Brains scrambled with eggs is an old Southern breakfast and diner dish. Poached, chopped brain disappears into the eggs and makes them richer and softer, almost custardy. I have eaten it several times at a small diner in Tennessee; this recipe is built from the classic preparation, not from that diner’s own recipe, which I never had.
Untested: I have not cooked this one yet. It is here because the Offal dive needed it, and it is adapted from the source named in the Notes.
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound pork brains
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar, plus 1 quart water, for soaking
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar, for poaching
- 2 tablespoons butter or bacon fat
- 6 eggs
- Salt and black pepper
- Chopped parsley or chives, optional
Directions
- Soak. Soak the brains in 1 quart cold water with 1 tablespoon vinegar for 1 to 2 hours, to draw out the blood.
- Peel. Lift out the brains and gently peel away the thin outer membrane and any blood vessels with your fingers.
- Poach. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a gentle simmer with the second tablespoon of vinegar. Slide in the brains and poach gently until firm, about 15 to 20 minutes. Do not boil hard. Drain and plunge into cold water to firm up.
- Chop. Drain and pat dry, then chop into small pieces.
- Scramble. Melt the butter or bacon fat in a skillet over medium heat and warm the brains in it. Beat the eggs with salt and pepper, pour them over the brains, and stir gently until the eggs are cooked through. Sprinkle with parsley and serve at once.
Notes
Sources The soak-peel-poach-chill method is the classic preparation: Mrs Beeton (1861, “Sheep’s Brains en Matelote”) soaks in warm water two hours and poaches in salted water “with a little vinegar”; an older American method soaks in 1 tablespoon vinegar to a quart of water and simmers 20 minutes. The scramble is the standard Southern dish. The U.S. Army cooked it for 100 in 1944: Brains and Scrambled Eggs.
Why pork brains In the United States, brain from cattle 30 months or older may not be sold as food (BSE rules). Pork brains are always legal, and are what the Southern dish and the Evansville fried-brain sandwich use today.
Cholesterol Brain is the most cholesterol-dense ordinary food: about 3,000 mg per 100 g.
The Offal dive on the Food site covers this part in depth.
The photo The photo shows fried pig brain on its own; no open photograph of brains scrambled with eggs could be found.