North America · Volume 34, The Hollow, the Ridge and the Mill Town
Ramps and Eggs
Appalachia, United States
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 15 minutes
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
As tradition built it
Ramps and Eggs
Serves 2. About 15 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 large bunch ramps, bulbs and leaves separated, well washed
- 30g bacon fat or butter
- 6 eggs, beaten
- to taste salt and black pepper
Method
- Slice the ramp bulbs thinly and roughly chop the leaves, keeping them separate.
- Melt the fat in a heavy pan over medium heat and cook the bulbs gently for 2 to 3 minutes, until softened.
- Add the leaves and cook for a further minute, just until wilted.
- Pour in the beaten eggs and scramble gently over low heat until just set. Season with salt and black pepper and serve immediately with cornbread.
Notes
Ramps carry real foraging-rights and sustainability caveats, addressed at length in the chapter's dedicated "Ramps, Sochan and Who Actually Has the Rights to Forage Them" section: true ramps cannot be sourced in the UK and are a different species from British wild garlic (ramsons).
What a modern chef changes
The ramps' fleeting, pungent window preserved rather than raced against.
Rung uncited, a foraged-ingredient logic rather than a preserving one.
Method
- Blanch the ramp leaves for 15 seconds, refresh in iced water, then blend to a bright green oil with a high-power blender and strain through a chinois, capturing the leaf's full aromatic punch in a stable form that outlasts the plant's short season by weeks in the fridge.
- Cook the eggs sous vide at 63°C for 45 minutes to a soft, custardy curd, then finish with the ramp bulbs quickly seared and the ramp oil spooned over at the table, so the egg's texture and the ramp's punch each arrive at their own peak rather than compromising each other in one pan.