286340 Mon Apr 03 17:00:40 -0700 2000 30 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1534910 Does anyone out there have a sure-fire method for cooking the quintessential soft-boiled egg? My definition of such an egg is one in which the white is completely cooked through (with no slimy stuff) and the yolk is molten gold. I don't know how many cookbooks I've tried in pursuit of this goal -- perhaps I have a soft-boiled egg block. The perfect egg, with the top lifted off and some crumbled bacon sprinkled into it, would just make me soooo happy! Can you help? Mon Apr 03 17:00:40 -0700 2000 0 Dena 1 1534912 First of all, the eggs need to be at room temperature. Secondly, the eggs should have absolutely no cracks, even the tiniest one will ruin your efforts. Take a small-medium pan and fill it with enough water to just barely cover the eggs but do not place the eggs in the pan at this time. Bring the water to a boil and remove from the burner. Gently place the eggs in the pan being careful not to jostle them. Cover the pan and time the eggs 3-4 minutes. You have to use the trial and error method to determine how long to submerge the eggs to your taste. After one or two times you will know eggsactly how much time is right for you. Room temperature eggs are the key. Enjoy. Mon Apr 03 23:44:15 -0700 2000 1534910 0 Stefany B. 2 1534916 Thanks, Stefany. I'll give it a try. - - Dena Tue Apr 04 11:40:33 -0700 2000 1534912 0 Dena 2 1534920 Another important detail is the quality of the eggs. Soft-boiled eggs don't have any oil or butter to assist the flavor of an inferior-quality egg. I like Nest Egg brand. Certainly make sure you're using organically produced eggs with nice thick shells. Tue Apr 04 14:29:16 -0700 2000 1534912 0 Val G 2 1534921 I cook mine slightly differently. I put cold eggs in water, same size pan & water as previously mentioned. Bring to boil uncovered. As soon as it begins to boil I remove the pan from heat and cover, count my time, then lift the eggs out into very cold water. I learned this from an egg council flyer, and it works for me. I hardly ever get cracks, but I've started looking for eggs without those shadowy "fault lines". I'll try the other way, it sounds faster. Tue Apr 04 14:51:26 -0700 2000 1534912 0 Betty 2 1534923 The other thing I do is to pierce the air sac at the large end of the egg with a push pin or needle. This also helps prevent cracking. Soft-boiled eggs were a regular breakfast item in family. My father, an incorrigible gadgeteer, bought a soft-boiled egg cooker, which my Mother, after considerable initial resistence, grew to love. It had a little pin in the lid for puncturing the air sac. The lid also had different measures for various amounts of water, which would determine how well cooked the eggs were. The eggs sat upright in holders in the base, to which you added the premeasured amount of water. The machine then boiled the water, essentially steaming the eggs (which were suspended in their holders above the water), and clicked off when the water had all boiled away. It was a nifty little gadget, and did a good, and very consistent, job of cooking the eggs. The egg cooker now exists solely in my memory--I don't own or use one. Tue Apr 04 17:36:25 -0700 2000 1534912 0 Tom Armitage 1 1534925 I make mine the same way my Irish grandfather did practically every day of his life: put the eggs in cold water in a small pot, and once it begins to boil - not simmer, but boil, cook for exactly three more minutes (you can use an egg timer for this). Then eat them. Tue Apr 04 22:18:08 -0700 2000 1534910 0 Tara 2 1535159 never happen, 3 minutes won't cook the white of any egg out there, as a matter of fact, 4 minutes won't do it either! I haven't tried the 4 minutes 35 seconds yet, that's next.... then 5, 5 1/2, and on and on until I get it.. I too use nothing but large eggs.. Mon Sep 29 20:12:39 -0700 2003 1534925 0 wayne a. 3 5184076 But if the eggs are in the water from the start, they have more cooking time -- albeit