I have further reviewed the contribution history [2] of User:218.254.84.171, and I have decided to remove all material added by him to this article since I don't trust him, as the contribution history shows only a few edits most of which were reverted as vandalism or nonsense. I'm personally very iffy about 熱雞蛋 anyway; the closest I can think of is 炒蛋 which is more or less scrambled eggs (at least where I was from), though perhaps some regions of China do call that 熱雞蛋 (熱 means "hot" as in temperature; 雞蛋 means "chicken egg"; 炒 means "stir-frying"). 24.19.184.243 06:21, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Note: if someone else can testify that some of the material I removed are indeed valid to keep, please discuss here. Thanks. 24.19.184.243 06:25, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Plurality inconsistency

There seems to be a major inconsistency among the egg-cooking articles. In particular, Fried Egg is singular, while this article is plural. This is not just a naming issue, it also seems to have led at least one literal-minded editor into the contra-factual assertion that scrambling requires "two or more" eggs. (I mean you, User:Picapica!)

In reality, it is not uncommon for one to scramble a single egg. If no one objects, I plan to rename the article to Scrambled Egg, and remove its plurality bias. Eleuther 00:32, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

I wouldn't call it a major inconsistency, as to me they are not so much "egg-cooking" articles as "egg dish" articles, and fact is that, as the name of a dish, "scrambled eggs" is used more often than "scrambled egg". However, I've no objection if you want to go ahead and make the necessary edits to turn the article from one about the dish to one about the foodstuff, scrambled egg, so long as you don't rename it Scrambled Egg, as you propose – which title I would object to – but Scrambled egg (only the first word capitalized).

(Incidentally, I have never maintained that "scrambling requires two or more eggs" – only that if you plan to serve a dish called "scrambled eggs" then making it with only one egg won't do.)

It is good to see the application of more great minds to the task of editing the egg articles: they still need a good deal of work. See, for example, "Poached egg is a method of cooking an egg..." Oh, no, it's not. Poaching is a method of cooking an egg. -- Picapica 15:48, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Okay, other great egg-mind. I thought I was just making a joke, but let's duke it out! You're the one who added "two or more," and I can prove it. In the meantime, you're right about the capitalization. And also, do you approve of the change you inspired me to make just now to Poached egg ...? Cheers, Eleuther 11:28, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

i never whisk before putting the eggs in the pan generally letting the eggs set just a little and then scrambling the life out of them. surely im not the only one?

Serving options

Under the serving options you mention haute cuisine and a popular method of serving scrambled eggs in the US. But the description you give sounds almost exactly the same as the 'Full English Breakfast'. I'm not sure what this is called in America but certainly in Europe it is referred to as that, and is opposed to the 'Continental Breakfast' of toast and cereal. If no-one objects I'd like to make the addition of 'Full English' as that is basically what is described in all but name.

We don't have naming conventions for breakfast pairings in this way. If you would like to add the information go right ahead, just try to source it somehow with proper citation as the article is well sourced at the moment and we would not want to lose the integrity of the information presented on it.--Chef Christopher Allen Tanner, CCC 17:59, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

Revise "Variations" section to remove recipe tone?

Per WP:NOTHOWTO, wiki articles should be phrased as information, not directions. If I get some downtime, I'm thinking to change the "Variations" section so that instead of saying "then blach the aspargus, add butter..." it should say "XYZ scrambled eggs: a variant containing asparaus cooked in brown butter." Anyone object? MatthewVanitas (talk) 04:36, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

I LIKE DE CAKE!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.149.74.87 (talk) 09:43, 6 February 2010 (UTC)

"Properly made, the eggs should be moist in texture with a creamy consistency and a 'delicate' flavor."

Oh come on. Not everyone likes them that way. If, like myself, you like them firm and dry, then they're not "properly made" if you make them this way. (I always ask for them "well done.") Kostaki mou (talk) 01:03, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

Although I disagree with you in that I think that anybody who likes dry scrambled eggs is just weird, I do agree that this sentence is unsatisfactory. Every decent cookbook I know, and pretty much any decent cookery school, will insist that scrambled eggs should be creamy, and it's certainly the haute cuisine way to cook them. But this sentence should be phrased to reflect that, by sourcing a corresponding opinion by a major culinary authority (such as the Larousse Gastronomique, or Escoffier's Guide). Right now the sentence has weasel wording (implies an authority that it doesn't cite), a venal wikisin. Lexo (talk) 14:16, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

De gustibus non est disputandum, Lexo. There can be no authority in matters of taste, except for the individual doing the tasting. I don't care what Escoffier or Larousse or anyone else says; I like 'em dry. If that makes me weird, I've got a lot of company. Kostaki mou (talk) 21:06, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

