To ask how to cook an egg?

[Goldmonday]

I am generally a good cook but the one thing that floors me every single time is boiling or poaching eggs.

Can someone please give me step by step clear cut instructions on how to do both of the above?? All 'recipes' online (yes I have looked) aren't specific enough about putting the eggs in before/after the water has boiled or how the time should be amended for medium/large/more than one egg.

I honestly go through a whole pack of eggs every time I try to make eggs and soldiers, I have by default started cracking them over the sink in anticipation of raw egg exploding everywhere.

Thank you

If you use cling film or those silicone things or anything for poaching, you need the spray with a bit of oil first so they don't stick

The video above is the way I do it but it doesn’t explain it much.

1. Bring pot of water to boil
2. Add egg(s) in shell

3 Boil for 1 minute

1. Take off heat, cover
2. Leave for 6/7 minutes for soft boiled dippy eggs (this is for a large egg, -1 minute for smaller egg)
3. Rinse with cold water for a few minutes.

It takes a bit longer then just straight boiling but I find it more consistent, and the rolling boil can sometimes crack the eggs prematurely if done for 5 whole minutes.

How does everyone get the shell off a hard boiled egg without breaking half the egg off?

poaching is overrated...

to cook an egg I put it in a pan in cold water. 4 min from when it boils for soft yolk and hard white.

Depends how hard boiled you like it. I like mine solid and so just pop them in cold water so they are covered and let them boil until the water reaches half way down the egg. I time semi-soft boiled eggs - 10 mins from boiling

Boiled: Plop egg in a pan, cover with water, cook for the consistency i need. usually 10 mins because DH prefers a hard egg.

Poached : Water should be at a gentle boil. Line an egg cup with cling film and crack the egg into it and season. Tie up the cling film and place in the water. Done in 4 mins.

Poach- 2cm of boiling water in a frying pan. Add egg, cover with lid/foil for 10 minutes. Heat water back to boiling, spoon over top of egg until yolk changes colour. Only way I can make them perfect!!

My tip if you're poaching an egg is to place the egg in its shell in the boiling water for about 25 seconds prior to breaking it.

This, although I put the eggs into a separate bowl and cover with boiling water from the kettle as I don't want eggshell bacteria in my poaching water. [paranoid?!]

Then I crack the eggs into a small ramekin (two eggs per ramekin).

Then take the saucepan of boiling water off the burner while I slide the eggs in.

Once the whites have turned opaque (about 20 seconds) put back on the burner and simmer for 3.5 minutes.

Remove with slotted spoon and drain on kitchen towel.

Never keep eggs in the fridge

Poached eggs

Get the deepest pan you have.

Boil water either in the pan or in the kettle then pour into pan, add vinegar, if you have a plastic bottle about a 1 second squeeze.

Turn down to a simmer.

crack in an egg or two and leave.

The eggs will sink, when they are cooked they will float to the top, remove with a slotted spoon.

My boiled eggs are a bit unique to me.

Put eggs in cold water and bring to the boil, once boiling put bread in the toaster and when it pops take the eggs out.

One tip re boiled eggs, if you take an egg out of a pan with a spoon and instantly see a dry bit then it is cooked, if you take it out and it stays wet it needs longer.

I time semi-soft boiled eggs - 10 mins from boiling did you mean 1 min? 10 is not soft in my experience.

What kind of hob do you have? And how do you keep your eggs? At what altitude do you live? (This does make a difference, not that I’m an egg nerd or anything).

Cracking in boiled eggs results from the fact that eggs have a little air pocket at the “blunt” (bigger) end. The air pocket gets bigger as the egg gets older. Now when you add a very cold egg to boiling water the air expands rapidly, quicker than the surrounding egg mass, and the shell cracks.
To avoid this, you can do a number of different things:

Method 1:
My mum taught me to prick a little hole in the bottom of the egg. This provides an escape route for the air and you’ll see little bubbles coming out when it heats up. The best tool for this is a pinprick. Don’t go in very deep, only just enough to pierce the shell, you don’t want to break the egg sack. This method works very well, even if the eggs come directly from the fridge. Bring water to a rolling boil, add your egg and keep it boiling, and set your timer. When you take the egg out with a large spoon hold it under cold running water briefly to stop it cooking. For the exact timing, I would experiment: start with 4 mins 44 seconds for a medium egg from fridge temperature. See if you like the result and adjust up or down depending how runny you like your egg.

Method 2:
My partner showed me a different method and I use this now as we keep our eggs outside the fridge anyway and it saves faffing with a pinprick. You need to be a bit more vigilant though:
Place a room temperature egg in a pan and add warm water from the tap until it is just covered. Bring to the boil and the moment it starts boiling set off your timer. I set it to 4 min 30 secs for a medium egg with this method.

NB the altitude makes a difference as it affects the boiling point of water. In the UK you’re probably fairly close to sea level in most areas so the boiling point will be near 100 centigrade. I did notice when I was in the alps that my eggs took longer!

Poach shop ones in cling film to keep the white together. Spray or rub a tiny bit of oil on cling film over a ramekin. Crack egg in, close cling film around it and twist the top. Drop in a pan of simmering water. After 4 mins gently cut the cling film off to give the water chance to cook any loose bits of white. Remove after another minute and your done. I have pet chickens so don't need cling film anymore but it used to really bother me how the white disintegrates in shop eggs without cling film!

Boiled I put eggs from fridge in cold water. Boil. When bubbles break the surface time 3.5- 4 mins (for medium eggs)and your done.

Poached eggs. Fresh eggs. Bring a pan of water to simmer, stir vigorously, break in egg or two. Any more it gets tricky. Leave for three mins. Lift out with slotted spoon.

Put eggs into cold water , bring to the boil . Turn off cooker and leave them for 4 minutes .

I also use one of those red egg timers in the water for boiled. They're great

This is how I do it...

Boil
Half-fill a pan with water and bring to the boil. Add the eggs. Boil for one minute, then turn off heat and put a lid on the pan. Leave for five minutes (six if the eggs are very large) before lifting them out again.

Poach
Half-fill a pan with water, and add a good splash of apple cider vinegar (doesn't have to be the expensive mother stuff). Bring to boil, then turn the heat down a bit. I crack each egg into a coffee cup and then gently tilt them into the water. Keep the water simmering for two minutes. Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

For poached eggs get water to boiling point , crack egg into water and turn off the gas . Then time for 2- 2 mins 30 and remove . Saw it in tv and it works for me .

If you time a boiled egg (exactly) you can test if it's cooked by lifting it out of the water. If it's soft boiled, the water immediately dries/drips off the shell. If it doesn't, put it back in for 30 secs (or less if it's near the immediate drying point). I KNOW it sounds bonkers but it works (there are lots of things I can't cook but dippy eggs are not one of them!)

I'm crap at eggs too.
I bought an egg cooker from Amazon

This tip for boiling eggs was given to me years ago by an aunt. Works everytime I promise.

Use a slotted spoon to take egg from the simmering water. The faster the egg shell dries the more cooked it is. ie: a hard boiled egg dries quickly while a rawish soft boiled shell does dry much at all.

So, if it dries slowly and you prefer a harder yolk, place it back into the water a while longer. A couple of goes is all it takes to figure this method out. Hope this makes sense.