How do you prevent boiled eggs from cracking while in the water? The only fail safe way I have found is to put the eggs in the water when it’s cold. But that only works if you want hard boiled eggs. Today I started with slightly warm water, and sure enough, one of the eggs cracked, and about a third of it streamed out into the water.
It should be such a simple thing…but what is the right way to do it?
The usual solution is to prick a small hole into one end of the egg, to let the steam out. You can buy little gadgets that will do this safely and easily.
I’ve heard that putting some salt in the water also helps.
By the way, why is it not a solution to put the eggs in the water while cold? You can still get soft-boiled eggs that way; just take them out a few minutes earlier than you otherwise would.
In my experience, when I start with the eggs in cold water, if I take them out 3 or 4 minutes after the water starts boiling I get soft-boiled eggs. But maybe the size of the pan matters, so you’ll just have to sacrifice a few eggs to experiment.
Start actively simmering water (with salt and a bit of vinegar; note, boiling water will break up the egg),
stand the egg in the carton with the pointy end down,
put a (sterilized) needle against the upward fat end,
tap it gently with the slotted spoon you’ll use to retreive the egg later until it pierces the shell and makes a tiny hole,
drop the egg into the water for 20 seconds or so,
fish it out with the spoon,
let it cool a few seconds,
crack it open right at the water’s surface and let the “meat” of the egg drop into the hot water,
quickly gather any egg-white strands toward the center with the spoon,
wait 3 minutes,
retrieve cooked egg and either put it in an ice bath (if you’re making a lot of them and need to hold them for rewarming later) or onto a paper towel to drain a bit before transferring to your toast or whatever you’re eating it on.
If you skip steps 6 through 9, and wait 4-5 minutes instead of 3, you should have a nice soft-boiled egg.
One of my kids gave me one of these. You just put it in the water with the eggs and it tells you when they’re cooked to the right point. Works like a charm!
I don’t understand why you feel that you can’t start by putting the egg in cold water. I like my eggs so soft that the yolk is runny, so that it soaks into the biscuit/bread. With the one pot I always used, it would take about 13 minutes for the water to start boiling, and 1 minute after that the yolk would be runny. If you want it just soft, I’d try 3 minutes or so after boiling, but it’s going to take some experimenting. (I’ve found that, if you pull it out too soon, it’s hard to cook it more solid, because it’s really hard to uncrack an egg. Then again, It’s even harder to get it softer if you overcooked it.)
Put the refrigerated egg in a bowl of warm tap water at least 15 minutes before you’re ready to cook it. Maybe refresh the warm tap water once. A warm egg won’t crack when it hits the boiling water.
Put your pot of cooking water on and bring it to a boil. Lower the now warm egg into the boiling water, reduce the heat, and simmer it to the desired degree of doneness. This method is good because you can precisely time your soft-boiled egg right from the get-go. If you start it in cold water, you’re never quite sure of the exact time to start the timer: when the water starts to steam? when the first little bubbles appear? when it actually comes to a rolling boil? A minute or two the wrong way and you won’t get your egg cooked the way you like.
BTW: four minutes for an extra-large egg, three and a half minutes for a large one.
I think I’ll have a soft-boiled egg for breakfast tomorrow.
I’ve never had a soft boiled egg. But after reading some Discworld books I wanted to try some with toast soldiers but I’m still not certain of what to expect. Are they like poached eggs, with the whites very lightly set and the yolk runny or are the whites a little runny? I definitely wouldn’t like runny whites.
I have been ridiculed by my own father for liking soft-boiled eggs with toast soldiers, but don’t let that stop you.
My recipe for soft-boiled eggs: Poke a hole in the big end. Bring the water to a boil, then gently place the eggs in the water (use a spoon), reduce the heat to medium, cover and let it boil for six minutes. Then drain it and run cold water over it until it’s cool enought to handle.
The hole should be in the round end (not the pointy end) as there is a small sac of air there. That lets the water in, so it does two things - it evens the pressure, so there’s less likelihood of a crack; And it causes a more direct contact between the boiled water and the internals of the egg white. Four minutes of boiling will usually give you perfect soft boiled eggs.
The salt will only cause anything that leaks from a cracked egg to solidify and hopefully not turn the water into soup.
Such are my theories. They work for me 99% of the time, anyway.
Yes: the not-yet-cooked white leaks out and makes threads and ribbons, which cook unevenly, and if you’re making more than one batch, foul the water. Besides, it just looks oogy.
From what I gathered from descriptions, you cut up your toast into thin rectangles that will fit into the opening of the egg for dipping into the yolk. No idea why they call them soldiers.
This is so strange. I’ve been making hard boiled eggs (never soft boiled) for years and I’ve had maybe 3 of them crack on me, ever. I do absolutely nothing special, and sometimes overcook them when I forget to set a timer. The only thing I can think of that I do is check for hairline cracks before I put the eggs in the water. I only boil eggs with no visible hairline cracks.
They’re classic finger-food for children just learning to feed themselves. Lined up on a plate they look like soldiers on parade in the same way that the next spoonful of mush is like a choo-choo coming into the tunnel.