Dulse-Flaked Scrambled Eggs on Sourdough

Dulse is a red seaweed from the North Atlantic, sold dried and usually already flaked. Toasted, it tastes savory and slightly smoky — people reliably say bacon, which is overselling it, but not by as much as you would think.

A jar of dulse flakes next to the salt is the single easiest way to add seaweed to food you are already making.

Why this one is iodine-rich

Two sources doing steady work. Egg yolk is a dependable everyday source, and dulse contributes more — at a far lower concentration than kelp, which makes it fine to use as a daily seasoning. Butter adds a little dairy iodine on top.

Ingredients

Serves 2.

• 5 eggs
• 1 1/2 tbsp butter
• 2 tsp dulse flakes, plus a pinch to finish
• 2 thick slices sourdough
• 1 tbsp creme fraiche or cream cheese (optional, but good)
• Chives, snipped
• Black pepper

Method

1. Toast the dulse flakes in a dry skillet over medium heat for 30 seconds, moving them constantly, until they smell nutty. Tip them out straight away — they burn in seconds.
2. Beat the eggs with a fork until just combined. Do not whisk them to a froth and do not salt them yet; dulse brings its own salinity.
3. Toast the sourdough.
4. Melt the butter in a nonstick skillet over low heat. Add the eggs and leave them alone for 20 seconds, then start drawing the set edges into the middle with a spatula.
5. Keep the heat low and keep moving. When the eggs are still visibly wet, take the pan off the heat entirely — they carry on cooking.
6. Fold through the toasted dulse and the creme fraiche. Pile onto the toast, finish with chives, a pinch more dulse and black pepper.

Notes and swaps

• Other uses for the jar. Dulse flakes are good on avocado toast, in potato salad, over popcorn, and stirred into biscuit or soda bread dough.
• Vegan. Silken tofu scramble with turmeric takes the dulse just as well.
• Whole leaf. Dulse also comes as whole dried leaf. Fry a piece in a little oil for ten seconds and it crisps into something you can crumble over almost anything.

Common questions

Will it taste strongly of seaweed?
No. Toasted dulse in eggs reads as savory depth rather than as sea. It is one of the easiest seaweeds to introduce to someone who thinks they dislike seaweed.

Are eggs a reliable iodine source?
They are a consistent everyday contributor, though the exact amount depends on what the hens were fed. The yolk is where it is, so egg-white-only cooking loses most of it.

The food-first habit

Breakfast is the easiest meal to make a habit of, because you eat it half asleep and never have to decide. If you have been using Lugol's Iodine to correct a gap, a jar of dulse by the stove is how you stop thinking about it.

Recipes are published for general interest and are not medical or dietary advice. Iodine requirements vary from person to person, and iodine has an upper limit as well as a recommended intake. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking thyroid medication or managing a thyroid condition, speak to your healthcare provider before making significant changes to your iodine intake. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.