Scrambled eggs add-ins

[jerzzy]

Like most folks I enjoy scrambled eggs now and then for breakfast.
Over the years I've tried adding many things to perk up the flavor but never
found anything that really did it for me.
So fellow chowhounds, what do you add to your scrambled eggs to perk them up.
Curious minds need to know!

[eight_inch_pestle]

sorrel, cream cheese, and smoked salmon, or any combination thereof
spinach
homemade salsa verde
any good cheese
onion
tomato
garlic
vinegar and garlic (toned down from Claudia Roden's version)
chilaquiles style
fresh chiles
chipotle
olives

Most always cooked low and slow (30 minutes) with butter and heavy cream, and almost never with black pepper.

[tcamp]

Looks like by now you've got plenty of add in ideas. My suggestion is to slow the cooking. My mom's friend, a mexican -descent LA'er, makes the best eggs: cooked very slowly over low heat. Plenty of butter and some cream, then green onions, S&P, queso fresco, and salsa at the end.

[mcsheridan]

Prosciutto 'bits' - trim the fat from some leftover prosciutto (there Must be some, sometime!).
Spin in the food processor, cook in non-stick pan until crispy.

Add to scrambled eggs. Yum.

[NickMontreal]

Avocado is a surprisingly nice addition to scrambled eggs...

If you want to go for a bit of luxury, I like a little bit of smoked salmon, thinly sliced and cooked with the eggs... You could garnish with a nice bit of dill and creme fraiche...

Another scrambled eggs de luxe idea (coutesy of Delia Smith): leave a black truffle with about six eggs in a lidded container for a few days, so that the eggs naturally absorb the scent through the shell. Use this to make your scrambled eggs...

Of course cheese is also a perfect match. I can't think of one that wouldn't go well with scrambled eggs... Dare to be adventurous!

[EdwardAdams]

The only time I add anything other than a bit of milk or half and half and seasnoing to scrambled eggs is near the very end of cooking. I heat the other ingredients seperately and fold in at the last moment. Otherwise you can lose the fluffy nature of the eggs and end up with dry flat eggs and a bunch of grayish water.

[pokeleana]

Onions and cheese (together) - preferably American

[geminigirl]

seems my version is always different depending on what's in the fridge / cheese drawer....this is what I've been adding lately with a little cheese on a tortilla, yum....actually this stuff is really g ood in and on most things!

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/552154

[LadyCook61]

I like Boursin in mine .

[mcsheridan]

I add a small splash of half-and-half while scrambling, into the pan with unsalted butter already frothing, S&P only after they've begun to firm up, and just before they're done...I do a tiny 'one shake' of garlic powder well above the pan so only the most miniscule dusting gets into the eggs. There's no overt garlic flavor, it just adds a 'warm note'.

I like six dower's idea about the sour cream, too. I'll have to try that. On a caramelized onion kick at the moment, so Emme's caramelized onions and wild mushrooms sounds good, also.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Caviar & homemade yogurt

Chopped green onions, fine slivers of duck (or shredded chicken), serve w/ drops of shoyu & toasted sesame oil & chopped cilantro

Bits of lox and cream cheese w/ somefinely diced onion and capers

Shavings of Parm Reg or Pec Romano & torn arugula leaves

Caramilized feather cut onion and chopped HOT chiles

Left over laab (or broken up meatloaf for all of you in the heartland)

Sliced hot dogs

[jmullen1251]

i'm fascinated by BamiaWruz' suggestion of dates!
i like: goat cheese, pesto and shrimp
boursin and peas
feta, kalamata olives and tomatoes with basil sprinkled on top
yum - scrambled goodness!

[steelydad]

For the purist. Add 2 oz cream or half and half to 4 eggs, beat well with fork, not too much though. Melt fresh unsalted butter in pan. Pour egg solution in pan, a couple of ounces at a time. Keeping gas on low, scramble eggs turning them as little as possible, so they develop into large chunks, yet stay moist. When done, spoon onto plate. Garnish with a bit of salt and fresh black pepper. You will have a very rich yet delicate tasting scrambled egg as a result.

[Chew on That]

I had brunch at a restaurant in Chicago the other day that had the most awesome omelette and I'm sure it could work for scrambled eggs too:

cheddar, feta, and Swiss cheese with sundried tomatoes and pesto sauce! It was magnificent!

[pigtails]

always the spoonful of cream cheese.

orange marmalade

thin potatoes and grated zucchini and feta

yesterday i had the eggs over a pile of red cabbage that i sauteed with some bits of keilbasa, a splash of cider vinegar, a chopped apple, and a chopped onion. it was wicked good. i had a couple bread and butter pickles along side.

i love all these ideas! eggs might be in my top ten foods, honestly.

