‘Professional,’ declared K when she had a bite of the scrambled egg I had made for breakfast.
‘Nope,’ I replied. ‘This has no butter, cheese or cream. I achieved this texture just by patiently whisking the eggs in the pan after turning the hob off.’
That’s the thing. You can make delicious food at home with far less excess than taken recourse to in a commercial kitchen.
It is from K that I had learnt that scrambled eggs should be runny and not tight.
I used to make ‘scrambled eggs’ for my mom, brother and me on weekends when I was in college in Kolkata. I’d crack eggs and add them to a saucepan with chopped tomato, onion, green capsicum, liver from the weekend chicken curry and beat the hell out of the mix till it was well cooked Now I know better and would call that an anda bhurjee, not a scrambled egg.
There’s another reason why this was not ‘professional.’
The doorbell rang when I was gingerly whisking the egg and I was frazzled at having to attend to the door. Chefs in a professional kitchen do not have the luxury of cooking in the sort of serene, stress free environment, that I need.
While I came close to it a few times before, this was only the second time that I have achieved this texture. A professional kitchen demands consistency.
The verdict. The scrambled eggs were not professional.
They tasted very good though. One of the best I’ve had.
As K says, I am my favourite chef.
