the science of cooking a soft-boiled egg. americas test kitchen method.

[vash]

my wife loves eggs cooked this way. IMHO, this is the most difficult method. you add more eggs, or water..and all your memorized cooking times go out the window. heck the difference between fridge cold eggs and some off the counter will toss your numbers into a tail spin.

ATK solved it for us..they put 0.5" of water into a pot, get it boiling at a rip..add eggs..however many you want, start the time..6.5 minutes, cover the pot. timer goes off, give the eggs a quick rinse and they are perfectly done every single time. you essentially steam them.

just wanted to share. i was stoked and looked the hero, new years breakfast for the wife.

[dhoward]

Do they go in cold or room temp?
Burner on the whole time?
C'mon man, details!

[vash]

straight from the fridge. using tongs place them into the boiling water..burning going the entire time. (i lowered it a tad once it was at a rolling boil). 6.5 minute timer was started right when the last egg went in. i imagine you will have issues if your loading a bunch of eggs. this really is a game of seconds. once the timer started beeping. off the heat and under the cold water from the faucet. i essentially flooded the pot.

i peeled them. but these were store bought eggs.

the science? the lower amount of water works because it can come up to boil so much faster. almost right away. i think they tested it with a steamer basket and got great results, too. they just found a half inch of water allowed the eggs to also steam without the hassle of getting out a steamer basket.

egg white fully cooked, the yolk just setting up at the edges,,the center was a molten lava flow of hot yolks. i love soft boiled eggs over salad. this is gonna work.!

[gtc]

Do you pay for their website/magazine, or was that in one of the three emails per day they send out?

[vash]

Originally Posted by gtc

Do you pay for their website/magazine, or was that in one of the three emails per day they send out?

hahahhaha..that is why i quit their website BS..retarded.

but that kimball dude is a millionaire apparently. something is working. i got this method from their lasted, Cooks country magazine. the egg thing on the cover hooked me.

[dhoward]

Nice!
Thanks!

[gtc]

Vash, have you ever read Lucky Peach magazine? I bet you would enjoy it. It's put together by David Chang of Momofuku fame.
The first issue had a cool chart showing eggs cooked sous-vide at different temps.

[vash]

Lucky Peach? ok. i will check it out..THANKS!

[Sarc]

I skip the magazine/electronic newsletters and picked up the cookbook covering seasons 2001-2010. It has subsequently become our go-to reference; so far, we've had 100% success/satisfaction with all the recipes we've attempted..

[intakexhaust]

ATK are egg heads. A simple method. Place eggs fresh out of the fridge into a pot of cold water to where it nearly covers them. High heat and once it starts boiling, time 3 minutes. After 3 min., drain pot and quench in cold running water breifly. Done.

Occasionally we use egg cups (called or served English egg cup??). The fussy kids who dislike the yoke usually change their mind when they dip their toast into it.

[aigel]

Ah - awesome topic!

6.5 min out of the fridge into the pot (rolling boil - 1" water) does it for me!

There is still significant variation depending on egg size. This is something you cannot change with procedure - only time will make up for a larger / smaller egg.

I still struggle with # of eggs boiled - best way around this for me is using a very large pot, so the thermal mass is large and the temperature does not drop significantly, no matter if you put 2 or 8 eggs.

I am a huge soft boiled egg fan - no weekend goes by without at least one breakfast and 2 eggs for me! I bought a digital timer about a year ago and it has improved results greatly. I have been near-divorce over this, getting my wife to follow procedure.

I used to own one of these egg timer devices that are a plastic transparent egg showing the yoke status on a scale inside. Worked very well too - but these stink pretty badly - something is out-gassing from the polymer when you boil them - I don't want that in my food ...

Man, I am ready for the weekend! (Weekdays are oatmeal days )

G

[ckelly78z]

We have our own free range chickens on our farm and they tend to lay larger brown eggs with thicker shells than store bought eggs. I will have to try this method and report back how it works. Even in the Winter, our 4 laying hens will lay about a dozen eggs every 2-3 days. They lay many more in the Summer when green grass and bugs are present.

[masraum]

I skip the magazine/electronic newsletters and picked up the cookbook covering seasons 2001-2010. It has subsequently become our go-to reference; so far, we've had 100% success/satisfaction with all the recipes we've attempted..

Fantastic book. My mom sent it to its as a gift. Every recipe that we've tried has been very tasty (but not necessarily quick or simple).

I've only ever had runny eggs that I liked at a Colombian restaurant. Otherwise I want them completely cooked.

[vash]

i have the last version of that book.

not to hijack my own thread..but the Scramble recipe is fantastic as well. and Yvonne Ruperti is sooooooo cute!

[intakexhaust]

Originally Posted by ckelly78z

We have our own free range chickens on our farm and they tend to lay larger brown eggs with thicker shells than store bought eggs. I will have to try this method and report back how it works. Even in the Winter, our 4 laying hens will lay about a dozen eggs every 2-3 days. They lay many more in the Summer when green grass and bugs are present.

Thats terrific! Growing up we had the same. Sometimes had double yokes too. The flavor is so much better than the usual grocery chain store.

[nynor]

put eggs in pot. fill with water until eggs are submerged. bring water to a boil. remove pot from burner. 7 to 8 minutes = soft boiled. 10 minutes = hard boiled. no green yolk, no other issues.

my german grandmother taught me this and it works every time.

[LeeH]

Originally Posted by nynor

put eggs in pot. fill with water until eggs are submerged. bring water to a boil. remove pot from burner. 7 to 8 minutes = soft boiled. 10 minutes = hard boiled. no green yolk, no other issues.

my german grandmother taught me this and it works every time.

Last time I tried this method for had boiled eggs 10 minutes just wasn't enough. I've gone to 15 and find they're pretty much perfect.

[vash]

Originally Posted by LeeH

Last time I tried this method for had boiled eggs 10 minutes just wasn't enough. I've gone to 15 and find they're pretty much perfect.

i tried this. hit or miss for me. change the volume of water, number of eggs..any single variable and it is a miss (for me).

[nynor]

i can see how going to 15 minutes would get them cooked, but not turned into an inedible facsimile of school lunch HB eggs. i like mine soft, so i usually go eight minutes and i don't worry about how runny the yolk is. but, that is my preference.

[enzo1]

try putting small amount of olive oil in water...