scrambled egg, potatoes, bratwurst

Baked potato (microwave, 5 minutes) cut irregularly for added interest.

Potato tossed with seasoned olive oil.

Ordinary bratwurst.

Cut irregularly, casing left on. It could just as well been squeezed from the casing but I decided to keep the casing on this time. I avoid cutting discs because discs are boring. I blame childhood for instilling a lasting prejudice against fried slices of sausage. My mum, bless 'er, used to do that. The sausage would expand outside their casing during cooking and the sections would  harden in that shape which vexed me as a child. The cooked sausage chunks looked like this: A plate of macaroni in tomato sauce would surround these things. I couldn't peel off the casing because by then it was cooked firmly onto the sausage which was too spicy for my tender little mouth to begin with. I think it was always Polish sausage. The casing was tough and just chewing it hurt my little teefs. I hated those bastard sausage chunks. So out of deference to the child that still lives within me, I do not reproduce that unsettling experience. Years later I learned that somehow through all that my mum thought it was one our favorite dishes that she made. All that food-related suffering might have been avoided had I just complained more persistently. Nah. She efficiently ignored my plaintive caterwauling.

These are shown here being fried together but they were actually held in a bowl until the egg items below were ready. This photograph chronologically belongs down there↓The mixture could have included onion, garlic, any sturdy herb, the kind with woody stems, but those were omitted this time. Besides, the oil on the potato is seasoned and so is the bratwurst.

Canned jalapeños left over from before. For once they didn't sit in the refrigerator for more than a few days. They're not very hot.

This is a strong blue cheese, possibly Stilton. I looked for green and blue veins.

Mise en place for the eggs. Here too, onion or garlic or any herb could have been included, but today it is very simple. Strong, but simple.

All this time these eggs were warming in hot tap water. Chronologically this photograph belongs at the top, but it is placed here instead with the egg photographs to help reduce confusion. The idea is to avoid putting near freezing eggs directly into a hot pan. That is just too great a shock for tender eggs.

Thoroughly beaten, incompletely beaten, it doesn't make a difference. Frankly, I find incompletely beaten a little more ineresting. Some cooks add water. I don't yet see the point to that. The eggs are cooked on very low heat for briefly as possible and so stay very tender, in this case there is nothing for the water to do except dilute.

Olive oil or butter or both in the pan. The eggs spread and set. If the egg sets immediately then the pan is too hot. If that happens then remove it from the heat.

The curd is pushed toward the center and liquid egg flows into the evacuated space.

Eventually the liquid portion of the egg does not flow so easily. The curd in the center can be lifted and the pan tilted to encourage the remaining liquid egg to flow. This is a good time to remove the pan from the heat. Carryover heat will finish the egg.

This is a side-view to show the height of the built-up egg curd. The photo was taken quickly because at this point every additional second the egg stays in the pan counts. Now the cheese and jalapeños are distributed over the top. If it were an omelet it could be folded. If it were a fritata it could be slipped into the oven (the pan's handle must be metal). As it is, the egg is loosened from the pan and the egg disc slid directly onto a warmed plate.