[greenstate]

I am really a purist when it comes to scrambled eggs. I like mine farm fresh, splash of cream, salt and pepper, scrambled in Vermont Butter and Cheese Company cultured butter with sea salt crystals. Stirred gently and quickly, there are few foods so complete and perfect. On the other hand, my daughter likes to add grape jam and American cheese to her concoction.

[The Professor]

I'm sure with you on using cultured butter ... It adds a whole other dimension...I wish it was more widely available.

[NYchowcook]

Robert Rodriguez' breakfast tacos look great!
One w/ ;potatoes. Another w/ fried cut-up corn tortillas, jalapenos, onions & tomatoes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XMTWJ...

[maxandrick]

Daughter and I would sprinkle on something call "Aromat". Knorr Swiss made it, but we have not seen it on the shelves for 1 - 2 years now. I miss it! Eggs were just great!

[HillJ]

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&...

max...here's a source for Aromat!

[maxandrick]

Thank you.

[cimui]

an irish ex of mine also swears by that stuff. it's mostly msg!

[geg5150]

This weekend's winner was spinach with brie.

[normalheightsfoodie]

Cream Cheese
Salsa
any kind of cheese
lox

[swsidejim]

add inn while cooking:

veal bologna
ham
chorizo

once they are cooked, I eat them with salsa, or picante sauce.

[Chocolatechipkt]

Yesterday's eggs ... lightly caramelized onions, parmesan, and a little Jarlsberg. Yum.

[alkapal]

pico de gallo on top!

also, love cream cheese with herbs de provence.
boursin.
fried bulk pork breakfast sausage (jimmy dean or bob evans, mild or hot)
green onions.
leftover roasted potatoes and gruyere.
feta cheese and tomato.
slivered ham.

[lattelover]

All of these add-ins sound good, but IMHO you can't beat really fresh eggs made with lots of imported butter and a sprinkling of fresh herbs, i.e. parsley, chives, tarragon finely minced.

[MMRuth]

"Fines herbes" - that was what I was trying to think of when I suggested chives or tarragon above. I'm getting old!

[HillJ]

browned onions & goat cheese
grilled asparagus & hollandaise
smoked applewood bacon and sliced apples
virginia ham and fontina cheese
my kids love homemade applesauce filled scrambled eggs

[Mild Bill]

Thinly sliced Genoa Salami tossed in with a few squirts of hot sauce!

I'll saute the salami first to render the flavorful oils, then mix in the beaten eggs...

I love Salami & Eggs!

[sheiladeedee]

I add a little heavy cream and some chopped green onion or finely snipped chives, coarse black pepper. I have tried other things like crumbled bacon and sauteed mushrooms, but keep coming back to this one. I really like the taste of eggs, and if I want to perk them up I drizzle some salsa over them after cooking.

[Jetgirly]

Sauteed onion and garlic, diced roasted vegetables (zucchini and red peppers, usually), fresh herbs and feta cheese.

[chocchipcookie]

I saute a little onion and squash in olive oil then add the eggs. When almost done add shredded swiss cheese, cover and melt on low. Just had them for breakfast this morning. Next time I'm gonna go greek with black olives and feta. Yum!

[KiltedCook]

Just eggs? I accent with dill.

Real add-ons - diced, sauteed Andouille Sausage; homemade Salsa Verde I had this morning; minced Chiles en Adobo; any of the previous with diced bell peppers and onions.

[ipsedixit]

Nori

Chinese dried scallops

Pine nuts

Diced tomatoes

Diced tomatoes and shrimp

Diced tomatoes and scallops

Scallions and onions (or shallots)

Oysters

[irisav]

A favourite breakfast place of mine does a lovely scramble with persian feta and pesto stirred through so that you get these delightful ribbons of flavour and texture swirled through - they also serve it on corn bread which also adds something to the experience.

Although it's obvious I also really enjoy scrambled eggs cooked in butter (and not overcooked but just cooked - I think the trick is to remove from the heat just before cooked and allow them to go the rest of their way under their own steam) with good quality smoked salmon and dill on the side (or sour cream with some horse radish mixed through in place of the dill)

[powillie]

Fresh Thyme, Sea Salt, Fresh Cracked Black Pepper, Water and whip a lot of air into the eggs. Cook in a cast iron skillet with butter or olive oil, push it together but turn it just once

[kobetobiko]

crab meat and avocado! I know avocado may sound disgusting but it actually makes the scrambled eggs very creamy!

