How to cook the perfect soft boiled egg

I'll make some soft boiled eggs for breakfast tomorrow... I will note that each burner / hob and each differently-sized pan will have a different timing requirement. Experiment and find out what works best for your kitchen.

Yes, you can get the pot boiling, then gently add the eggs, but I find that such a method keeps the white not to the optimal hardness for my personal tastes.

I don't do the "soldiers" thing either, and I do prefer NOT to have toast, either. I usually eat them straight up out of an egg cup, or add them to whatever veggies or even meat might be hanging out for breakfast. I'm just not a toast/bread person - since my locale closed down mid March, I have bought ONE loaf of bread, and have yet to bake any. With regards to soft boiled eggs, I feel too much of the good flavor is lost if toast is involved.
 
Thanks, Backbay, I'll give that a shot. My problem with coming up with a standard is that we have soft-boiled eggs maybe once a month a most (I usually pan-fry them, very easy to control the yolk doneness), so I'll boil them for X minutes, they'll come out too hard or too soft, and by the time I'm boiling the next batch, it's a different brand of eggs, and the shell is considerably thicker/thinner than the last time, or the egg is considerably larger/smaller than the last batch.

I also don't have much patience with experimenting. I like things to work the same way every time. When I make a burger on the grill, I do it exactly the same way every time, and it comes out exactly the same, every time. I never had to experiment over and over, and change meats, and move the grill from this side of the deck to that side of the deck and wear my lucky shirt to get it possibly, just maybe, work. Heat the grill to around 550F, patty out the burgers about 3/4" thick (1/4 lb), three minutes on one side, flip, two minutes on the other, done. Every single time, and it took me one time at the grill to work that out. I've been trying to get the exactly-how-I-like-it egg for...20 years or more, and I've probably done so 15% of the time, and never repeatable. It's like everything was perfect for that one method on that particular day, and that was it. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Consuming...I like the idea of egg cups, and that's what I almost always use, but I don't like yolk running down the side. That's wasted yolk in my book, because I'm certainly not going to try wiping toast up the side of an egg cup. Makes a pretty picture, but renders that bit of yolk as lost.
 
CookieMonster said:
if you want reliable - try this method - it has two variables which you can control 100%
1 - keep the eggs in the same spot in the fridge and don't take them out until:
2 - a pot of water is boiling - the water must be deep enough to cover the egg(s)
3 - poke a hole in the big end, or don't - your choice. piercing the big end relieves internal pressure that can cause an egg with a minor defect to crack/ooze.
4 - keep the egg at a boil for M minutes and S seconds
5 - remove, allow to cool so you can handle it, eat.

this gets your your perfect soft-boiled egg, every single time without exception.
for me - it's 4 minutes 45 seconds, for DW 5 minutes 30 seconds.
you have to experiment with the time because your fridge temp and your personal idea of "perfect" is not likely the same as mine.
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Exactly what I do if I'm boiling them in a pan (although I don't usually bother to pierce them - that is to prevent cracking by releasing the air in the air pocket) - but I do find that the size of the egg affects the result and my very large eggs take 5 mins plus.
 
Morning Glory said:
I think that is because you are putting them in room temperature water and then bringing to the boil and timing. The method I quoted is talking about adding the egg to already boiling water. If you do that with your duck egg it should be around 5 mins.
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I shall experiment and report back.

(My wife will eat the egg whatever).
 
Morning Glory said:
That isn't a soft boiled egg by a long chalk in my world. :) I like the yolk to be totally runny. That's the whole point of soldiers - to mop up the yolk. If the yolk is part set then you can't do that.

I'll attempt this again and reduce the time to 2 minutes. The trouble is it took about 10 minute for it to reach boiling and I had to keep checking it so that I got the precise moment when reached boiling so its not a very quick method.

