Scrambled eggs

The secret to really good scrambled eggs, as told me by my dear father, is to cook them really slowly. It takes time, of course, and attention, but the main aim is to avoid the eggs cooking too fast at the base of the pan and creating the dried-out bubbled eggs layer which you have to scrape out. So turn the heat down to the absolute lowest and be prepared to stir carefully at regular intervals for some time. Then drop a hefty knob of butter into the pan; if it bubbles on contact you still have too much heat under there. Break in the eggs and stir them together. Add some salt and pepper to taste, and a tiny amount of milk. Too much milk and the eggs are ruined. Then stir, or rather occasionally scrape the base of the pan. The point when you need to pay attention is when the eggs start to solidify and you can feel the mixture gradually, gradually starting to turn. At that point you need to ensure that nothing sticks to the base of the pan for too long - you want to keep the heat working through the whole mix evenly. But at the same time you don't want to create a paste with no texture, so just keep scraping the thicker stuff up and letting the more liquid stuff take its place until you have just the right consistency - not too wet and sloppy, but not too dry and solid either.

Then serve onto the buttered toast you have prepared with your other two hands. It may all seem an effort, but it's completely worth it. Variations on this theme are Marmite or Gentlemen's Relish on the toast (not everyone's taste) or smoked salmon pieces mixed into the eggs as they cook. I prefer this to the more traditional way of serving scrambled eggs on sliced smoked salmon, not least because it's possible to buy smoked salmon offcuts much more cheaply than slices.