Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Now, I don’t think all eggs are made equally.

But, is there really a best way to cook eggs? From scrambling, hard-boiling, soft-boiling and frying to poaching or making omelets, the options are endless–yet not all fruitful.

Every time I make eggs, I enjoy them.

However, the question of which egg method is best has haunted me for millennia.

More than anything, I can’t seem to convince anyone that any method is the best method.

In this article, I will present my two favorite (and self-declared best) methods of cooking eggs.

Scrambling, to me, is by far the most consistent egg-making process.

A lot of folks get scrambled eggs wrong, so I will offer a few tips on how to better optimize your scrambled eggs.

First of all, ideally start with a non-stick pan.

Nonstick pans have faced some backlash in the past few years due to Teflon material critics raising health concerns, but they’re the best and most foolproof way to cook eggs.

Remember that during their warnings, manufacturers only told us not to use nonstick pans on high heat; since you should be starting your eggs at medium heat or lower, this likely won’t be an issue for us today.

That being said, turn the burner to medium heat and let the pan warm up for a few minutes.

Beat your eggs with a whisk to ensure a smooth yellow goop forms before pouring into the pan.

Secondly, be patient. Great scrambled eggs are borne out of low-medium heats and patience.

Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramsay’s mentor, once remarked that “only a fool would rush scrambled eggs.”

Take after him, and stir occasionally with a wood or rubber spatula to break up chunks of egg–at this point, your eggs should be slightly runny and form small clumps instead of large chunks.

If your eggs are forming large chunks, you either aren’t stirring enough or the heat is set too high.

Third, remember that fat carries flavor. The reason why humans love fatty foods is because fat stimulates our taste buds better than other biological macromolecules can.

Furthermore, our evolution tailored us to prefer rich, calorie-dense food over comparable food as a means of survival; fat actually contains the highest amount of caloric energy per gram compared to other macromolecules like carbohydrates or protein.

Use this to your advantage, and try incorporating shredded cheese into your scrambled eggs next time for a smooth, rich taste.

With these tips, I hope you can make better scrambled eggs and stop sucking the moisture out of them.

If you’re not open to scrambling, I hope that you develop an affinity for frying eggs.

For this, a nonstick pan would be fine but will carry a greater risk of Teflon flakeage (which doctors have said is bad).

For this application, a stainless steel or carbon steel pan would work best.

I’ve found that medium-high heat works well, as you want the pan to be hot but not too scorching.

I like to use a neutral oil, like avocado, mixed with salted butter in a two to one ratio.

Heat most likely won’t be an issue here, but just be careful if your oil is popping and sizzling on its own.

This means the oil is either hot enough or too hot for your eggs.

The only real downside of this process is oil splatter, so I’d just recommend wearing long sleeves and using a cover if possible.

The high heat in frying with both butter and oil should yield a higher degree of browning through the maillard reaction, not to be confused with the mallard reaction.

When egg proteins come under a great amount of heat, they brown and take on new flavors.

Frying eggs is especially remarkable in this way, and proper oil temperature allows the over-easy eggs to become simultaneously crispy and browned on the outside while creating a soft, runny inside.

Additionally, regardless of your stance on how to best cook eggs, I know we can all collectively agree that doing away with convention and channeling your inner Rocky by drinking eggs is simultaneously the worst idea and the biggest power move of all time.

I hope that these two methods have opened your eyes to the best ways of cooking eggs and left you with something to incorporate into your own cooking process.

Remember, only a fool would rush scrambled eggs.