# Do the means justify the end -boiling eggs in an electric kettle. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 5, 2002, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-means-justify-the-end-boiling-eggs-in-an-electric-kettle/130919 "2002-10-05T01:34:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2002, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-means-justify-the-end-boiling-eggs-in-an-electric-kettle/130919/1 "2002-10-05T01:34:21Z")
I live in student accomodation. I was boiling an egg for a sandwich yesterday, and couldn’t be bothered to go to the under-equiped student kitchen, so I dropped it into my kettle and hit the switch a few times to keep the water almost boiling. The element in the kettle is embedded in a ‘base’ - it couldn’t touch the egg directly. It seemed to work fine - and the egg was just the way I like them. Does it matter that the water wasn’t quite boiling the whole time? The denaturing temperature is well under that, though, so I can’t see how. Is there anything wrong with this? I felt guilty, as if this was cheating, but I can’t see why. Does anyone else do this? Does anyone know why it feels wrong? ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2002, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-means-justify-the-end-boiling-eggs-in-an-electric-kettle/130919/2 "2002-10-05T01:44:29Z")
Can’t figure out why, either. I boil eggs in a teakettle on an electric stove. Are you not allowed to cook in your room, apart from boiling water? ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2002, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-means-justify-the-end-boiling-eggs-in-an-electric-kettle/130919/3 "2002-10-05T02:01:53Z")
I suppose we are allowed. But if I’m doing anything more than making toast or boiling an egg, I might as well go to the kitchen, rather than buying something to cook on. In fact, maybe cooking eggs in a kettle is better, if the kettle is designed to boil faster, and the base of the kettle is smaller than that of my saucepan, thus needing less water to cover an egg, ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2002, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-means-justify-the-end-boiling-eggs-in-an-electric-kettle/130919/4 "2002-10-05T02:01:55Z")
Aaah memories. I used to lay a pop-up toaser on its side for grilling sandwiches (WARNING: if the toaster is not clean, the crumbs in it can catch fire if you do this). ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2002, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-means-justify-the-end-boiling-eggs-in-an-electric-kettle/130919/5 "2002-10-05T02:19:52Z")
There ought to be a cooking show for ‘improvisational equipment.’ I’m still not sure why this seems odd. I bet there are kettles sold at exorbitant prices as ‘egg boilers’ than I’ll buy when I’m 30 and middle class 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LordVor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90ced4/32.png) [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2002, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-means-justify-the-end-boiling-eggs-in-an-electric-kettle/130919/6 "2002-10-05T03:09:52Z")
Electric kettle? Don’t feel odd until you start using a 10 year old HP workstation to boil water. -lv