How to Boil an Egg

Hey, don’t laugh – I’m just starting to learn all this stuff. Yes, I actually had to ask how to boil an egg. So here’s three approaches to boiling an egg.

Recipe One from Mom

To cook an egg.  Put several eggs in a pan of cold water.  Have the water at least 1/2 inch above the eggs.  Turn heat on high.  As it gets near boiling turn the heat down to medium high (don’t want a too rapid boil).  When the water starts boiling turn to medium heat for a nice simmer.  After 1 1/2 minutes take out the eggs you want to be soft boiled.  Run them under cold water and enjoy.  To get hard boiled eggs – when the water is boiling put the lid on and turn off heat for 12 minutes.  Then run cold water on the eggs to cool them rapidly – now your have boiled eggs.

Recipe Two from Sis

Put eggs in a pan with cold water.  Bring the water to boil in the pan.  Turn it off and let the eggs sit covered in the pan for 25 minutes.  Rinse the eggs with cold water.  The perfect boiled egg!

How to Boil A Perfect Egg – From Victoria

I once knew a man who thought that the longer you boiled an egg the better it would be.  So he boiled it for an hour and a half….and was astounded at the result.  He obviously had no experience in a kitchen.  His wife was a wonderful cook.
I’ve seen involved recipes – too complicated to be able to follow through.  I finally worked out the plan that I now use.  I think you have to consider what your ultimate goal is.  For me — it’s having an egg that is tasty.  If, when I begin to crack the egg, I see that it is going to be too runny, I quickly close the still-hot  shell and let the heat of the shell do a little more cooking.  If the egg is too hard when I eat it — I think oh well, next time I’ll do it a little different.  Bottom line — just remember — you’re a good egg.

For a soft egg — put eggs into cold water on a cold burner.  Turn the heat to medium high and bring the water to a boil.  Cover the pan and turn the burner off.  Let sit for 4 minutes.

For a medium egg — do the same – but let sit for 6 minutes.

For a hard egg — same procedure — but let sit for 9 minutes.

I take my eggs right from the frig and never seem to have any problems with them cracking if I don’t have the heat too high.  It doesn’t matter if they crack anyway, unless you’re coloring them for Easter.  The membrane inside the shell keeps the egg safe.