007: BASICS - Scrambled Eggs

Chris

I do love Greek yogurt, but as far as tacos go, I think I'm a little bit more on like the street taco side, honestly, I'd be happy with just like a tortilla and meat, which you want, you can throw a little, little something on there.

Phil

Coty had cheese for me.

Chris

yeah, yeah, no, that's, that's great. or just like a little bit of cabbage. or I do really love pickled onions. That's pretty fantastic. I think pickled onions, that that'd be my favorite, especially with, um, Koshi needed appeal. that, or an El Pastore

Phil

Do you guys have Mo's out there?

Chris

Uh, I don't think so. It doesn't sound familiar.

Phil

It's in line with the Chipotle and Qdoba type, you know, build your own Brita type place. but they have one of their toppings. What I thought was Cotea cheese and I've always been a big fan of Katia cheese on a, on a taco. And so I get to the, to the end of the line and I, I point to the cheese and I, and I say, I'll have some of that. Cotea. And the guy was like, what, Oh, uh, just some of that Katia cheese, any of those, like the splash guard so he can't really see totally what I'm pointing at. and he like looks down at the cheese and he's like, do you mean the case of Fresca? And I was like,

Chris

Yeah.

Phil

no, it's Katia. And he's like, I've never heard of that. But that's case of Fresca. And I find myself arguing with it, like such a stupid argument. And then I Googled it later and found out he was absolutely right. They do carry case of Fresca they're at Moe's and not Cotea cheese. Yeah. They're pretty similar. But, man, it was, if you're out there listening to this show, who ever you are, I am so sorry that I argued with you. Cause you were right. And that was wrong.

Chris

Oh, we all need some redemption fell.

Phil

yeah. Katia case a Fresca let's call the whole thing off.

Chris

I thought you were going to go somewhere totally different with that. Like it wasn't going to be cheese. there's, a little taco place in a cherry Creek area. And I had never heard of this ingredient before. And I don't even know exactly how to pronounce it. but I ended up getting some tacos with this ingredient. I think it's, it's something close to you on a no, I'm going to absolutely slaughter it, but something close to I don't know if you've heard of it.

Phil

No.

Chris

Anyway, got the tacos.

Phil

it's corn smut.

Chris

Yeah. It's basically like corn mold.

Phil

So gross.

Chris

It was, it was just terrible.

Phil

He w Quila coachee.

Chris

Okay.

Phil

It's a fungus

Chris

Yeah. Which I also have issues with on principle.

Phil

Rose.

Chris

spores, I do not want to eat it. So the corn smut tacos fell should eventually make their way to our, uh, you know, upcoming taco Tuesday episode that we'll definitely have at some point in time, if, if we can ever get our act together,

Phil

yeah, that's the thing. it may seem like we have our act together, but we really don't.

Chris

Phil. I would love to talk to the person that thinks that we do,

Phil

right.

Chris

but anyway, continue.

Phil

It's honestly comical at this point, because we're not that far into this, and we've had so many technical difficulties or at least I have had so many technical difficulties most recently, uh, we use this recording software and my gosh, the last few episodes, I've just had the worst luck with them. And if not for my affectionate, cohost Chris over there , he developed some sort of workaround to make it work somehow. but I gotta be honest with you. all the back and forth and trying to figure this whole thing out. It's like, it's scrambling my brain, like scrambled eggs and just feel like it's, it's almost like I have this existential feeling. Like out of body existential feeling of, I don't know what's going on, but you do so existential, perhaps are you recognizing my setup? Is that too much of a stretch?

Chris

a little bit, little bit. if I'm a, you know, picking up what you're laying down there, it seems like maybe, maybe quite possibly you are leading us towards some, some sorts of, um, beef related episode.

Phil

well only if you

Chris

Hamburgers. We're going to, we're going to talk about hamburgers.

Phil

You can put, you can put an egg on top of the hamburger and it's great.

Chris

there are a lot of things that eggs can go on and they're absolutely fantastic. But if I do remember correctly, scrambled eggs, that's what we're gonna talk about today.

Phil

Let's talk about some scrambled eggs, Chris.

Chris

I kind of personally love the subject. Phil, do you have a specific way that you enjoy your scrambled eggs?

Phil

I do. I don't always make them the same way because I love a good adventure. I don't love scrambled eggs at a restaurant. I'm not really sure why I think if I'm going to have eggs, I prefer to make them. And there's a lot of great ways to make them personally. I mean, if I'm just kind of on the fly and I'm not really thinking about it, I'll usually just whip up some eggs with a little bit of milk or half and a half. And then scrambled them salt and pepper on top super easy. But if I'm feeling a little more adventurous, I will often sprinkle some sort of green herb on them. Like something maybe dill cilantro. Oh my gosh. A hundred percent. Maybe some oregano. What about you?

