# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/121 "2017-07-10T22:43:51Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > 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. No, plenty of people here put eggs into boiling water. But I’m with you on a dedicated eggpoker tool let aone the need for one. Now try talking to Germans about corn on the cob. That’s only pig or cow food. ---
**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, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/122 "2017-07-10T22:47:14Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > No, plenty of people here put eggs into boiling water. … I’ve never seen it. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/123 "2017-07-10T22:49:55Z")
Growing up in the upper Midwest (US) in the 1960’s, my mother would often make a food from her childhood during the Depression: creamed boiled potatoes and boiled eggs. She said they were often the only foods they had on the farm that they could grow themselves. (Another such meal was cold summer sausage and cheddar cheese slices with home-baked bread.) Her eggs were always firmly hard-boiled, and definitely no egg cups - that would certainly be something that someone wouldn’t have during the Depression. She would think of egg cups as something highfalutin and worthy of scorn. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/124 "2017-07-11T02:57:12Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > Yes, I know. Lucas was agreeing that egg-cups seemed to be like a monocle or a cigarette-holder - i.e. an over-elaborate affectation. Which he then followed up with detailed account of a finicky process for perfectly frying eggs. First, you were reading a little too much into my intention and… 2. Olive oil and butter is finicky and over-elaborate!? They are both sitting right by my stove for whatever I might need them for. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/125 "2017-07-11T04:01:52Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > No, plenty of people here put eggs into boiling water. Same here. Just googling “soft boiled eggs” and the majority of recipes I get (well, checking the first ten, at least) start with boiling water. I steam my eggs, so same difference. Get the cooking vessel to a known temp, throw in eggs, cook, be done. ---
**Author:** ![Claude\_Remains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Claude\_Remains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claude_Remains)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/126 "2017-07-11T04:12:41Z")
If I’m gonna have a “soft boiled” egg, I’ll crack it into a ramekin with 1/2 cup of cold water, microwave it for 40 seconds and call it “poached”. ---
**Author:** ![trapezoidal\_jellyfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@trapezoidal\_jellyfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trapezoidal_jellyfish)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/127 "2017-07-11T05:47:23Z")
Soft-boiled eggs are delicious, but yes, they aren’t very common in the US. I learned to make them from my mother, but I’m not sure where she picked it up. She immigrated here from Europe with her family as a child, so maybe it’s something her parents did. Fun fact: You don’t need an egg cup if you have a shot glass. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/128 "2017-07-11T08:54:46Z")
> [@Trancephalic](#): > > Hatch-22. Oh,well played. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/129 "2017-07-11T09:07:55Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > (By the way, England: you can keep your egg cups and your beans for breakfast—we have biscuits and gravy!) I haven’t tried that but it sounds nice. Do you have a recipe? Oh no, hang on, I’m doing it wrong. Why would I want biscuits and gravy? Who the hell wants to spend all morning sifting flour and getting it all over the kitchen? It sounds like a lot of work when I just want food in ma tummeh. We just fry a sausage and stick it in bread roll. That’s just obviously better and easier than whatever process is involved in this recipe I’m not familiar with and have never tried but somehow know is just wrong and terrible and awkward and kind of outdated like plus-fours or spats. Any suggestion that the way other people cook common foods might have any kind of merit is clearly wrong on the face of it. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/130 "2017-07-11T09:52:45Z")
What I really don’t understand about America is that Americans don’t use electric kettles. I don’t know how it’s possible to _live_ without one. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/131 "2017-07-11T10:04:45Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > What I really don’t understand about America is that Americans don’t use electric kettles. I don’t know how it’s possible to _live_ without one. 🙂 See, as a non-tea drinking Brit I completely get this. If you’re not making half a dozen cups of tea a day, they’re not necessary. (Also, I think 110V electricity means kettles aren’t such an efficient option anyhow). ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/132 "2017-07-11T10:29:48Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > See, as a non-tea drinking Brit I completely get this. If you’re not making half a dozen cups of tea a day, they’re not necessary. (Also, I think 110V electricity means kettles aren’t such an efficient option anyhow). Kettles work fine with 110V. I lived in the US for a couple of years, and used a kettle there (which I managed to find with some difficulty). It’s just faster and more convenient to heat water for any cooking or drinking purpose with a kettle, and it switches off automatically when it boils, so you don’t have to watch it. ---
**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 11, 2017, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/133 "2017-07-11T10:56:39Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > What I really don’t understand about America is that Americans don’t use electric kettles. I don’t know how it’s possible to _live_ without one. 🙂 Why would we need one? ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/134 "2017-07-11T11:58:20Z")
I use one almost every day for tea. My parents drink one cup of instant decaf a day, and some tea, so an electric kettle that shuts itself off is a huge safety plus. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/135 "2017-07-11T12:09:16Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > … > (By the way, England: you can keep your egg cups and your beans for breakfast—we have biscuits and gravy!) Mmm, I’m too lazy to do either for breakfast very often. But eggs and beans make a much better base for the day than biscuits and gravy. Biscuits and gravy is okay, but I’ve never understood the excitement it generates. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/136 "2017-07-11T12:17:23Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > Why would we need one? It’s the most efficient way to boil water. That’s useful both for cooking (ever had to add some boiled water to a pot or pan?) and for boiled-water based drinks. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/137 "2017-07-11T12:17:34Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Mmm, I’m too lazy to do either for breakfast very often. But eggs and beans make a much better base for the day than biscuits and gravy. Biscuits and gravy is okay, but I’ve never understood the excitement it generates. In America, ‘biscuits’ can mean something different to British biscuits. They are something like scones without sugar. [Google images](https://www.google.com/search?q=american+biscuits&tbm=isch) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/138 "2017-07-11T12:46:04Z")
I am one of the rare Americans who loves soft-boiled eggs. Normally, one just cracks it into a small bowl and discards the shell. It’s actually much easier than putting the egg in an egg cup, removing a cap of the shell, and eating the egg out of it. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/139 "2017-07-11T12:50:09Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > 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? Why, certainly! Poached, fried, scrambled, omelettes, eggy bread, hard AND soft boiled. We don’t tend to do that over-easy thing you do, but there’s nothing to stop you. All the people upthread suggesting that if you want a soft boiled egg then ‘just fry it’, totally misses the point. they are two entirely different eggs (and fried eggs are greasy/fatty). Boiled eggs have a firmer white. For the record, I time it 6 minutes with boiling water for soft boiled, 8 minutes for medium (ideal for a salad nicoise), 10 minutes for hard boiled (ideal picnic food). ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904/140 "2017-07-11T12:52:03Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > See, as a non-tea drinking Brit I completely get this. If you’re not making half a dozen cups of tea a day, they’re not necessary. (Also, I think 110V electricity means kettles aren’t such an efficient option anyhow). Electric kettles are now easy to find in the U.S. But pretty much the only thing I use it for is tea. If you don’t drink tea at home, you can get by easily without one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-and-egg-cups/790904.md?page=8)