I *can't* boil an egg

[Two_Sheds]

I can cook steak, fish pie, chicken curry (I'm a vegetarian), but I cannot make a runny boiled egg for soldiers.

It's either hard boiled or the white is still runny.

I boiled the eggs for 3 mins, then turned off the gas and left them on the hot plate for a further 3 mins while I made the toast. Still not cooked right.
So step-daughter has got the runny-white option today, but she hasn't noticed

[coomber]

I had the same problem so we bought a bosch egg cooker, you just choose how you like them cooked put in the right amount of water and away you go.

[Hilary B]

You can buy a 'guide' thing. Egg shaped, apart from the flat base, clear plastic with a coloured side (the base). The coloured bit changes from red to black as it heats. You put it in the pan with the eggs, and the black works inwards about as fast as 'doneness' works towards the centre of the egg. I find that the egg is usually a bit closer to done than where the lines (marked , soft/medium/hard) indicate. 'Medium' usually results an a nearly-hard egg.....

[Flummery]

I pierce the end with a pin (stops shell cracking) then lower it into boiling water. Using my oven's timer I leave for 5 mins and take straight out. Works - but I'm never sure all timers are the same. Actually I don't mind the white runny - Himself calls it a 'snotty egg' ! He likes his hard boiled.

[Two_Sheds]

You can buy a 'guide' thing. Egg shaped, apart from the flat base, clear plastic with a coloured side (the base).

tried it. tried all of them. I can do perfect poached eggs, but not soft-boiled.

[Hilary B]

tried it. tried all of them. I can do perfect poached eggs, but not soft-boiled.

The best I ever had was a very simple gadget call an Eggzactly. It was a piece of plastic rather like a short wide ruler, but with a hole down the centre. The hole was tapered, a smallish egg would be a tight fit at the narrow end, a really large one would fit at the wide end (turkey eggs were fractionally too wide). It was marked in minutes, from 2 mins 45 secs to 7 mins. Put egg in boiling water, bring back to boil, boil for the time it reads, and take out at once. Perfect every time. It got lost moving house....

The other way I use is to lift the egg out on a slotted spoon while the water is still boiling. If it takes more than 7 seconds for the moisture on the shell to evaporate, it isn't done yet, so put it back in and give it another minute.

[piskieinboots]

scramble them - no one will notice

[zazen999]

Omelette
Hmm

And quicker too. And you can cheese with it - and yesterday's mash [if you have any] warmed up in the oven or fried in the pan. And some homemade bread toast.

Never did really like boiled eggs.

[rustylady]

I love dippy eggs with soldiers. Used to have no problems, but now I can't get them just right. Like TwoSheds they either have runny whites or they're hard-boiled. Have just about given up and gone to poaching them - they turn out just right and are lovely on toast.

[Two_Sheds]

Omelette
Hmm

yeah, but you can't dip a soldier into an omlette The littlun is like totally fussy and only likes her eggs boiled, no other way. Apart from ice lollies & fish fingers, boiled eggs are the only thing she'll eat.

[HeyWayne]

LadyWayne can't eat a "snotty" egg either, makes her feel quite unwell. Every now and then we'll try to do dippy eggs, but fail almost every time. I can do "bouncy eggs" no problem, but perfect runny seems beyond me.

I prefer poached anyway.

[zazen999]

yeah, but you can't dip a soldier into an omlette The littlun is like totally fussy and only likes her eggs boiled, no other way. Apart from ice lollies & fish fingers, boiled eggs are the only thing she'll eat.

Fussy step kids eh...know what you are saying.

I can't eat wobbly eggs either much to the amusement of everyone up here in the midlands and any further up the country - the looks I got in Scarborough when I asked for my scrambled eggs to be cooked a bit longer

[Two_Sheds]

Snotty eggs! That's what I'm talkin abart ! They're gross. It's like a mouthful of runny, white, salty ... snot

[Tracey]

Do you cook the eggs from room temperature or from the fridge. I boil mine straight from the fridge and the yolk is usually runny. I think, maybe, the centre is the last to warm and so the white cooks first?

[Hilary B]

Do you cook the eggs from room temperature or from the fridge. I boil mine straight from the fridge and the yolk is usually runny. I think, maybe, the centre is the last to warm and so the white cooks first?

If cooked from fridge temp they take longer, that is all. The '7 second test' seems to work either way.