I also like add shirasu, the tiny Japanese small white dried fish, and top with some seaweed or shiso

Mentaiko (spicy cod roe) is excellent too! Eel (Unagi) sliced in stripes or pieces are great with eggs (with mirin mixed in)

If you want something really hot, kimchi!

[another_adam]

Yes, I also love shirasu or unagi (with mirin and also some green onions) in eggs!
But my real favorite add-in is natto and green onions-- just make sure to cook them on the soft side, so it's still nice and soft when it's done. :)

[kobetobiko]

oh I like natto with eggs too, though I tend to put the natto on top of the scrambled egg or omelette rather than mixing it into the egg.

[another_adam]

Yes, piled up on top or inside an omelette is yummy too :) I mix them in if they're going over rice in the lunchbox, just because it makes it easier to eat...

[ShakeNBake]

I like adding chopped black olives and roasted red pepper and some kind of cheese, yum!

[marielee]

I've had orange juice, instead of the milk and orange rind...nice if you like something sweet, but not my cup of tea.

Prawns, spring onions and some soy sauce is nice...

[Emme]

lots of good ideas here, but here are some of my fave combos...

chopped tomatoes, basil, capers, mozzarella cubes at the end and a drizzle of lemon juice on the plate
caramelized onions and wild mushrooms - can add tarragon if desired
carrots, miso, chives, shiitakes
eggplant, zucchini. onions, garlic
roasted celery, carrots, and onions
roasted cauliflower, parmesan and a little parsley
for a sweet twist, ricotta cheese, cinnamon, vanilla, and a little sugar
oh and not to forget the post hangover cure... eggs scrambled w/ leftover fried rice (and for those that need heat to kill the night, sriracha)

[firecooked]

This is in line what what I do (normally for dinner at the end of the week, using whatever happens to be in the fridge). Last week it was green onions, mushrooms, a bit of red bell pepper, and lots of chopped spinich. Finished with a nice nob of goat cheese.

[jerzzy]

Wow, lots of good things to try. I appreciate all the responses!

[rosielucchesini]

Any of these add-ins would work, and I think that speaks to an eggs versatility-especially when scrambled. One item that I didnt' see posted was fresh ricotta stirred in while cooking (over low heat of course). Delicious.

[firecooked]

Need to try this... I have a bit of good ricotta left over I have been trying to figure out what to do with!

[The Professor]

A few of my personal favorites....
--Feta cheese
--a spoonful of heavy cream (which is a worthy addition to any of the other ingredients below)
--Yellow tomatoes
--Potato and onion...nuke the spud 2 minutes each side, dice it up skin and all, and put it in with onions after they've caramelized a bit, then stir in the beaten eggs. keep the eggs a bit runny.
--Nova Lox and onions...saute a bit before adding the eggs.
--And, my ultimate favorite...sauteed bits of bacon, onion, and thinly sliced and roughly chopped smoked Hungarian kolbasz (Polish keilbasa is not a subsitute and will taste entirely different...if you can't get real kolbasz, then salami is a better substitute than kielbasa,); beat the eggs with a spoonful of sour cream, soft cook the egg mixture in a buttered pan with the meats and onion, and serve over buttered and diced toast. The eggs need to remain creamy and soft and served in a mound over the "croutons". This dish is unbelievable...heavenly.

And gordeaux is absolutely correct...if you can get farm fresh eggs, do it...the flavor difference is off the charts.

[fern]

This sounds delicious. After Hurricane Katrina I went to the Gulf coast for a week and cooked for residents who'd lost their homes. There were big griddles set up outside under a tent top in a park and we cooked all day for hundreds of people using whatever foods had been donated or purchased by aid groups. It was a wild assortment of things, I was very grateful for the creativity of others. While planning the next day's breakfast someone suggested cutting up salami and cooking it into the eggs we were scrambling. Sounded pretty awful to me but we had to use what we had so off we went. We fried up 300 lbs of potatoes with 50 lbs of onions and served the eggs with salami scrambled in. People really enjoyed it! I was surprised.
Wish I could have made your recipe for them but now I think I'll try it myself. Had it not been for that experience after Katrina it wouldn't have sounded so appealing.

[DockPotato]

Prof, I assume you're using smoked, rather than fresh kolbasz.

Our process: each egg needs 2 inches of thinly sliced sausage and a tablespoon of minced onion. Whisk a bit of milk into your eggs aong with some freshly chopped (or dried) parsley. start the sausage in butter or bacon drippings and when i starts sweating, stir in the eggs and keep stirring until they're just set. Buttered, hand-sliced rye bread or any other hard crusted loaf sets us up for the day.

