Why do scrambled/fried eggs stick less when cooked with butter instead of oil?
Whenever I'm doing scrambled or fried eggs, I use butter and a regular frying pan (aluminium I think) without any special non-stick coating. They never stick to the pan, it's as if they're floating on top of the butter within the pan.
My wife usually uses oil, and whatever she does, the eggs always stick in the pan, and it's a pain to get them out, and fried eggs usually become a broken mess.
So, why would cooking eggs with oil make them stick to the pan, and doing it with butter wouldn't?
Best Answer
Technique is the key here. If she is using oil expect she is adding the eggs before the oil is hot, she is probably also rushing her attempt to turn/flip/scramble/move them. One of the hardest things to learn when frying eggs is to walk away immediately after adding the eggs to the hot pan.
I notice you are in Germany, I don't know what your access to the USA's "Food Network" is but this episode of a Alton Brown's "Good Eats" can show your wife "eggsellent" technique.
(pardon the pun, couldn't resist...)
New Links: Good Eats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx8up7UJv2s Alton Brown on CBS Morning Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD3QeyK4bJY
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Quick Answer about "Why do scrambled/fried eggs stick less when cooked with butter instead of oil?"
The fact is that butter has a different molecular structure from pretty much every other frying oil, whether vegetable oil, sunflower oil, coconut oil or avocado oil. I believe the butter forms a temporary "non-stick" coating, a barrier, just as a non-stick pan has.Can you use butter instead of oil to fry eggs?
Butter or Oil for Frying Eggs? You can cook an egg in either butter or oil; it's entirely up to your taste preference. If you like the taste of butter, then go for it. Olive oil is a healthy choice and also delicious, especially when you are topping a savory dish, such a ratatouille or pasta with an egg.Do eggs cook better is butter or oil?
The oil can be heated to a higher temperature and that allows you to get the pan nice and hot to create that little crispy edge to the egg. The butter gives the eggs a creamy finish.How do you keep scrambled eggs from sticking?
But add butter to the mix and your scrambled eggs will be lighter and creamier. As Cook's Illustrated explains, when butter and eggs are combined, the fat of the butter coats the protein of the eggs, preventing the protein bonds from forming too tightly.NO OIL SCRAMBLED EGG / Healthy Breakfast ! /Fluffy Scrambled Egg
More answers regarding why do scrambled/fried eggs stick less when cooked with butter instead of oil?
Answer 2
OP- I've had a similar experience, causing me to search out an answer. My eggs always stick with coconut oil and rarely do with butter. I am quite certain I follow the same process in terms of heating the pan and allowing the fat to get hot.
Here's my only (totally unsupported) speculation, based mostly on what I SEE happening in the pan: I think oils are pure fat while butter contains small amounts of water. As the water in the butter gets heated out it creates large enough bubbles to affect the surface contact of the egg with the pan, causing less opportunity for it to stick. Any one have thoughts on this hypothesis? I'd love to know what's really going on because it seems to make such a marked difference in how my breakfast turns out.
Answer 3
Its technique here most likely and I imagine the difference between using butter and oil here is that you can see that the butter has to melt (and therefore get somewhat hot) before using it. Additionally, you're probably not standing ready to drop the egg at the exact moment it melts. In other words, odds are your butter is reasonably hot.
With the oil, its entirely likely that its a little pour of oil and then a few seconds later the eggs. Oil doesn't have the same visual clue that its ready as oil. (Although 'swish' around the pan will help tell you if its reasonably warm - it'll flow much faster.)
The technique I've always been taught (by a local chef in some classes years ago) in this regard is:
- Pan on stove.
- Heat.
- Wait for pan to get reasonably hot.
- Put oil/butter/fat/etc in pan.
- Wait for oil to get hot.
- Food!
Answer 4
It's got nothing to do with technique. That is a myth. The fact is that butter has a different molecular structure from pretty much every other frying oil, whether vegetable oil, sunflower oil, coconut oil or avocado oil. I believe the butter forms a temporary "non-stick" coating, a barrier, just as a non-stick pan has. I was amazed when I found I could even cook a perfect, fluffy omelette in a stainless steel pan using butter! The pan doesn't have ~any~ coating, by the way, and the omelette just slides out on its own. Completely non-stick! Since then I have retired nearly all my non-stick pans to the waste bin and only have stainless steel ones now.
Answer 5
I think it has to do with the density of the egg, the oil and butter. Eggs have a density of around 1.03 g/cc, butter is around .96 g/cc and oil is around .91 g/cc. as you heat the butter or the oil the density drops even more and as butter contains water which has a density of 1 it is very close to the egg and should stratify with the solids at the bottom then the water and finally the fat. When the egg is dropped into the butter it sinks more slowly given the egg time to flash cook and make a layer less likely to stick. The oil lets the egg drop straight to the bottom much faster and the egg pushes the oil out of the way making contact with the pan and it sticks.
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