How to Breakfast Like Bond
Yes, we know Bond drank. A lot. But Bond had to eat, too. Many of the books contain loving descriptions of 007’s favorite foods. He liked marmalade from Cooper's Vintage Oxford. He ate avocados with French dressing. He loved stone crabs. But perhaps no description of Bond's food was as detailed as in the short story collection Ian Fleming’s Thrilling Cities, where a decadent, full-on recipe for “Scrambled Eggs ‘James Bond,’ ” is given in a footnote as an invite for Bond superfans to brunch like their favorite spy.
It's a fairly simple recipe, but like everything Bond does well, it's all about the details and the panache. First, you melt four ounces of butter in a pan (ideally a copper one) over low heat, then constantly whisk a dozen eggs until, as Fleming puts it, they’re “slightly more moist than you would wish for eating.” Remove from heat, add another pat of butter, keep on whisking, add chopped chives or any other herbs if you have them, and serve on toast—that’s been buttered, naturally.
These are melt-in-your-mouth eggs. And yes, you just cooked up a dozen of them so you should probably share them with a guest or two. Copper dishes are strongly recommended, as well as “pink champagne (Taittinger) and low music.” It's a vibe, as they say. If you can get part of the way there with bubbly and tunes, that’s Bond enough for most.
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