[The Professor]

It really us a great dish.
For this dish, yes...definitely the smoked kolbasz. If not using home-made smoked kolbasz, I try to purchase some that has not been totally dried from my Magyar butcher.

I have, on occasion, made some simple scrambled eggs with just the egg and slices of leftover cooked fresh kolbasz. Doesn't have the same flavor intensity, but a good dish in its own right.

[FatJoe]

A little chopped corned beef,and green pepper diced along with some small diced potato, a little oil. a corned beef hashed scramble.

[fern]

cream cheese and green onion.

fried potatoes and pesto.

feta and kalamata olives and anything else you have around that goes with these flavors.

[OCEllen]

Cream fraiche, not sour cream but an edge of both cream and cheese, some salt, fresh herbs of your choice, not whipped in at the beginning but added as you cook.

[FoodChic]

I always add half n half to my eggs and cook them in unsalted butter. I finish with some nice sea salt.

"Garbage" eggs- mushroom, green onion, cheddar, and ham.

One of my favorities is tomato, chive, and avocado.

Fried potatoes, sausage, onion, peppers, cheese, and salsa and you can wrap it in a flour tortilla.

Prosciutto and and chiffonade of fresh basil.

[Gail]

A can of drained smoked oysters.

[six dower]

Goat cheese and pesto

[shivani]

i usually do shallots, cream or half and half ans butter. salt and pepper of course.

maybe the consistency you are looking for had to do with how long they were cooked? i prefer soft scrambled eggs, they are a very different thing from most scrambled eggs you get in restaurants.

[jerzzy]

Good thought but no. The consistency was no different than my eggs, just the taste.

[Jacey]

why don't you just call up the hotel, tell them your story and ask for the recipe? if it has changed, they might have it documented somewhere. mention, though, you live out-of-town and always visit when in town

[scuzzo]

I like assorted herbs, sometimes with diced tomato. But my current favorite is minced garlic and cayenne pepper. I'm trying to add cayenne wherever I can because of it's health benefits. I think it's great with eggs.

I also love spinach with eggs.

[KTinNYC]

I add msg to my scrambled eggs. It makes the eggs taste eggier.

[jenwee]

I think using cream instead of milk adds a good creaminess to the eggs. My husband also uses tons of unsalted butter to cook the eggs in. My favorite add-ins are chorizo, potato and a little onion. We also have what we call Omlet Rice (a concoction we had in Japan a lot). Its rice mixed with ketchup, ground pork, onion and a little Siracha. Then the Japanese people would drown it in curry. ;) But I think my favorite add in is ham, salt and pepper. Simple and tasty :)

[rozz01]

Folding in the butter is the key, my godson looked up at me as if I was a god. have to do it now...

[ChrisOC]

Melt some butter in a frying pan. Crack in two eggs. Add a spoon or two of yellow mustard. Scamble with a fork. My mother used to call these "eggs a la Herman" for some reason.

[jerzzy]

Wolfgang Puck once mentioned adding mustard also. I tried that and it was good but still not what I was looking for.

[Val]

Sometimes, I like adding little dabs of cream cheese to scrambled eggs...very very good. But something I tried more recently blew me away...I had some leftover sliced pepperoni that I wanted to use up and I read somewhere on line about eggs with garlic and pepperoni. You basically saute some crushed fresh garlic with cut up pepperoni in olive oil for a few minutes to cook the garlic...then add your 2 scrambled large eggs and hit it with some grated cheddar cheese. Oh....my....goodness...it was totally delicious! It did not sound too good when I read the recipe but the reviews were so ecstatic, that's why I did it plus the easy to do ingredients.

[yayadave]

Scraps of corned beef are good for this, also.

[The Professor]

hooo yeah...forgot about that one. Pastrami is great w/ eggs too.

[Val]

well...here's the link to the pepperoni and eggs ecstasy...forget the roll (you can tell I could care less about bread!)...who needs that??? LOL...truly...the sauteed pepperoni with the fresh garlic was just incredible...do whatever you please...but this is great!
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Scramble...

[gordeaux]

Cheese
Giardiniera
Any combination of sauteed veggies
Salsa
Hot sauce
Carnitas
Bacon grease
Green Chile sauce (having this today)
Tortilla Chips
Sliced up tamales!!!!!
Leftover Chicken
Garam Masala

My favorite would be:
Sliced tamales, chopped onion, black pepper, and Tony Chachere's, topped with hot fresh salsa.

