# America and egg cups **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 10, 2017, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904 "2017-07-10T09:21:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/101 "2017-07-10T18:05:29Z")
> [@Weisshund](#): > > I have egg cups. > Soft boiled eggiewegs and lovely lomticks of toast is good. > > I dont actually like hard boiled eggs much > > Having Burgess/Kubrick for breakfast, perhaps not, though nadsat probably makes more sense than my early morning mumblings I see words, they look like English, but… wat? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/102 "2017-07-10T18:10:39Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > I see words, they look like English, but… wat? _A Clockwork Orange_ references. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/103 "2017-07-10T18:17:35Z")
Salmonella killed soft boiled eggs in the US. Or rather, the fear of it, fueled by a couple headline-grabbing incidents of industrial-scale stupidity, such as [thousands of people nationwide being sickened after bulk ice cream ingredients were transported in tank trucks that had not been cleaned after transporting raw eggs.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/10/21/truck-linked-to-ice-cream-poisoning/2198bd0e-1cb9-4063-bbf0-28672c5c622c/?utm_term=.d4dba73e489a) Back in the 1990s, some states (California and New Jersey come to mind, probably others as well) passed laws that restaurants could not serve raw or undercooked eggs. Raw is obvious, but what’s undercooked? According to the [American Egg Board current guidelines](https://www.incredibleegg.org/egg-nutrition/egg-safety/) eggs should be cooked until the whites and yolks are firm. AFAIK, these laws have been revoked, but we still have an entire generation believing that runny eggs will make them deathly ill. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/104 "2017-07-10T18:23:25Z")
I gather were not talking about training bras? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/105 "2017-07-10T18:25:47Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Salmonella killed soft boiled eggs in the US. > > Or rather, the fear of it, fueled by a couple headline-grabbing incidents of industrial-scale stupidity, such as [thousands of people nationwide being sickened after bulk ice cream ingredients were transported in tank trucks that had not been cleaned after transporting raw eggs.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/10/21/truck-linked-to-ice-cream-poisoning/2198bd0e-1cb9-4063-bbf0-28672c5c622c/?utm_term=.d4dba73e489a) > > Back in the 1990s, some states (California and New Jersey come to mind, probably others as well) passed laws that restaurants could not serve raw or undercooked eggs. Raw is obvious, but what’s undercooked? According to the [American Egg Board current guidelines](https://www.incredibleegg.org/egg-nutrition/egg-safety/) eggs should be cooked until the whites and yolks are firm. AFAIK, these laws have been revoked, but we still have an entire generation believing that runny eggs will make them deathly ill. I think soft boiled eggs were on a decline in America well before the salmonella alarms went off. In the 50s and 60s you ate them when you were sick as already noted, or saw grandma or grandpa eating them. And as you can tell from this thread no one had egg cups. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/106 "2017-07-10T18:51:26Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > It may have once been more popular in the US than it is now. I remember egg cups being featured in an episode of The Andy Griffith Show (4:54 into [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6xEWoYKTt0) segment.) I can’t remember seeing one shown in a much more recent show depicting people eating breakfast (or on the table in commercials for breakfast foods.) > > I have the memory of seeing somewhere some media depiction of someone tapping the top of a soft-boiled egg with the convex side of a spoon to crack it open, but can’t remember what movie or TV show it was in. There was an episode of _Two and a Half Men_ where Alan had moved out of Charlie’s house and in with his mother that had them eating eggs out of egg cups. It annoyed his mother when Alan was cracking the egg. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/107 "2017-07-10T19:24:15Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > (My grandma used to serve soft boiled eggs in those little moronic cups. Drove me fucking nuts.) I was gonna say the only set I’ve seen was in Grandma’s cupboard, but I never saw them used. