Soft Scrambled Eggs

Beat the eggs in a bowl until the colour is even and no ribbons of white are left.

Leave them unsalted for now. Fine salt sitting on raw egg starts breaking the protein down, and the curds loosen and weep water in the pan.

Toast and butter the bread before the pan goes on the heat. Curds this loose tighten to rubber in the two minutes it takes to make toast afterwards, and they cannot be brought back.

Melt half the butter in a non-stick pan over low heat, low enough that it foams without colouring.

Pour in the eggs.

Stir constantly with a spatula, scraping the base and the corners so no part of the egg sits still against the hot metal.

Lift the pan off the heat for a few seconds whenever the curds start setting quickly. Too much heat drives the water out of the egg, and you get big squeaky curds sitting in a puddle.

The vanilla custard in this collection is the same problem in liquid form, since both are egg protein setting, and both go from right to grainy in a matter of seconds.

Cook for 5-8 minutes, until the eggs come together as small soft curds with a glossy sauce still running between them.

Pull the pan off the heat while they still look slightly underdone — they carry on setting in the residual heat for another half minute.

Stir in the remaining cold butter, which cools the eggs and stops the cooking.

Season with fine salt to taste.

Tip them onto warm plates beside the toast straight away, since eggs held in the pan keep tightening.

Finish with flaky salt and the ground peppercorns.

Scatter the chives over.

The shakshuka in this collection sets its eggs on the same principle, gently and just short of done, and it fails in the same place.

A soft milk roll from this collection, split while it is still warm, takes them in place of the toast.