Second would be:
Tortilla Chips (unsalted,) carnitas, and hot salsa

Both would be better if cooked in bacon grease. I'm not a huge cheese eater, but for those who are, that would be good as well. Eggs are a blank canvas kinda like tofu- they mrry well with almost anything you add in.

What have you tried that you didn't like?

[jerzzy]

It's not that I haven't liked the add-ins I've tried, they've all been good.
I'm haunted by the memory of eggs I had years ago at the Waldorf in NY. They looked like plain scrambled eggs but my god they were beyond delicious! I couldn't stop eating them and I never found out what they added to get that great flavor.
Maybe something will be mentioned here. But it wasn't another solid item like sausage or cheese. This was something blended into the eggs themselves.

[gordeaux]

Ahhh. Gotcha now.
Was it a spice that you liked, or more of a mouth feel? For a spice, I dunno, but for a mouthfeel, and at the Waldorf, I'd almost assume heavy cream, and bacon grease were involved.

[jerzzy]

I'll tell you, it was a long time ago but the memoriy lingers.
It wasn't a spice or anything definitive that I could put my finger on. It was
more of an enhancement to the eggs themselves. But they were utterly
delicious.

[gordeaux]

Another thought for you - aside from bacon grease and cream.
Ever had farm fresh eggs? WORLD of difference from your local grocers' pastuerized / refrigerated things. WORLD of difference. When you said "it was more of an enhancement to the eggs themselves," this was the very first thing that came to mind. I have a friend at work who has a modest farm with about 20 egg laying hens. The whole office goes bonkers for his eggs. BONKERS.

[scuzzo]

I concur!!! I never thought farm fresh eggs would be so different from store bought until I tried it. Worth the extra effort to find them!

[six dower]

sour cream whipped in before frying.

[greygarious]

Cream cheese - plain or flavored - about a tsp per egg. Room temp, then stir vigorously while cooking to blend it in.

Ditto the farm-fresh eggs being worlds away from today's supermarket eggs. I used to have a dog who was thin because he'd hold back on the kibble, hoping for cat or people food. I took to giving him most of a hard-boiled egg several times a week (the other one got a bit of white and never knew he was getting short shrift). When I couldn't get to the poultry farm and boiled supermarket eggs, he refused them.

[cimui]

a chowhound, indeed

[yayadave]

Did you say that with a straight face?

[cimui]

;) i'll let you guess.

[Michelly]

You can also add diced cream cheese and chives when the eggs are ALMOST done. This way you can discern the cream cheese from the eggs.

A restaurant I used to frequent (I stopped going there because they started serving inferior coffee and hired a staff of servers who didn't care)
offered scrambled eggs with parmesan, crumbled bacon, and chopped fresh basil.

[gourmanda]

It may very well have been cream and/or "hotel" butter. Some hotels, cruise lines, use a butter that I can describe no other way than to say "hotel butter" and I don't mean butter mixed with any thing. Just an ultra-rich, never been able to buy it in a store at any cost, uniquely flavored butter.

[alkapal]

you are right. i tried to contact a butter vendor whose name was on the foil packets of delicious, rich, unsweetened butter here in a local capitol hill german restaurant.. not even a courtesy response to tell me, "no butter retail to you!" (i was about to say, the "butter nazi," but.....well, you know,,,,)

[ChristinaMason]

Cafe Berlin? You should ask them to sell you a box. I'm sure one of the servers or someone in the kitchen wouldn't be opposed to it. Ask a manager and you might get a different answer, but... ;)

[alkapal]

yes, cafe berlin. that butter is fantastic -- equalling the best i've had in europe! (i haven't been there recently, so it may've changed).

[fresnohotspot]

top quality, unsalted butter - it never fails.

[cimui]

jerzzy, if it's waldorf astoria type eggs you're after, just add buttermilk.

[jamaempa]

i've always heard mayonaise can really kick eggs up a notch...

[foiegras]

Cream is what I'm thinking ...

Right now I'm doing onion and poblano. Fleur de sel when finished is pretty good too ...

[MMRuth]

Chives and/or tarragon.

[BamiaWruz]

Tomatoes (they need to be fried up first in oil and kind of carmalized before adding the eggs)
Cauliflower (boiled and fried up first)
Spinach
Boiled potatos (like hashbrown?)
Parsley
Fava beans
Purslane
Green onions

And dates! It's wonderful. If you have date paste on hand just fry up a bit of that then add the eggs and sautee until the eggs are cooked then eat with flat bread.