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/108 "2017-07-10T19:25:19Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > One of life’s simple pleasures is dipping buttered toast - cut into strips, and known as “soldiers” - into a soft-boiled egg. > > I guess the US doesn’t need egg-timers then? I’m American, but _me mum_ was a WWII British war-bride (Dad was a U.S. 8th Army Air Force fly-boy stationed at Honington air base). So, I know all about egg cups and toasted “soldiers” (I could wipe out an entire brigade of those buttery strips slathered in yolk, in my youth). I now prefer poached eggs on toast (with or without Hollandaise), but those egg cups and soldiers bring back fond memories. Mum introduced me to many English delights: warm Birds Custard on gingerbread, mixed grill, jam tarts, sausage pastries, Yorkshire pudding, bubble & squeak… I should have died 20 years ago from hyperlipidemia, but I suppose my English DNA is too stubborn to sucumb. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/109 "2017-07-10T19:33:30Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > My favorite book as a really young kid had eggcups in one of the illustrations. I didn’t know it was a real thing. I vaguely remember seeing egg cups in one or two old children’s books I had as a child. I assumed they were a real thing but a really old-fashioned thing, one of those weird customs from a hundred years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/110 "2017-07-10T19:41:20Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > There was an episode of _Two and a Half Men_ where Alan had moved out of Charlie’s house and in with his mother that had them eating eggs out of egg cups. It annoyed his mother when Alan was cracking the egg. That might be the instance I was thinking of. Meanwhile, the controversy has spilled over [into another site I follow](https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2017/07/10/of-egg-cups-and-kettles/). ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/111 "2017-07-10T19:47:46Z")
ISTM that one contributing factor in the US is that we refrigerate our eggs. This has been discussed a lot, but it boils down to how US eggs are processed to go to market. The cleaning process removes a natural coating that then requires refrigeration. This is not done outside of the US, allowing the eggs to be stored at room temperature. This makes the timing of cooking soft boiling somewhat more troublesome in the US. Outside of the US, the eggs begin at room temperature so the timing of the cooking is easier to manage. Whereas starting with a refrigerated egg? Do we let it sit out to get to room temp? How long? Oh, bother. (Thanks for the recipe, teela!) I believe this has contributed to the decline in serving soft boiled eggs in the US, and the disappearance of eggs cups from earlier generations. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/112 "2017-07-10T19:58:23Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > ISTM that one contributing factor in the US is that we refrigerate our eggs. We keep our eggs (from our hens) on the counter. When our hens take a break in the winter, I find the cold eggs from the grocery store cook differently enough to be noticeable. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I vaguely remember seeing egg cups in one or two old children’s books I had as a child. I assumed they were a real thing but a really old-fashioned thing, one of those weird customs from a hundred years ago. Was it Max & Ruby? I remember twenty some years ago reading those books to my daughter. “Bad egg, said Max. Good egg said Ruby”. Over and over and over. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/113 "2017-07-10T19:59:07Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#): > > I’m American, but _me mum_ was a WWII British war-bride (Dad was a U.S. 8th Army Air Force fly-boy stationed at Honington air base). So, I know all about egg cups and toasted “soldiers” (I could wipe out an entire brigade of those buttery strips slathered in yolk, in my youth). > > I now prefer poached eggs on toast (with or without Hollandaise), but those egg cups and soldiers bring back fond memories. Mum introduced me to many English delights: warm Birds Custard on gingerbread, mixed grill, jam tarts, sausage pastries, Yorkshire pudding, bubble & squeak… > > I should have died 20 years ago from hyperlipidemia, but I suppose my English DNA is too stubborn to sucumb. Heh. That’s the hilarious part, right? There are folks talking up a specialized item to help people dip buttered stuff into this here fatty source of cholesterol – and it’s the _Americans_ who are saying, _“uh, no, thanks; we’ll pass.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/114 "2017-07-10T20:06:38Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > I’ve had hard-boiled eggs, deviled eggs, poached eggs, fried eggs over easy and sunny-side up, scrambled eggs, omelets, and probably a few other ways I’m forgetting… but I don’t believe I’ve ever had a soft boiled egg, or eaten an egg from a cup. Ditto, and question: Do Brits eat eggs all these ways _too_, or is one or more of them as foreign to them as soft-boiled is to us Americans? (By the way, England: you can keep your egg cups and your beans for breakfast—we have biscuits and gravy!) ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/115 "2017-07-10T20:07:05Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Heh. That’s the hilarious part, right? There are folks talking up a specialized item to help people dip buttered stuff into this here fatty source of cholesterol – and it’s the _Americans_ who are saying, _“uh, no, thanks; we’ll pass.”_ Uh, no, we regularly “dip buttered stuff into this here fatty source of cholesterol,” we just don’t need a single-purpose item with which to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/116 "2017-07-10T20:22:16Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Ditto, and question: Do Brits eat eggs all these ways _too_ Pretty much, although popular culture tells me that you lot have a lot more ways to describe a fried egg than we do. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/117 "2017-07-10T20:48:36Z")
I’ve just recently taken up soft-boiled eggs as an easier alternative to poaching (at least when doing more than one) and normally I just peel them and serve on toast. However, the other day I was wishing I had an egg cup, and discovered that I had a wide shot glass that fit just fine. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/118 "2017-07-10T21:53:59Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > ISTM that one contributing factor in the US is that we refrigerate our eggs. This has been discussed a lot, but it boils down to how US eggs are processed to go to market. The cleaning process removes a natural coating that then requires refrigeration. This is not done outside of the US, allowing the eggs to be stored at room temperature. > > This makes the timing of cooking soft boiling somewhat more troublesome in the US. Outside of the US, the eggs begin at room temperature so the timing of the cooking is easier to manage. Whereas starting with a refrigerated egg? Do we let it sit out to get to room temp? How long? Oh, bother. (Thanks for the recipe, teela!) > > I believe this has contributed to the decline in serving soft boiled eggs in the US, and the disappearance of eggs cups from earlier generations. I don’t think that unrefrigerated eggs are the norm outside of the U.S., at least in Germany eggs are always kept in the fridge. And I don’t think that makes much of a difference anyway if you boil eggs the usual way it’s done here: heat water to boiling point, take egg out of the fridge, (now the next step is important, it keeps the egg from cracking) prick a hole into the flat side of the egg with a device like this with the funny name of [Eierpicker](https://www.google.de/search?q=eierpicker&rlz=1C1AVFC_enDE743DE743&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjcuK3y1__UAhXKKlAKHWi-AX0Q_AUICygC&biw=1366&bih=589) (I doubt that you have those, not even having egg cups and all, but rest assured, they belong in every German household), put egg into the boiling water and let simmer for you’re preferred time (you’ll learn you’re time in childhood), accounting for size of the egg. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/119 "2017-07-10T22:19:58Z")
I do like the occasional soft-boiled egg, but haven’t really mastered making them. Starting temp and egg size variations, probably, though I don’t cook them often enough to say for sure. I will probably make them more often if I ever finish putting together the sous vide cooker I’ve been meaning to assemble for some time. Should be able to do them absolutely perfect, every single time. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/120 "2017-07-10T22:28:45Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I don’t think that unrefrigerated eggs are the norm outside of the U.S., at least in Germany eggs are always kept in the fridge. And I don’t think that makes much of a difference anyway if you boil eggs the usual way it’s done here: heat water to boiling point, take egg out of the fridge, (now the next step is important, it keeps the egg from cracking) prick a hole into the flat side of the egg with a device like this with the funny name of [Eierpicker](https://www.google.de/search?q=eierpicker&rlz=1C1AVFC_enDE743DE743&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjcuK3y1__UAhXKKlAKHWi-AX0Q_AUICygC&biw=1366&bih=589) (I doubt that you have those, not even having egg cups and all, but rest assured, they belong in every German household), put egg into the boiling water and let simmer for you’re preferred time (you’ll learn you’re time in childhood), accounting for size of the egg. WTF? Who cooks eggs like that? That’s the strangest thing I’ve never known about. Eggs here go into cold water and get boiled for the requisite time: about 4 minutes for soft. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904.md?page=7)