Eggs in olive oil: why it beats butter

Eggs are the easiest place to swap butter for olive oil, and one of the few where the swap is a genuine improvement rather than simply an alternative.

Why butter burns and olive oil does not

Butter contains water and milk solids alongside fat. It is the milk solids that scorch and darken at a relatively low temperature — the black flecks in the pan are not burnt fat.

Olive oil has no milk solids, so the problem does not arise. You get a wider temperature range to work in, and less room to get it wrong.

Scrambled eggs

1. 1.Warm a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan over low heat — lower than you think you need
2. 2.Beat the eggs with a pinch of salt and pour them in
3. 3.Stir gently with a spatula, pulling the egg from the edges to the middle
4. 4.Take it off the heat while it still looks slightly underdone — it keeps cooking in the pan
5. 5.Pour a little raw olive oil over before serving

That final pour is the step most often skipped and the one that makes the most difference. Heat softens the oil's flavour; raw oil on top puts it back.

Omelettes

Use moderate heat and enough oil to coat the base of the pan completely. Olive oil helps the edges of an omelette turn golden without the scorched patches butter tends to produce.

Fried eggs

In Spain, eggs fried in olive oil are a standard dish, and the method uses more oil than is usual here: enough for a shallow pool, with the hot oil spooned over the white as it sets.

The result is crisp, frilled edges with a still-runny yolk. If that is more oil than you want, a tablespoon over moderate heat does fine.

Boiled eggs

No oil is involved in the cooking, but a halved boiled egg with olive oil, salt and black pepper over it is one of the simplest dishes on this list.

Boiled egg mashed with olive oil also stands in well for mayonnaise in an egg sandwich — the flavour is cleaner and it needs nothing from the fridge.