Chris

sure. I think there are, I think there are many a way that you can make scrambled eggs. And I think I've also gone through a little bit of a scrambled egg journey over the past. Four or five years or so, maybe a little bit longer. maybe that's one of the reasons that I really kinda like scrambled eggs is because it's simple, but not at the same time. It's simple. And. Your mirror taking an egg, you're mixing the two different parts of the egg and the yolk together, and you're applying heat to cook it. but there are so many different ways to go about that. And so many different techniques that can be refined to, really achieve some very different results. I have found. So, I think that's one of the reasons that I, I think it's really interesting, to me is it's something that's, that's easy, simple, but you can really see the different outcomes of some different techniques and how, how you treat the eggs. So, I don't know. How do you feel about that fellow?

Phil

I'm super curious. can I just interject some, some Phil's ossify

Chris

Oh my gosh. Sure.

Phil

Okay. So, you mentioned that you've been on this journey with scrambled eggs. So there's this quote that I love by TSL yet. Sure. You've heard of it. We shall not cease from exploration. And at the end of our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time to know the place. For the first time. So anyways, great that you're on this journey, cause it's not really about reaching the destination, but when you reach that destination, you, you you've changed and so have your eggs. it feels awesome if you want one and

Chris

it is.

Phil

you

Chris

think, I think it's about the destination because I like my destination way better than where I started because I scrambled eggs were terrible to me early on life, my earlier years, and I didn't like them. I didn't like them, Phil. definitely like Friday's a lot better, like over easy was where it was at for me. but I think it was more kind of that traditional American scrambled egg that I just didn't like, it ended up being a little bit more dry. You had large curds and, It was a little boring, I think

Phil

Yeah, the traditional American scrambled egg that you get at a restaurant. I was just like a run of the mill. Yeah.

Chris

So I don't remember where we started, but I've really dove into some of the Thomas Keller methods, maybe it's, it's actually more of like a French way of making scrambled eggs where You're doing like a low and slow approach with constant stirring and steering or folding of the eggs and it's breaking up the Kurds. So you don't end up with large chunks of scrambled eggs. You have like really small curds and what I've landed on is something that creates this really like interesting creamy custardy flavor and the eggs end up having a lot of flavor without having to put much into them. so right now, I guess my, my current go to approach is I'll crack the eggs straight into the Dutch oven and. I have it on like a really low flame constantly. on a, a gas stove is different than an electric cars, electric cycles, and kind of maintains that low heat level for you. But a gas stove can get a little bit higher, so you kind of have to watch it. And when you see the Kurds starting to form, I tend to pull it off stir it and kind of allow it cool a little bit.

And then I'll put it back on and kind of a point where you can kind of tell that like, there's some like forming of Kurds, the Kurds are coming together and then you can pull it off the heat again. And I usually just take my time with that and I don't actually put anything in it.

Phil

You're a purist.

Chris

I think the only thing that I will put in it would be butter. So I'll I'll butter because even before I put the eggs in, as the eggs really are starting to set a little bit more, I'll fold some more butter and, and usually that point the texture is, almost getting to like a, soft, creamy, polenta type texture and, at that point. One thing to think about is that your eggs are going to have a lot of, kind of follow through like residual heat. It's going to continue to cook after you pull them off.

Phil

Well, and honestly, that's. Kind of a principle that we learned just with grilling, that whenever you take, you know, if it's burgers or steak or whatever, when you take that off the grill, just letting it sit for five or so minutes or 10 minutes, it's actually going to continue to cook.

Chris

Yeah. And so, for me, because I actually don't really put anything else into it other than butter, I don't put salt in while I'm making it. usually put some finishing salt on it after kind of once I put it in a bowl, put some Maldon salt or something like that on it. but if. You do like to add some things to it. that could be a great point too, to do that. So you get to kind of really close to the, level of hardness or softness that you like. And then, you can pull it from the heat and put , your cream half and half kremfresh, whatever it is, that you're adding to it at that point. And if it's cold, it'll. Help stop that cooking. And so like you can get it a little bit more to that point that you like visually and then really like arrest that, follow through process.

