You need to learn your stove ultimately. Any recipe that says “cook eggs for x minutes for perfect eggs every time” is full of shit because there will be variance
Exceptions: if you cook them in constantly boiling water which is obviously 212F the whole time. This is a nightmare though and will often crack your eggs before they finish. So most normal people turn the heat down a bit once eggs are added, thus variance. Alternative sous vide, which does make repeatable eggs, but sous vide eggs tend to have realllllly loose whites. That’s fine for some things but if I want a proper boiled egg, like for ramen, it sucks. You can blanch them for like 30-60 seconds to set the whites but if I’m going to boil a pot of water anyway I might as well just make eggs the normal way
My egg prep: boil water, add 6 cold eggs, turn heat to 5, time 6 minutes for runny yolk, 6:45ish for gelled ramen egg yolk, 8m for fully set. Once timer is done immediately put into ice bath and let sit in ice bath for at least 15 minutes or so (will be hard to peel if you don’t let cool fully)
I have a shitty cheap electric cooktop though. When I was at my parents house I used their gas stove which puts out serious heat with the same method. Even cutting the time by 1m they were overcooked. You have to adjust to your surface
I cook my eggs in steam.
I put half an inch of water into a small pot, bring it to a rolling boil, add the eggs and put the lid back on. Works every time, on any stove.
so if you try and sous vide to get the yolks just so, then the whites are usually undercooked? seems like alternative would be using a lot of water to act as enough of a heat sink to get repeatable simmering temp but that wastes a lot of energy
It’s more that they require different temps to get to the ideal textures. The water isn’t losing heat (well it is, but not so much that the circulator can’t keep it heated)
Egg whites don’t set until 160-165F, but eggs yolks set around 150f (while still being very soft)
This can be mitigated by boiling the egg to set the white but again you can just get an egg with a yolk like this by boiling it so why drag out a goofy nerd cooking setup when you’re just going to end up boiling it anyway. Also much faster
The latter can obviously be preferable depending on application and is fine but I would prefer the former (with properly set white) for something like ramen, personally
You need to learn your stove ultimately. Any recipe that says “cook eggs for x minutes for perfect eggs every time” is full of shit because there will be variance
Exceptions: if you cook them in constantly boiling water which is obviously 212F the whole time. This is a nightmare though and will often crack your eggs before they finish. So most normal people turn the heat down a bit once eggs are added, thus variance. Alternative sous vide, which does make repeatable eggs, but sous vide eggs tend to have realllllly loose whites. That’s fine for some things but if I want a proper boiled egg, like for ramen, it sucks. You can blanch them for like 30-60 seconds to set the whites but if I’m going to boil a pot of water anyway I might as well just make eggs the normal way
My egg prep: boil water, add 6 cold eggs, turn heat to 5, time 6 minutes for runny yolk, 6:45ish for gelled ramen egg yolk, 8m for fully set. Once timer is done immediately put into ice bath and let sit in ice bath for at least 15 minutes or so (will be hard to peel if you don’t let cool fully)
I have a shitty cheap electric cooktop though. When I was at my parents house I used their gas stove which puts out serious heat with the same method. Even cutting the time by 1m they were overcooked. You have to adjust to your surface
I cook my eggs in steam.
I put half an inch of water into a small pot, bring it to a rolling boil, add the eggs and put the lid back on. Works every time, on any stove.
I haven’t experimented with steam but I’ve heard it works great. How long do you cook them? I would love to make rice cooker eggs
5 minutes cause I like a runny yolk.
8 would be just hard boiled.
so if you try and sous vide to get the yolks just so, then the whites are usually undercooked? seems like alternative would be using a lot of water to act as enough of a heat sink to get repeatable simmering temp but that wastes a lot of energy
It’s more that they require different temps to get to the ideal textures. The water isn’t losing heat (well it is, but not so much that the circulator can’t keep it heated)
Egg whites don’t set until 160-165F, but eggs yolks set around 150f (while still being very soft)
If you cook at 150f for 45-60m you’ll get excellent yolks and the white will be somewhat set but still very liquidy (see https://www.seriouseats.com/thmb/Qo2lF7uFHXngvuyIZj3iqc3CAIA=/750x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/__opt__aboutcom__coeus__resources__content_migration__serious_eats__seriouseats.com__images__2013__10__20131004-sous-vide-101-egg-chorizo-corn-crouton-temperature-05-7c5031c49294495c941815cdf657142b.jpg
This can be mitigated by boiling the egg to set the white but again you can just get an egg with a yolk like this by boiling it so why drag out a goofy nerd cooking setup when you’re just going to end up boiling it anyway. Also much faster
However, at 165 the whites will set but the yolk will harden considerably. Still a lot better than what’s pictured above of course: https://www.seriouseats.com/thmb/nL7xypKeJmmTCZfQukUlDuMBnw8=/750x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/__opt__aboutcom__coeus__resources__content_migration__serious_eats__seriouseats.com__images__2013__10__20131004-sous-vide-101-egg-chorizo-corn-crouton-temperature-03-e29b43cd9a7a44b9902d459b0ad0b1c4.jpg
The latter can obviously be preferable depending on application and is fine but I would prefer the former (with properly set white) for something like ramen, personally