All my ife I have positively despised runny eggs. A few mornings ago, I was boiling an egg to take to work, and running short on time, so I took it out early, peeled it, and put it in my lunchbox. Imagine my dismay when I saw it was still runny. Oh, well, I thought. Worse comes to worse I’ll just eat the white part.
Well, I got to work, and at lunchtime, microwaved my egg, and omg it was yummy. Now I find I love runny eggs. I have discovered the joy of this treat.
However I kind of suck at making them. Hard boiled eggs are easy. You boil them for like fifteen minutes after the water starts to boil, and you’ve got a nice hard boiled egg.
I don’t know how long to boil this runny egg. The Internet gives me varying opinions. I want the outside cooked but not the inside, but the inside should be warm.
Also, is this good for me? My SO is afraid of salmonella.
And other tips?
Thanks!
Oh yeah, when you google runny eggs? The first response you get is a link to urban dictionary. With a truly horrific entry. Eek.
I usually soft boil eggs by placing them in boiling water for one minute and then turning off the heat. I let them sit for five minutes and done is done. This leaves the whites soft as well. You may want to adjust the time if you like the whites more cooked.
I wouldn’t worry about salmonilla, people eat soft boiled eggs all the time.
I cook them by putting the eggs in the pot with just enough water to cover bringing the water to a boil and then reducing to a simmer and cooking covered for about 5 minutes. After that I drop them into a quick ice bath and eat right away with toast butter and a lot of black pepper.
Also good, poached eggs, which can be tricky to get right but are fantasitc and you don’t have to deal with pealing off the shell.
As soon as you get up in the morning, remove the eggs from the fridge and place them in a bowl of warm/hot tap water. This brings them up to a warmer temperature, which means they won’t instantly crack and leak when they hit the hot water. It’ll take 10 minutes or so to warm them up. The whole point of this exercise is that you can be absolutely exact about timing the eggs when you can put them directly into already boiling water, instead of guessing when you’re bringing the eggs and water to a boil together.
Bring a saucepan of water to a rolling boil and then lower the warmed eggs into it. Let it come back to a boil, which will take maybe thirty seconds. Reduce it to a low simmer and start a timer: three minutes for medium eggs or four minutes for large eggs. Promptly remove them from the simmering water when the timer sounds and put them in cold water for a moment or two to stop the cooking.
Peel them into a little bowl, or put them in an egg cup and slice off the top end. Serve with buttered white toast. Yum!
Here’s yet another method, similar to NAF1138’s. I place them in a pot of water with enough water to cover them and heat to a boil. I let them boil for exactly two minutes and then take them out of the water and serve. They come out perfectly for me every time.
I prefer poached eggs, because there’s no fussing with the shell when it comes time to eat it. This recipe is exactly how I’ve always done my eggs, minus any shenanigans with mason jars or tuna cans or whatever. People say that poached eggs are difficult, but I really don’t know what they’re talking about. They’re one of the first things I learned to cook, and pretty much foolproof.
The basic steps are: 1) Boil water 2) Once water has boiled, turn heat to low 3) Crack eggs into a bowl 4) Gently drop eggs into water 5) Simmer for about three minutes 6) Remove with slotted spoon. And of course 7) Nom nom nom.
This was a favorite treat for us as kids, especially when we were sick. To make “Dippy Eggs”, softboil an egg, lightly toast a piece of (gasp!) white bread, butter it well, then cut into 1" strips. The egg is poured in a little custard cup and the strips are dipped!
The precise cooking time will vary some depending on the method, the size of the eggs, the temperature of the eggs, and the degree of doneness desired. You’ll probably have to experiment a bit.
That said, I like them with the white fully cooked and the yolk runny. I bring a pan of water to a boil, put the egg(s) in, and set a timer to 5 minutes. Keep at a boil, but adjust the heat to avoid violent boiling. When they’re done, I rinse them briefly in cold water and then peel them.
To get the eggs into and out of the boiling water with minimal risk of breakage, I use a slotted spoon or spaghetti spoon (my preference - cradles the egg better).
To peel them easily, once the shell is cracked and a bit peeled away, I use a teaspoon to work between the membrane and the egg white, which lets me peel it in big chunks.
I like them with salt, pepper, and a bit of butter. I eat them out of a bowl with a spoon.
Try the poached eggs then. They taste almost exactly the same, but without the shell issue. I much prefer poached eggs because of not dealing with the shell. Plus there is the added benefit of poached eggs seeming very fancy if you make them for guests. It’s impressive as all get out because for so many people properly poaching an egg is a total mystery.
Rinsing or dipping them in cold water can make peeling easier. Also try using a teaspoon - it fits nicely between the shell and the egg, and can be worked in under the membrane (sometimes a smear of butter on the spoon helps). Pry it away from the egg to get big honkin’ pieces of shell to break off.
I just tried making poached eggs by wrapping them individually in plastic wrap like that site I linked to suggested and it was full of FAIL. The egg cooked inconsistently (yolk starting to firm on the bottom, white runny on the top) and it was impossible to remove from the plastic bag pouch. It broke apart into a runny mess. I think I’ll stick with the old plop them straight into the water method.