at a lower temperature. I stop at about four minutes. Sun Nov 15 17:21:06 -0800 2009 1535159 87837 RGC1982 2 1535163 That's exactly how my mom taught me to cook them. I think these people who say to cook longer are thinking of their eggs hard boiled not soft. Soft boiled means the yolk is still liquid but the white is solid and it is the only way to eat eggs in my opinion. Thu Oct 02 15:05:44 -0700 2003 1534925 0 Susan 1 1534928 Boil the fool thing until the shell's soft - should give about a half inch either way. If that doesn't work, use softer water. Gads! Keith Wed Apr 05 10:19:13 -0700 2000 1534910 0 Keith 1 1535095 Assuming the egg is placed into a pan of boiling water and the water continues to boil there are still a few variables including: * Size & shape of egg * Original temperature of egg (from fridge?) * Altitude (water boils at lower temp. if higher.. I have found that at around sea level, taking a large (organic) egg straight from a fridge, it will need four minutes and thirty-five seconds... Have a nice day etc Tue Oct 31 04:51:40 -0800 2000 1534910 0 R 1 1535096 Take free-range eggs out of fridge. Bring water to boil in small saucepan. Put eggs carefully into water. If they crack, live with it, you'll just get a bit of outside-cooked escaped white. Boil for four minutes (give or take a few seconds if they're very big or small). If you're using an electric stove, turn off heat as soon as you put the eggs in and leave them for four minutes. Eat with hot toast, buttered and cut into soldiers, and plenty of salt and pepper. Tue Oct 31 11:54:21 -0800 2000 1534910 0 tamara 2 1535097 Thanks to everyone for all the advice. I have finally perfected the hard cooked egg, thanks to the French Culinary Institute. The only size of egg we used was "Large," so it's always consistent. Put eggs into cold water. Bring the water to a boil. As soon as it boils, remove the pot from the heat. Let stand 12 to 14 minutes, then plunge eggs into an ice bath. At 12 minutes, the whites will be tender, not rubbery, and the yolks will be perfectly done, with a slightly undercooked center and no green ring. It's the little things in life... Tue Oct 31 15:50:10 -0800 2000 1535096 0 Dena 3 1535168 This is so awesome. I do private duty health care and my client was wanting soft boiled eggs. I have never done them before, so this is where I came looking. Lots of great ideas here. Thank you all. Thu Dec 18 08:45:34 -0800 2003 1535097 0 Jenn 4 5184082 Careful -- Dena's recipe is for HARD cooked eggs. In fact, I can do mine in ten minutes of standing, which cooks them hard but avoids the overcooked gray/green of an overcooked egg. Mine seem to cook faster -- you'll have to try it for yourself. Sun Nov 15 17:23:12 -0800 2009 1535168 87837 RGC1982 2 1535098 What does "cut toast into soldiers" mean? Since we're talking soft boiled eggs I assume it's triangles, but I've never heard that term. Thanks. Thu Nov 02 11:45:39 -0800 2000 1535096 0 Lisa Z 3 1535099 At my house it means rectangles of toast (maybe 4 to a slice) to dunk into your egg. pat Thu Nov 02 11:59:23 -0800 2000 1535098 0 pat hammond 4 1535100 When I was a kid my mother would cut slices of buttered toast verticallly into three pieces so they would be dunkable in our hot chocolate. I never heard them called "soldiers," but it sounds good to me. Link: http://www.realgoodfood.com Thu Nov 02 12:34:25 -0800 2000 1535099 0 Jim Dixon 5 1535102 'Soldier' used to describe a finger of toast is a British expression. When I was little, my mother used to crumble a couple of saltines over my soft-boiled eggs. I'd then mash it all together--delicious! Even as a tiny kid I was a salt addict. I've never had the nerve to try the saltine-egg combo as an adult--afraid I'd hate it and mar my memoriees. Thu Nov 02 12:51:12 -0800 2000 1535100 0 Martha Gehan 6 1535103 Soldiers are indeed long rectangles. You can usually get about four out of one slice of toast. They have to be narrow enough to be dipped straight into the soft-boiled egg (in