How many minutes does it take to cook an egg gently?
When cooking eggs (the process is, according to many, extremely simple, but in my turn I wonder why I have been very often given too soft or too hard boiled eggs in hotels, restaurants and acquaintances) it is important to Variables.
- First, bring the water to a boil in a pan before putting the eggs in it.
Why? In winter, tap water can be colder than in summer. Furthermore, one hob or (gas) pit has more “power” than the other. If you do the eggs in cold water and you stick to a fixed boiling time, the eggs will be softer in the winter and with a pit with less “power” than in the summer when a pit with more “power”. Boiling water is always around 100 degrees.
A special egg rack can of course also, but that is not always available (holiday home, family and so on)
Do not put as many eggs at once in the water that it leaves the temperature so much that the water “goes off the boil”. If all the eggs are in the water, the pit may be lower, but never so far that the water stops boiling.
The small hole allows the gas to escape and the egg in question almost never bursts. There are special “egg prikkers” but personally I have much better experiences with simply pricking a hole with, for example, the tip of an potato peel knife. With an “official” egg spike I still have a broken egg, with an potato peel knife never.
Logically: an egg with a temperature of 5 degrees needs more cooking time than an egg that is at room temperature. Why not just cook at fridge temperature? Answer: Even with a punctured hole in the air chamber as described in Section 2. The transition from “ice cold” to water of 100 degrees is often too large and bursts the egg. Furthermore, cold eggs often bring the temperature of the water too far down, so that the water cools down too much or even goes off the boil. Not time to let the eggs come to room temperature? Put them in advance ten minutes in a bowl with hand warm water, although this is not preferable.
Logically: A large egg needs a longer boiling time than a small egg.
Too soft? Next time ten seconds. Too loud? Next time ten seconds off.
Personally I love 6 minutes for a medium sized soft boiled egg done at room temperature in boiling water.Small eggs 5:30 and large eggs 6:20. But experiment! If you are in the way above (seems like a story, but actually quite simple: holes, eggs at room temperature, water to boil) the variables of water and egg temperature eliminates you get a very predictable result. My eggs have always been perfect for ten years. Al-time. No hassle with special egg cookers or anything: just an old-fashioned saucepan, potato peel knife and a digital cooking timer.