Phil

wow. There's a lot going on there. I think that may be the only thing that you and I share in our techniques of scrambling eggs is that we probably pull it off the heat before it is completely done. which I guess that could maybe mean a couple of different things as well on what down is, but. I've never really considered adding the cream, at the end. Yeah. I've always just done that. before I've applied any type of heat, okay. . It's like 11:30 PM while we're recording this. And I think I'm gonna go make some eggs when we're done, because that sounded lovely. I'll survey the two and I'll report back to you.

Chris

I would, I would love to know scientific

Phil

Yeah, this is something I've been thinking about and I can't lay claim to it. Someone else gave me the idea for this, but is egg salad and chicken salad. The same thing.

Chris

in it? I don't think we have, I don't know. We don't play checkers on our Exxon. Oh my gosh. That I'm not even gonna, I'm not even responding.

Phil

boy. I just feel like you've been ignoring my dad jokes all night long.

Chris

Somebody's got to bring the puns. Phil. Somebody's got to bring them. Tonight. It's not my night. So I know my approach to, to scrambled eggs. Isn't like crazy, colorful and exciting, but maybe that's kinda why I like scrambled eggs is because it's something that's simple. And it's a process that you can refine

Phil

Oh, I would definitely say they're exciting.

Chris

okay. When you come out. To make pomade pasta, and probably have tacos while we recorded an episode on tacos. I'll make you some scrambled eggs and we'll see what you think

Phil

Okay.

Chris

I still think that without anything. And I'm like, they have the potential to be just so incredibly rich and creamy, and it's interesting as you're kind of going through the process. because it's so simple, it allows you to try different things and. Kind of with that repetition, see how differences in technique and actually affect the final outcome, like the final flavors. And, you can play with those variations and you can see like how a level of consistency and techniques can produce, um, specific results as well. for me, it was just like a really great, dish to experiment on and have fun starting to play around. but that doesn't mean that I'm necessarily against toppings or add on. I know you like cream in your eyes, but is there anything else that you like,

Phil

Yeah. If, if I were to put a topping on an egg, I would probably choose dill or. Possibly paprika, if I'm feeling a little smoky, a little spicy. Hmm. Okay. Actually just the other day, I had some fresh time in Rosemary that I'd brought in from the garden and it was nearing its expiration. So I just like very delicately dropped in some time leaves right on it. And then chopped up some Rosemary. He was amazing. I went a little heavy on the time.

Chris

All of those sound good. I can't think of the last thing that I actually put in the eggs. So I'm a little bit at a loss.

Phil

Listen, this week I'll make some eggs probably probably tonight or tomorrow morning. I'll make some eggs exactly the way you've described. And then you make 'em the way you normally do, but then top it with some, some deal.

Chris

So Phil life changing egg topping have you had

Phil

I love Terragon. Yeah. I've got a pretty good story when Ashley and I were dating, she made me this great dinner, in her dorm room. I mean, you remember college dorm rooms. There's like, there's, there's not even a kitchen nearby. And, uh, yeah. It's like, she figured out a way to make this great elaborate, beautiful dinner in the dorm room. And so, before I came over, she, she called me and kind of in a panic at the store saying. Hey, Phil, This recipe that I'm making calls for Terragon, and I don't know where it is in the store. I'm in whole foods. I can't find it. What do I do? And I said, well, have you, have you asked anyone and when you do ask, make sure that you pronounce it the right way, because it's not actually a pronounced Terragon. pronounced Tara ween. Cause it's French. And so I'm such a jerk man. So she, she like walks over to this guy and I, and I hear kinda muffled. She lowers the phone, but I can hear her talking to her. She's like, Hey, where do you guys keep your terror ween? And he's like the, what? The, the. The here, let me just show you a picture and she shows them a picture on their phone and he's like, do you mean Terragon? My poor wife. God bless her.

Oh yeah. the clacking went on for, I want to say nearly a year.

Chris

That's that's about what I remember. So, said, what?

Phil

quiet every time she said the word quiet. I would quick, so yeah, I did a little experiment with my wife before she was my wife and somehow. She still became my wife. She's a good person and I'm not.

Chris

I mean after the whole foods incident? . stayed with you, Phil. Sorry.

Phil

Good stuff. Hey, we want to hear your stories. If you, if you've ever played some pranks on your loved ones, how'd you do it? Hit us up, man. Jump over to Instagram. Smash that like button and tell us your stories at dad's kitchen co.

Chris

Yeah. So definitely be sharing any meals that you make this week as well, whether they're scrambled eggs or some other form of breakfast for dinner, whatever you're doing in the kitchen with your family. So,

Phil

And don't forget the terror ween quack.