Feb272009
The Soft-boiled Egg Challenge
Filed under Breakfast,Eggs,Technique by Anna at 10:20 AM on Feb 27 2009
I have tried million of times to get a result similar to the one in this picture …with no success. It’s quite frustrating; the same thing happens to me when I try to bake something …it never works. My cookies always come out too tough or too soft. My cakes never taste or look right. I feel kinda bummed about that, but I keep trying anyway. I’m a die-hard type of person, when things don’t work the way I want, I get obsessed about it and I don’t stop until I make it work. Cooking an egg was supposed to be the easiest thing in the world… but it’s not! Cooking the perfect, soft boiled egg turned out to be my personal nemesis. I bought an egg timer which is some gadget you put in the water together with the egg and it would show you the doneness of the egg. But it just didn’t work for me. The result I’m looking for is to get the egg whites a bit firm while the yolk remains soft. So… what is the big secret? Does anyone out there have a foolproof method? … Please help!!! And if you have a yummy soft-boiled egg recipe, please email it to me at chefwanabe@yahoo.com and I’ll post it here.
1 Christelleon 06 Mar 2009 at 6:21 AM
I find that boiling water then lowering it down to simmer and dropping the egg in there for 4 minutes does the trick…
Hope it works for you. I like my yolk liquid too.
There are ways to make it perfect by keeping the boiling water at a certain temperature, but I’m not into measuring too much…
2 we are never fullon 08 Mar 2009 at 8:49 AM
we have a tried and true method – rolling boil. drop egg in and set timer for 7 minutes. no more, no less. 7 minutes only. when beep happens, drop into an ice bath to stop the cooking. done. works like a charm.
remember not a second more than 7 minutes! good luck.
3 Annaon 08 Mar 2009 at 9:20 AM
(We are never Full) Thank you guys for the tip, and loved your blog, bookmarking it right now.
4 Farinaon 17 May 2009 at 8:40 AM
Anna, back in Malaysia we have this cool plastic thingy that is used to make soft boiled egg but I never used it. I’m going back in Sept and will definitely test it. If it works, I will bring back a few.
5 Annaon 19 May 2009 at 1:14 PM
Hi Farina, I know what you are talking about, I have the thingy. It didn’t work for me. But I learned that if you have a ice bath to stop the cooking process it will work.
6 kate the bakeon 10 Oct 2009 at 10:20 AM
Hey Farina
I like to put my eggs into cold water and bring to the boil, then boil for 3 mins for large eggs and lift out. In the UK large eggs are around 65g. Serious Eats just published a piece on boiling eggs so you may find that useful too – http://bit.ly/2MzuqI
I’m off to try your pumpkin gnocchi recipe.
Thanks,
Kate
7 Annaon 10 Oct 2009 at 10:38 AM
Thanks Kate for the tip. I’ll check it out.