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the heat. Stir until the cheese melts, then begin adding cream in 1-tablespoon increments until a smooth, velvety sauce forms. Stir in the cumin, salt, pepper, and hot red pepper sauce.

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Tip for Success

If the queso isn’t hot after the cream has been stirred in, set the pan back over very low heat and stir constantly, just until warmed. Do not allow the mixture to simmer even by one bubble; the fat will fall out of suspension, rendering the sauce unusable.

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Eggs, Lox, and Onions

This deli version of scrambled eggs is made milder by adding the lox at the end of cooking, rather than frying it in the fat. Makes 4 servings

6 large eggs

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil

1 large onion, diced

8 ounces lox or thickly sliced smoked salmon, chopped (see Note)

Salt to taste

Whisk the eggs and pepper in a medium bowl until well beaten; set aside.

Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet set over medium-low heat, tipping the skillet to coat the bottom thoroughly; or heat the skillet over medium-low heat and then swirl in the olive oil. Toss in the onion, reduce the heat to low, and cook slowly, stirring often, until golden and quite soft, about 8 minutes.

Pour in the eggs and wait for 15 seconds. Use a heat-safe rubber spatula to lift the fluffy curds off the pan’s bottom, piling them up without breaking them up. All the while, tip and tilt the skillet to let more of the beaten eggs come into contact with the hot surface.

When the last of the liquid egg comes into direct contact with the hot pan, add the lox, stir once, and remove the pan from the heat. Scrape up the curds a couple more times, just to get the lox heated through and well combined but taking care to keep the fluffy eggs intact. Transfer to a serving plate or individual plates; season with salt, but remember that lox or smoked salmon is quite salty—taste the final dish before salting it.

Note: Spraying your knife with nonstick spray helps keep the salmon from sticking to it.

Eggs, Gravlax, and Onions: For a milder dish, substitute Gravlax for the lox.

Eggs, Smoked Trout, and Onions: Substitute smoked trout for the smoked salmon.

Herbed Eggs, Lox, and Onions: Add 1 tablespoon chopped parsley leaves, 1 tablespoon minced fresh chives, 1 tablespoon stemmed thyme, or 2 teaspoons chili powder with the lox or smoked salmon.

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Browned Butter and Eggs

Browning the butter—or turning it into a noisette (nwah-ZET), French for “hazelnut”—imparts to scrambled eggs, fried eggs, and even omelets a nutty, slightly bitter taste preferred by connoisseurs (but not by the elementary-school set). To brown the butter, heat it until the foaming subsides and the liquid just turns golden; you’ll smell a faint, acrid nuttiness. Remove the pan from the heat, cool for 20 seconds, then place the pan back over the heat and continue with the recipe as indicated.

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Fried Eggs

Using a metal spatula against a fried egg invites a broken yolk. If you’re going to flip it, do so up the pan’s side with a deft flick. Makes 1 fried egg

1 large egg

1 teaspoon unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon olive oil, or 1 teaspoon walnut oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Crack the egg into a small bowl, custard cup, or ramekin. Doing so will prevent egg shells in the skillet and will help you keep the egg from spreading across the pan.

Melt the butter or heat one of the oils in a small nonstick skillet over medium heat. Swirl the skillet around so that the fat coats the pan’s bottom. Make sure you also coat the pan’s side farthest from the handle (you will use this area to shape the fried egg).

Tip the hot skillet up slightly from the burner at a 10-degree angle. Pour the egg into the side of the skillet closest to the burner, into the shallow well created by the sides and the bottom as the skillet is tipped up. Count to 5, waiting just until the white starts to harden at the edges, then place the skillet back flat on the burner.

Cook until the white has turned opaque, about 25 seconds,