An eggs course covering boiled and poached, scrambled and omelette, custards, meringues and souffles. The single most teachable ingredient.
Boiled and poached eggs sit at opposite extremes of the simple-egg spectrum, but they share one principle: heat-controlled coagulation. Both rely on hitting a specific protein-set temperature in the egg's interior and stopping at exactly the right moment.
Custards are eggs cooked in dairy with sugar, slowly, until the yolks thicken the mixture but stop short of scrambling. The cooking happens between 75 and 82 C; above 82 C the yolks scramble and you have sweet scrambled eggs in milk (technically curdled custard).
Eggs are deceptive. They look simple (boil, fry, scramble) and they are simple, in the sense that the ingredient list never grows past one. But each preparation depends on temperature control with no margin: a hard-boiled egg taken 30 seconds too long is rubbery; a scramble held 30 seconds too long is dry; a custard taken 5 degrees too hot is scrambled; a souffle pulled 30 seconds too early collapses.
Meringues are mostly air. Egg whites foam when whisked because the proteins unfold and form a network around tiny air bubbles. Adding sugar stabilises the foam: the sugar lattice holds the bubbles in place even when heated. The ratio of sugar to whites determines how stable the meringue is and what you can do with it.
Scrambled eggs are an exercise in controlled coagulation. The proteins want to bind into rubbery curds; gentle heat and steady agitation keep them soft and creamy. Once you understand that low-and-slow gives custard, medium gives soft curds, and high gives rubber, you can produce any style on demand.
A souffle has two parts: 1. **A flavoured base.** Either a thick bechamel (savoury souffles) or a thick custard or fruit puree (sweet souffles). Heavy with flavour, but on its own collapsed and dense. 2. **A meringue.** Whipped egg whites with no sugar (savoury) or a touch of sugar (sweet). Light, foamy, full of air.