an egg cup, needless to say). Thu Nov 02 13:48:54 -0800 2000 1535102 0 tamara 7 1535164 Can anyone tell me why they are called soldiers? Mon Oct 13 16:48:49 -0700 2003 1535103 0 Alec 8 5184085 The English often use toast caddies to keep their toast slices nice and crisp -- somethng you can never achieve if you stack your toast. I wonder if they are called soldiers because of the way they line up vertically in the toast caddy? Sun Nov 15 17:24:40 -0800 2009 1535164 87837 RGC1982 4 1535101 Thanks Pat. Now I'm getting all nostalic for soft boiled eggs. As a kid, my mother used to turn the egg cup upside down, and in the large bowl-like cavity she'd put the broken up egg and little crouton-sized pieces of buttered toast. Yum. Thu Nov 02 12:37:11 -0800 2000 1535099 0 Lisa Z 2 1535135 This is exactly the information I've been looking for. I recently bought a couple of china egg cups and I like to do the whole ritual, with toast soldiers and little dabs of butter flicked into the egg as I go along. I recently learned that there is such a thing as "egg scissors" for lopping the top of the egg. The antique kind is like a scissor where one blade is the loop that fits over the egg and the other blade is the guillotine - it has a chicken on the handle. The new-fangled one is called an "egg topper", also scissorlike, with the loop to fit over the egg and wicked little points that come out and pierce the shell all around. I just got mine in the mail today! Tue Jul 30 23:19:11 -0700 2002 1535096 0 Aussie 1 1535160 tried 3 minutes placing the eggs (large) in the boiling water... soft, raw whites... tried 4 minutes, milky semi-cooked whites... haven't tried the 4 minutes 35 seconds, but the 4 is very close, so I'm going with the 4 and 35... Mon Sep 29 20:18:10 -0700 2003 1534910 0 abercrombie 1 1535161 tried 3 minutes placing the eggs (large) in the boiling water... soft, raw whites... tried 4 minutes, milky semi-cooked whites... haven't tried the 4 minutes 35 seconds, but the 4 is very close, so I'm going with the 4 and 35... Mon Sep 29 20:18:33 -0700 2003 1534910 0 abercrombie 1 1535162 This is it! Follow exactly! Fill a medium saucepan with 3 inches of water and bring to a boil over high heat. Using a spoon, lower the eggs into the water. Cover the pan, turn off the heat and let the eggs sit for five minutes. Using the spoon, remove eggs from the water. Using a paring knife, slice 1/2 inch off the tops off the narrow end of each egg and serve alongside toast strips. Mon Sep 29 22:54:18 -0700 2003 1534910 0 Paul 2 1535171 just to add to the general confusion, try this. cover eggs with cold water, and bring to a boil. cook for 3 minutes and there you go: soft boiled egg Wed Feb 04 07:34:29 -0800 2004 1535162 0 john 1 5046171 I first started looking into making Soft-boiled eggs or similar when I read about Onsen Tamago (Japanese Hotspring Eggs), and was fascinated by how spas now make them: 1.) Gently place Eggs in a Rice Cooker 2.) Fill the Rice Cooker with water till the Eggs are fully submerged 3.) Set the Rice Cooker to the Keep Warm setting 4.) Forget about for 2 hours, then serve Everything I have read online states that: prolonged (4 minutes or more) temperatures of 140 degrees kills Salmonella; the Keep Warm setting on brands of Rice Cookers range from 150 to 160 degree. So, I have pretty confident that I'll be safe to try this. Has anyone else used this method? Mon Sep 21 10:16:22 -0700 2009 1534910 1103260 ShoggothDreams 2 5183930 Thank you for your posting. I have been on a quest to find a way to consistently make onsen tamago successfully. I used David Chang's technique from the Momofuku cook which worked great, but requires some attention to ensure that the temperature is in the 140-145 degree range. After reading your posting, I put a couple large eggs in the rice cooker and 2 hours later...onsen tamago. I suspect that a slow cooker would also work for those that do not have a rice cooker. Thanks again! Sun Nov 15 16:15:12 -0800 2009 5046171 120164 BigSal