Kyl Haselbauer has 20 years of experience working in fine-dining and modernist kitchens, including Bar Cotto and Anchovies &amp; Olives in Seattle. He is also the owner of Bright Spot, a café and coffee shop in Seattle.

Kyl Haselbauer

Tender, creamy, and custardy are words not typically used to describe an egg white-only scramble. Instead, you might think rubbery, chewy, tough, and bland. While understanding a little <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/guides-tools/cracking-the-egg-resource">egg science</a>—particularly how proteins coagulate and the temperatures at which they begin to firm up—can help you make a better scramble, you’ll still need a surprising, simple ingredient to pull it all together. Compared to whole eggs or just yolks, egg whites begin to set much quicker and at lower temperatures. ([f 140] compared to [f 149] for undiluted yolks.) In an egg white-only scramble, heat-sensitive proteins are on their own without anything else to bind to, like the iron in yolks. And since these proteins begin to set at lower temperatures compared to whole whisked eggs, it’s much easy to overcook the whites, forming hard and lumpy curds that weep (called syneresis). This happens when the proteins bond too exclusively to one another, which squeezes moisture out of the protein network. So, the secret to a moist and tender egg white scramble is a simple <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/guides-tools/unlock-your-hydrocolloid-starter-pack">hydrocolloid</a>: cornstarch. Inspired by <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/recipes/tornado-omelet-technique">the tornado omelet</a>, shearing cornstarch and a little bit of water into the egg whites helps to lock in moisture and dilute the proteins, giving this scramble a silky, custard-like texture.

Level Up Your Egg White Scramble With a Surprising Pantry Staple