How To Make A Perfectly Boiled Egg

We recently showed you how to make the perfect omelet, as well as how to make the perfect fried egg

Here at Chef Remi, we’ve discovered that, although most of us can do simple cooking tasks, we don’t always get it right every single time.

So, today, we’re looking at another very simple task which, despite its simplicity, can go very wrong. Ever had a boiled egg where the yolk has gone rubbery or even black (yuck!), or one where the shell has cracked when boiling, making a mess in your pan?

Never fear, Chef Remi is here! Here’s how to make a perfectly boiled egg, each and every time.

Preparation time:  3 mins

Cooking time 6-7 mins

Total time: 9-10 min

Servings: 1

Your ingredients:

1 egg

How To Make A Perfectly Boiled Egg:

• Start with eggs that are at room temperature. Never boil eggs straight from the refrigerator as the extreme difference in temperature is one of the main reasons the shell can crack.
  
  
• ALWAYS use a kitchen or egg timer. Eggs can go from soft to hard to inedible very fast, and guessing the time is just asking for disaster!
  
  
• If you want to hard boil your eggs (not soft boil), make a pinprick at the bottom of the rounded end of each egg to allow pressure (steam) to escape. This is because there is an air pocket between the egg shell and the egg white. During boiling, pressure can build up, which can cause the shell to crack.
  
  
• Use a saucepan that just about fits all your eggs in one single layer. Do not use a sauce where the eggs have lots of room, as the boiling water can make the eggs career around the pan and smash into each other.
  
  
• Add enough water to cover the eggs by 1 cm and no more. If you can’t do this visually without the eggs, go ahead and place your eggs into the saucepan and then add the water. Now, lift out the eggs and place to one side.
  
  
• Boil the water, but then turn the heat down before you add the eggs. All you need is a gentle simmer. Lower eggs gently down using a tablespoon.
  
  
• For soft boiled eggs, start using your timer, and simmer your eggs for EXACTLY one minute. Now, remove the pan from the heat, place a lid on top, and set the timer again:

• If you like an almost liquid, soft yolk, with a wobbly, just-set white, time for 6 minutes.
• If you like a creamy yolk with completely set white, time for 7 minutes.

For hard boiled eggs, keep the saucepan on heat and start using your timer while you simmer your eggs:

• If you like a yolk that is set but a little soft on the inside, time for 6 minutes.
• If you like a yolk that is cooked right through, time for 7 minutes.

Please note: If your eggs are less than 4 days old, allow an extra 30 seconds to the above timings.

• Drain off the hot water. For soft boiled eggs, you are done! If you are making hard boiled eggs, proceed to step 9.

• Open a cold tap and let the cold water run over your hard boiled eggs for 1 minute. Then, allow the eggs to sit in cold water for another 2 minutes. This will stop dark rings forming between the white and yolk.

• If you wish to peel your hard boiled eggs (instead of just eating them straight out of the shell), use a teaspoon to tap and crack the shell all over each egg.

• Turn the cold tap back on and peel each egg under a trickle of water. Peel the shell, whilst the egg is still under running water, starting from the wide, rounded end of the egg (not the pointy end). The running water will make sure you remove any tiny bits of shell that is still clinging on to the surface.

• Place the shelled eggs back in cold water to stop them from cooking further on the inside (so you don’t get black rings).
  
  

Once you’ve got the above techniques down, you’ll be able to make perfectly soft boiled and hard boiled eggs, to everyone’s tastes, on demand!

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