A few further thoughts: I am no reverse snob, Lexo. I do not disparage the expertise of Escoffier or the editors of Larousse or the usefulness of their works and others like them, but they are not holy writ. To say that there is only one proper way of cooking scrambled eggs is like saying that a properly cooked hamburger should be medium rare. (I seem to have some support from Julia Child, who described an omelette (q.v.) as “soft-cooked scrambled eggs wrapped in an envelope of firmly-cooked scrambled eggs.” (She also once said that she hated Haute Cuisine.) Kostaki mou (talk) 22:07, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Having also been quite shocked to see someone proposing that underdone, sloppy eggs with no browning at all are properly made, I changed the wording, from "Properly," to "If this technique is followed,". Having no access to the "McBride", or any idea what book that is (as it's not mentioned in the references), I can't say whether this agrees with the citation. 69.95.236.109 (talk) 17:53, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

I removed all reference marks to "McBride", since the actual reference wasn't included. If someone knows what McBride is, please add it back.--Rsl12 (talk) 14:42, 30 October 2008 (UTC)

As for Julia Child saying that she hated Haute Cuisine, I am almost certain that my memory played a trick on me. I believe that was Gael Greene. Sorry. My bad. Kostaki mou (talk) 00:22, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

Preparation

The article says: "In Britain and Ireland the eggs are usually cooked over low heat, rather than over high heat."

I'm an American, and I've always been taught (and agree) that all eggs should always be cooked over low heat. Am I being un-American? Am I supposed to be using high heat? Or does this mean some other part of the world, like "...unlike mainland Europe"? I'm confused.

Response: One particular technique given by Alton Brown on Good Eats specifies that you cook over low heat until the eggs curdle up some, and then switch to high heat while continuously folding the eggs with a spatula just until they are not quite done (all the moving liquid disappears from the pan, but the eggs are still moist and glisteny). At that point, you immediately move them to a plate where the internal heat of the eggs will carry them over into proper doneness. The reason for this is that spending too much time over high heat causes the proteins in the eggs to constrict too much, which squeezes the water out of the eggs. Dry eggs in the midst of a watery moat is the result. --Dachannien 11:29, 5 May 2005 (UTC)

The doubler-boiler reference I inserted is an American technique, and the method is intended to cook the eggs over very low heat to produce the best results. I don't believe Americans cook scrambled eggs over high heat unless they are starving and Must. Have. Scrambled. Eggs. Now! --Mothperson 13:22, 5 May 2005 (UTC)

I edited the reference to cooking the eggs on a "hot" surface, as I think that was, partly, what gave the misunderstanding that Americans cook eggs over "high heat". I also added that most cooking experts recommend cooking at medium heat to give a clear signal as to the most commonly advised way of cooking scrambled eggs. If Americans tend to overcook their eggs over high heat its probably because they have never taken the time to read the instruction manual on making eggs, or been taught in school or by parents the right way to do it (IMHO) Sfdan 09:59, 6 May 2005 (UTC)

Humph. Request you change "Americans tend" to "people tend" in above paragraph. I've had plenty of overcooked eggs in England. Kidding aside, I don't think it's a good idea to make assumptions about how things are done by country unless it's something really well-known, if not indisputable, such as - wrenches vs. spanners, or tea bags vs. teapots. --Mothperson 11:34, 6 May 2005 (UTC) Instruction manual?

I'm removing the British-Irish reference as it doesn't make any sense. They aren't flying in the face of world-wide egg-cooking tradition. --Mothperson 15:05, 7 May 2005 (UTC)

Just wondering if mushrooms are a common complement in US or Europe/UK? In Australia cooked mushrooms are very common.

Why is a ratio of 2 tsp/10ml given in the first "Sample Preperation" paragraph? That's a rather odd measure combining imperial and metric, but resolves to a 1:1 ratio (well, 1:0.98578). nickersonm 06:40, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

I found this article a little weird. Sure, these methods could be used but most people would consider anything with "curds" a failure on making scrambled eggs. Yes, many like it like that, but they still recognize that it is not really right. "Hot greased pan", "coagulate almost immidiately" - this is a sure way to fail. A quite cool pan and then after about 4-5 minutes the consistency starts to change, keep folding with a spatula until desired consistency. Use salt afterwards - if you put it in at the beginning you destroy some of that yellow color. When done, add a little butter or creme fraiche. Also "into a homogeneous liquid", please don't do that. Just crack the eggs in a bowl, add a little water and whisk gently with a few strokes (like you would with an omelette) before transferring to a gently heated pan. 90.227.214.90 (talk) 21:03, 17 July 2010 (UTC)

As mentioned in another discussion below, De gustibus non est disputandum. I disagree with your methods, but I also disagree with the Sample Preparation. This article is too POV. 63.87.189.17 (talk) 23:50, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Salt

"Only eggs and salt are strictly necessary to make scrambled egg" is an opinion by Jamie Oliver and should be reported as such. Technically, only eggs are needed, as in our article List of egg dishes. Dbfirs 08:18, 18 October 2015 (UTC)