Its beginning to look like what people mean when they say 'soft boiled' egg is a mainly or partially set yolk. BBC Good Food defines the types & cooking times thus (room temperature eggs into boiling water):

How long to boil an egg:
  • 5 minutes: set white and runny yolk – just right for dipping into
  • 6 minutes: liquid yolk – a little less oozy
  • 7 minutes: almost set – deliciously sticky
  • 8 minutes: softly set – this is what you want to make Scotch eggs
  • 10 minutes: the classic hard-boiled egg – mashable but not dry and chalky

Its beginning to look like what some people mean in this thread, when they say 'soft boiled' egg is a mainly or partially set yolk. The egg I cooked above using Burt Blank's is how I would perhaps want it for a Scotch egg or for a Niçoise Salad (the 7 to 8 minute method in the above list).

Am I alone here in wanting a runny yolk and opaque soft set white? I find 5 to 5½ mins (placed in boiling water is best). The microwave method still remains my favourite and fastest method. I may experiment by using cold water in the microwave method...
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My first one was as you describe but the other eggs had sat in the plate while I ate the first one, others carried on cooking. The second two looked like yours. I can only eat so much so fast,lmao.

Russ
 
Yorky said:
I shall experiment and report back.
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Room temperature duck egg (smallest one we had), 140mm diameter sauce pan.

Boiled egg 1 s.jpg

Boiled egg 1 s.jpg


Sufficient water in pan to just cover the egg.

Bring the water to the boil, gently submerge the egg and boil vigorously for precisely 5 minutes. Drain the water and run the egg under cool water to stop the cooking process.

Peel the egg.

Boiled egg 2 s.jpg

Boiled egg 2 s.jpg


Cut the egg.

Boiled egg 3 s.jpg

Boiled egg 3 s.jpg


It tasted very good also.
 
Yorky said:
Room temperature duck egg (smallest one we had), 140mm diameter sauce pan.

Boiled egg 1 s.jpg

Boiled egg 1 s.jpg


Sufficient water in pan to just cover the egg.

Bring the water to the boil, gently submerge the egg and boil vigorously for precisely 5 minutes. Drain the water and run the egg under cool water to stop the cooking process.

Peel the egg.

Boiled egg 2 s.jpg

Boiled egg 2 s.jpg


Cut the egg.

Boiled egg 3 s.jpg

Boiled egg 3 s.jpg


It tasted very good also.
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Do you think there was any difference between this one and the one you cooked using the room temperature water?
 
Morning Glory said:
Do you think there was any difference between this one and the one you cooked using the room temperature water?
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There was no difference in the taste that I could ascertain. The solidity of the white and the runniness of the yolk appeared the same. The only difference would be the quantity of gas used (less in my usual method).
 
Yorky said:
There was no difference in the taste that I could ascertain. The solidity of the white and the runniness of the yolk appeared the same. The only difference would be the quantity of gas used (less in my usual method).
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How long does your room temperature water take to come to the boil?
 
Yorky said:
The same length of time using either method. I didn't time it and I used the smallest ring.
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Do you have an electric kettle? I find it the fastest method to achieve boiling water in a pan. I know this doesn't hold so true in the USA where the electricity supply takes longer to boil an electric kettle than here. I don't know about Thailand...

I simply boil kettle and pour water immediately into pan over high heat.
 
Morning Glory said:
Do you have an electric kettle? I find it the fastest method to achieve boiling water in a pan. I know this doesn't hold so true in the USA where the electricity supply takes longer to boil an electric kettle than here. I don't know about Thailand...

I simply boil kettle and pour water immediately into pan over high heat.
Click to expand...

I cannot confirm that either way but gas is cheaper here than electric.

Yes, we have an electric kettle. And because it doesn't have an intrusive element, it could be used for boiling an egg. However, one would need to keep the cut-out pressed during the process.
 
Yorky said:
I cannot confirm that either way but gas is cheaper here than electric.

Yes, we have an electric kettle. And because it doesn't have an intrusive element, it could be used for boiling an egg. However, one would need to keep the cut-out pressed during the process.
Click to expand...

I think you misunderstood - I simply meant that any time I need to put something in boiling water on the hob, I boil the water in the kettle first and then pour the boiling water into a saucepan. Its much much quicker than boiling it on the hob.
 
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