Boiled eggs - how long for?

[Pawnless Endgame]

I know the objective answer is 3 minutes, but it is also pretty subjective like how long is a piece of string.

I would always place the eggs in cold water in the saucepan, bring to the boil, then time it for 3 minutes. They always came out perfect.

I don't have that saucepan any more, had a couple since then and I've never seem to get it right since. They would always be over-done, almost like hard boiled eggs. Bring to the boil, time it for 3 minutes = overdone. A relative however said to boil via a kettle first, transfer it to the saucepan, let it boil again, place eggs in and time it for 5 minutes. When I tried that though, placing the eggs into boiling water brought the water temperature down and it needed 2 more minutes to bring to the boil again, and then 5 more minutes gave me over-done eggs once again.

How long do you time yours? Do you boil from the saucepan or from the kettle? I guess the pan diameter is important too, so what diameter are you using?

 

[bremen1874]

Start with boiling water.

Add eggs.

Time for 4.5 - 5 minutes (don't wait for the water to start boiling again).

Starting with water boiled in the kettle speeds things up as well.

 

[Randomface74]

boil first
add eggs
4 mins for soldier dunking
8 mins for hard boiled
profit

 

[Lartyconshayo]

My method, taken from.guardian I think.

Bring water to boil. Turn down to very low almost off heat. Put eggs in. Put lid on saucepan. Come back in 15 mins. Depending on size of egg may need a little longer. But if done right you get lovely hard boiled yellow yolks but no sulphorous blue

 

[Hyburnate]

boil first
add eggs
4 mins for soldier dunking
8 mins for hard boiled
profit

This.

One other thing is to bring the eggs out of the fridge if you store them there. Obviously the colder the egg, the more it'll lower the temp of water.

 

[joey1211]

Boiling water will crack older eggs so I always place them into water well under the boiling point. Plus you don't need boilding water too cook them. Once the water begins to simmer, turn the heat off and leave them in for a couple more minutes.

 

[Raymond Lin]

It depends how you like your eggs.

 

[joey1211]

It depends how you like your eggs.

Fertilized! Badum tish! No wait...

It's Saturday night and I'm discussing boiled eggs. Living the dream!

 

[BlueMerle]

Simple...

Place eggs in a pot with cold water. Cover with 1/4 inch of water. Turn heat on high. Once it boils turn off heat and set timer for 11 minutes. Place eggs in ice bath for 3 to 5 minutes.

Peel and enjoy. (If you have fresh eggs then add some vinegar to the water. This will help with peeling.)

(this assumes you want the yolk cooked firmly. If you want them soft or runny then adjust the time. )

You're welcome.

 

[Philtor]

Get one of these. Perfect every time then

 

[jpaul]

we are talking unadulterated (non-alcohol infused) chicken eggs .. 3 minutes overdone ? ~4mins as others said, for soldiers.

 

[Gypo]

Also if you are storing them in the fridge remember to take them out of water after cooling

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

Cool, thanks guys!

I know it was a dumb question from me Just a bit miffed why it worked for me for a while then it changed when I got new saucepans.

Will try these out

 

[EdwardTeach]

Use fresh eggs. I think the Burford browns are the biggest ones you will find in the supermarket.

We eat a lot of soft boiled eggs. Boil water, place eggs in and leave for 5min.for bigger eggs you will need a bit more time (30sec+).

 

[timmeh]

Put eggs in pan
fill pan with water
high heat
cook for 6 mins from when water starts boiling

 

[soulhunter123]

Soft boiled = 6.5 minutes then rinse with cold water.
Hard boiled = 10 minutes.