My preferred method at home is water-basted, which is similar except you use a bit more water to steam the tops. I avoid flipping. I can do it, but I’m not great at it.
I got much better at flipping eggs when i bought a carbon steel omelette pan. It’s much more slippery than than the stainless steel and anodized aluminum pans I’d been using.
I find it easier to flip the eggs by picking up the pan, making sure theeggsareslidingabout and then quickly tossing them up and over. One or two eggs is a simple flick of the wrist. Three or more eggs require a stronger toss with additional height, success is a splat free landing.
Poached eggs are the easiest imo. Boil water add salt drop in the eggs reduce heat. I dont’ even time it, just test the firmness of the yolk
Honestly, it’s just not something I care about enough to invest in another pan. I can flip, but I grew up on water-basted, and this method allows me to totally control the doneness of the eggs. Works well enough for me!
Agreed, though I don’t salt the water. I just slide the eggs in and let them gently simmer to the desired doneness.
Boiled eggs are even easier. No pot to clean.
I have a little plastic egg that plays a tune when the eggs reach each stage of doneness. I won it in a Yankee swap, and it’s great. (I didn’t use it for passover because i wanted a lot of hard boiled eggs. If I’m cooking two eggs for myself, it’s perfect.)
If you order over medium, and you get eggs that are obviously going to run all over the plate, you think that’s reasonable? If my wife wanted eggs over easy, she would have ordered eggs over easy.
I’ve had plenty of restaurant meals in my life with people who sent food back for ridiculous reasons. This time was not one of them.
I completely agree. I’d have sent them back, too.
Boiled eggs? That are served in an egg cup that one has to gently crack open an access point and scoop out the egg to eat it?
Never had one, I don’t have the patience! seems like a delicate operation and requires a perfectly cooked egg and a steady hand.
No, i enjoy using an egg cup, but i just cut the medium boiled egg in half, shell and all, and then use a spoon to scrape the gooey goodness over buttered toast.
So, i guess i do dirty a spin and a knife. 
100 percent agree. I like over medium eggs. I. Cant. Stand. snotty eggs. Slimey, runny whites and runny yokes make me a little nauseated. I’ve never sent anything back in a restaurant, but snotty eggs would be my tipping point.
Assuming this is some random cafe/diner and not some boutique joint that makes a deliberate fuss about how perfect their eggs are? Absolutely. If you’re going for the middle option you’ve got to expect a little variance.
Over medium means the whites are fully set and the yolk is jammy, not runny. If I cut into it and it’s a liquid mess, the cook missed the mark. I usually just send it back if it’s basically over easy.
I used to like over-easy eggs, but I came to agree about the runny whites being undesirable. Nowadays I order them over-medium, and I expect to get cooked whites, and slightly-cooked yolks. Achieving a perfect “jammy” yolk is hard even if you’re cooking at home and paying a lot of attention, so I cut an overworked short-order cook some slack. I get a perfect over-medium egg about one half of the time at a cafe.
It also looks nicer. This is exactly what I do at home. I like my yolks just barely starting to harden but still runny – i.e.- runny but not raw! So I cover the eggs closely but not touching with a piece of aluminum foil. I’ve been doing this so long that I’ve got the timing down to a science, plus if there’s any doubt, a quick peek at the yolks tells me when they’re ready.
The result is eggs that have the attractive appearance of the perfectly shaped yolks in sunny side up, but a little more cooked. By not flipping it also browns the underside nicely.
The only time I flip is when making an egg sandwich or egg slices for ramen, where I deliberately break the yolk anyway.
I am familiar with what you are talking about, but not the exact name. You call that dish just “boiled eggs”? I would call them “soft-boiled” eggs, as opposed to “hard-boiled” eggs. I guess I never thought of “boiled” as a word to be used on its own for eggs.
Anyone else unfamiliar with calling eggs “boiled” but not hard- or soft-? Or is it just me?
Not just you. I distinguish between hard-boiled and soft-boiled and have different methods for preparing each. I’m not familiar with simply designating them as “boiled eggs.”
Yeah, unless she is one of those people which even slightly runny yolks is a huge turn off in which case in a restaurant order hard.
I cook mine that way, but I dont like runny whites, so at home i spoon some hot butter over or cover the eggs. At a restaurant I order over easy. I get the runny yolks i like without runny whites.
Correct.
Nah, not just you. I am only familiar with soft or hard preceding it.
Yeah, those I call “steam-basted eggs,” but I don’t think the terminology is universal. Looking online, some others do call it “steam basting.” The Google AI seemed to know what it was, too. That’s the way my mom has always made eggs for us (steam basted on top of ham or Canadian bacon.)
“Boiled eggs” to me would just be a general term for, well, eggs that are boiled. They could be soft-boiled. They could be hard. They could be jammy in the middle. It would be a general class for me. I don’t think I have a default doneness for “boiled egg,” but if I did, I would guess hard-boiled, as those seem more common to me.