French Soft-Scrambled Eggs on Toast

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°F. Beat the eggs with the salt for a full minute, until no streaks of white remain. Just before you start the eggs, toast the baguette slices until deep golden, butter them while hot and hold them on a sheet pan in the oven.
2. Melt 1 tbsp of the cold butter in a 2-quart saucepan over low heat until it foams but does not brown. Pour in the eggs.
3. Stir constantly with a rubber spatula, sweeping the bottom and corners, for 8 to 10 minutes. If curds form faster than a slow ooze, lift the pan off the heat for 10 seconds and keep stirring.
4. When the eggs look like loose, glossy custard dotted with small soft curds, pull the pan off the heat. They should look slightly underdone, because they keep cooking in the pan.
5. Stir in the remaining 1 tbsp cold butter and the cream to stop the cooking. Season with pepper, taste for salt, spoon over the warm toast and scatter the chives.

Food safety. Eggs are cooked soft and creamy, not fully set. Use pasteurized eggs for anyone pregnant, elderly or immunocompromised.