Scrambled eggs frying pan or sauce pan?

[bumburlinga]

Don’t say microwave.

I go for frying pan. Loads of butter, low heat, gentle stirring, stop when still a tiny bit runny and they solidify to quivery deliciousness the time you’ve plated up.

DH, on the other hand, chooses a saucepan. I think he has the heat too high or it’s that there’s less surface area so there’s uneven cooking and they’re just not as good.

He swears he’s right and that “all chefs” use a saucepan.

So who IBU?

If I had no microwave available I would go for a saucepan. I use plenty of butter and a little salt and black pepper and cook slowly, stirring constantly. To me, the slow cooking is what makes the difference between scrambled egg and an omelette which I would cook fast and on a higher heat.
However I still think a microwave is best off all as long as you watch like a hawk and stir as couple of times!

Whichever non-stick pan is available and dishwasher-friendly. Our small frying pan is neither so is neither use nor ornament.

Microwave is easy and good though, with plenty of butter obviously.

Frying pan. But you're wrong about the heat. It needs to be hot and quick but taken off the heat before completely cooked so it will be perfectly cooked through by the time it's on the plate.

Microwave.!

Non stick frying pan. Surely in a saucepan you end up with a horrible mess?

I’ve only seen one person use a saucepan and she sort of scrambled them to death with a whisk so that they were broken up into lots of tiny pieces.

I do them in a frying pan, lots of butter, slowly, gently folding every so often.

I use a small frying pan as all the saucepans are le creuset and they require too much effort to get clean - frying pan is non stick, saucepan needs soaking, scrubbing AND THEN dishwasher - fucking faff for something I can make in about 2 minutes in a frying pan. Crack the eggs in to some melted butter on a medium heat, whisk vigorously until liquid but clumpy, season and chuck in another nob of butter, pour out onto plate. Underdone (or as I call it, properly cooked!) not rubbery for me.

Frying pan

Anyway as long as eggs are not overcooked 🤢

doesnt this technique not result in an omelette if you’re just gently folding?
not being picky, I’m not the cook of the house! I’m a speedy and sufficient cook, I just do whatever’s quickest and with the least amount of clearing up 😂

Frying pan if I have it out and i’m using it, otherwise a saucepan. Never a microwave (they just don’t taste the same)

Frying pan if it’s free but if it’s being used for cooking bacon or whatever, a sauce pan is fine too. So no massive preference, I’d never really though about this before 🍳

Frying pan with butter (no oil). I do use a bit of milk and seasoning. For me the key is to cook for 1 minute, stir, leave off the heat, back on heat etc until you get the right consistency.

I agree. Scrambled eggs in a saucepan is utter barbarism.

Only benefit of the frying pan for me is that after everyone else's soft and flabby scrambled eggs have been removed, I keep a couple of spoonfuls in the pan, turn the heat up and colour the base slightly, like an omelette. Then fold it over the still scrambled eggs on the top and deliver to my breakfast plate for two-textured egg heaven!

doesn't this technique not result in an omelette if you’re just gently folding?
No.
Omelette: you don't do anything, you just cook it.
Whisked : you whisk. It is too runny, has no body.
Scrambled: you fold gently. Draw the cooked edges back into the mass of the egg, leaving the yet-to-be-cooked to ooze out to the edge. You end up with a thing of beauty.

I’ve always done saucepan. Ds does frying pan- says its has a bigger surface area so cooks quicker.

Saucepan, low heat, lots of butter and take them off the heat when they are still a tiny bit runny.

No. An omelette goes into a very hot pan, sizzles and cooks quickly. Scrambled/folded are done more slowly and, as @senua says, you draw the edges into the centre every so often. There’s a technique with chopsticks where you you can fold it into a tornado, although sadly I haven’t mastered this yet:

On the subject of omelette, I like the Japanese style Tamagoyaki where you make a roll: https://www.japanesecooking101.com/tamagoyaki-recipe/

I’m spending an awful lot of time posting about eggs when I don’t actually like them very much

Me - frying pan, lots of butter & cooked to within an inch of their lives to ensure precisely zero wobbly egg remains else it all goes in the bin. I'll caramelise that shit.

DH - saucepan. Then I don't know what the fuck he does but the result looks like partially digested vomit to me. All wibbly, insipid & anaemic looking with a high risk of fractionally undercooked egg.

In terms of cooking? He's right & I am wrong.

Bain marie is the only way of doing it, unless you are a savage

I have always and will always use a saucepan. My son uses the omelette pan.
He adds milk, I don't.
I use butter or oil, he doesn't.
The only time my eggs have been fucked up is when milk is added.
My way works for me.
His way works for him.

I use butter or oil, he doesn't.

What heresy is this?

I've always used a saucepan, frying pans are for omelettes.
According to Jamie Oliver (I know he's a bit marmite) saucepan is for English scrambled eggs, in a bowl over a pan of water for French scrambled eggs and a frying pan for American scrambled eggs. I sometimes add milk but shouldn't need to. I cook on a low heat and remove from heat and let eggs finish cooking off the heat. I do not want dry scrambled eggs. I don't not want something that resembles a chopped up omelette.

Re the saucepan being hard to clean, make sure the butter is swirled around bottom and sides and before adding eggs. Leave used Pan to go cold. Wipe all the egg bits out with as piece of dry kitchen paper and then a quick wash. Easy.

Habit, because I grew up with pans that weren't non stick. I mainly use butter.