Prue Leith's Unconventional Method For Perfect Scrambled Eggs

Prue Leith may be best known for her stint on "The Great British Baking Show" (or "Bake-Off, as it's known in its native land), and it's thanks to her TV celebrity that we find out such fascinating tidbits as her propensity to talk smack about New York babka and feed the show's leftover's to her pigs. Well, add another fun piece of trivia to that list: She cooks her scrambled eggs in what we might call a non-standard way, as well.

While most of us might beat our eggs with a fork, or a whisk if we want to be fancy, Leith — obviously not afraid of dirtying up extra appliances — uses a blender. In her latest cookbook, which is entitled "Life's Too Short to Stuff a Mushroom: Really good food without the fuss – foolproof recipes, shortcuts and hacks," her scrambled egg recipe calls for blending eggs with milk (which is itself a controversial addition, as some cooks feel it makes eggs bland and rubbery). She then cooks the mixture very quickly in a pan of melted butter (it takes just seconds, she says) and pours the eggs over toast while they're still about 20% liquid. The residual heat allows them to set by the time she's ready to eat.

Prue Leith has been working in the culinary field for over six decades and is considered to be the UK's own domestic goddess, kind of like Martha Stewart without the insider trading. Needless to say, she knows what she likes, and probably cares very little what anyone thinks of her preferences. Still, any unwary Americans who are invited to breakfast with Dame Prue may be surprised by what's lurking beneath her scrambled eggs: She likes to coat the toast with Marmite. This spread is ... well, not exactly popular in the U.S. (nor is it universally beloved in Britain), and perhaps for good reason

Marmite, a sandwich spread delicious to some and disgusting to others, is made from brewer's yeas., Even the company that has been producing the product since the turn of the 20^th century acknowledges how polarizing it is. It turns out there's a scientific reason for the great Marmite divide. Just as genes can determine whether you love or loathe cilantro, so, too, may they play a part in predicting your ability to stomach a spread that some have compared to soy sauce (and that others feel has more of a rotting rodent vibe). Even though Leith loves the stuff with scrambled eggs, she says including it in her recipe is optional, so there's an easy out for anyone who'd rather not acquire a taste for it.