YAWN.
Grace, this is the worst post idea ever.
Well, I sort of agree BUT I've been doing months of research out in the field (our kitchen) and have a lot to say about the do's and don'ts of soft boiling an egg. And I wanted to share my abundant wealth of knowledge. Not that you can find it elsewhere on the internet or anything ... but really, listen to the aspiring master.
Virtually every single morning I eat two or three soft boiled eggs for breakfast. I LOVE poached eggs but these can be eaten sans plate and pretty quickly and taste almost exactly the same. I'm generally caught in the eating act by Theo and Julia who share my affection for the eggs and I'm always happy to share with them while Sebastian provides loads of, "gross!! yucky!! SO gross!! SO yucky!!" creative narration.
Here's what to do!
+ Bring a medium sized pot of water (enough so that if the eggs are pushed down to the bottom they'll be fully submerged) to a boil.
+ either turn the burner down so that you can safely plop the eggs in the water without burning your fingers and cracking the shells OR submerge them in a spoon. Your call.
+ turn on a timer - this is very important. Set the timer for six minutes and 45 seconds. I know! what a ridiculous amount of time, but it's important. Any longer and you risk eating a hard boiled egg (no thanks) and any shorter and you risk eating a rawish yolk (really, no thanks)
+ be sure to kind of stir the eggs around while they are boiling or else the yolk will settle on one side.
+ while the eggs are boiling put 5-6 ice cubes in a medium sized bowl and fill the bowl halfway with water.
+ as SOON as the timer goes off, turn off the stove.
+ drain the hot water and put the eggs into the ice water.
+ don't skip the ice water or you will be stuck peeling your egg for 26 minutes and you might risk giving up. I've been there. It's ugly.
+ leave the eggs in the water for a minimum of three minutes.
+ peal the eggs directly into the trashcan and enjoy eating over the sink or like a civilized person at the table with cutlery and maybe a plate. You do you ...
... and share if you must.
Oh! And I have to add that I've started buying the cage-free, vegan fed, lullabied to sleep eggs and they taste SO much better than plain old boring organic. Who have I become?
And if you have some more exotic breakfast options ... I'm all eyes. I'm a terrible creature of habit and need to be coaxed out of my shell every now and again. Punny as that may sound.
Grace, this is the worst post idea ever.
Well, I sort of agree BUT I've been doing months of research out in the field (our kitchen) and have a lot to say about the do's and don'ts of soft boiling an egg. And I wanted to share my abundant wealth of knowledge. Not that you can find it elsewhere on the internet or anything ... but really, listen to the aspiring master.
Virtually every single morning I eat two or three soft boiled eggs for breakfast. I LOVE poached eggs but these can be eaten sans plate and pretty quickly and taste almost exactly the same. I'm generally caught in the eating act by Theo and Julia who share my affection for the eggs and I'm always happy to share with them while Sebastian provides loads of, "gross!! yucky!! SO gross!! SO yucky!!" creative narration.
Here's what to do!
+ Bring a medium sized pot of water (enough so that if the eggs are pushed down to the bottom they'll be fully submerged) to a boil.
+ either turn the burner down so that you can safely plop the eggs in the water without burning your fingers and cracking the shells OR submerge them in a spoon. Your call.
+ turn on a timer - this is very important. Set the timer for six minutes and 45 seconds. I know! what a ridiculous amount of time, but it's important. Any longer and you risk eating a hard boiled egg (no thanks) and any shorter and you risk eating a rawish yolk (really, no thanks)
+ be sure to kind of stir the eggs around while they are boiling or else the yolk will settle on one side.
+ while the eggs are boiling put 5-6 ice cubes in a medium sized bowl and fill the bowl halfway with water.
+ as SOON as the timer goes off, turn off the stove.
+ drain the hot water and put the eggs into the ice water.
+ don't skip the ice water or you will be stuck peeling your egg for 26 minutes and you might risk giving up. I've been there. It's ugly.
+ leave the eggs in the water for a minimum of three minutes.
+ peal the eggs directly into the trashcan and enjoy eating over the sink or like a civilized person at the table with cutlery and maybe a plate. You do you ...
... and share if you must.
Oh! And I have to add that I've started buying the cage-free, vegan fed, lullabied to sleep eggs and they taste SO much better than plain old boring organic. Who have I become?
And if you have some more exotic breakfast options ... I'm all eyes. I'm a terrible creature of habit and need to be coaxed out of my shell every now and again. Punny as that may sound.
Never tried this method (I use my spirit leader Ina's) but this might be easier so I'm sure J and I will love this experiment. He is a champion "sharer" like theo and Julia. Today he had half of my yogurt, chips, water, and chocolate. John was like "do you ever eat all your own lunch??"
ReplyDeleteNope ;)
Yes!!! I love soft boiled eggs! I love them on salad, or with avacados and a little hot sauce, pasta, by themselves. They are just so good. I am totally trying your method mañana!
ReplyDeleteFirst off, Julia looks like a full grown woman in that shot, whaaaaaaat?!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the mystic lullaby eggs. When you eat as many eggs as we do in our house, taste really matters. They're scrumptious. I'm totally branching out from over medium tomorrow.
I always thought "Naaah, I won't be able to notice a difference. I'll keep my mulah thank you." but now you both have me rethinking. This will drive Jacob crazy especially since he thinks I'm nuts for turning us into an organic milk family ...
DeleteDutch baby! Super simple...the night before leave the following ingredients on the counter. 6 eggs, 1cup of any kind of milk, 1/2t salt, 1cup of any kind of flour, vanilla if I remember. Melt a Few tablespoons of butter in a large baking dish. Mix everything together and throw it in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or until it gets slightly brown and super puffy. I eat mine with butter but the kids insist on maple syrup or jam. You can do a paleo version with coconut flour and coconut milk too!
ReplyDeleteYum!!! Thanks!!
DeleteSorry, I meant to "reply" here... So, leave the cup of milk on the counter...overnight? This feels very counter-intuitive
DeleteWell, I use raw milk so it doesn't rot like pasteurized does when it isn't refrigerated.
DeleteNice pun btw ;)
DeleteWe love Dutch babies. I put the pan with butter in the oven while it preheats. Then mix up the batter and pour it into the hot butter. Some of us like lemon and powdered sugar. Granulated sugar makes it kind of like a doughnut. I had never thought of maple syrup but will try that next time. Probably tomorrow!
DeleteThanks for the tips! Kiddo lobes eggs but scrambles are getting boring. So, what's for lunch? (Seriously, always looking for toddler-approved meals, so all recommendations are appreciated!)
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ReplyDeleteDo you ever eat them in egg cups and just use a spoon to crack them open and scoop them out? (I'm guessing no, but... worth a shot.) Just wondering if that would change your cooking directions at all. That's how I always had them in Germany and I've never been able to get them right myself. SO THANK YOU for posting on this!
ReplyDeleteno, I don't! I should try :)
DeleteWell, that looks simply delish. About 6 min and 15 seconds more work than the incarnation instant breakfast drinks I opt for. But I daresay I shall try it (with the decidedly less socially acceptable eggs currently chilling in my fridge).
ReplyDeleteI promise I'm growing up though. When I was pregnant with my first, it was just juice boxes.
Carnation. An incarnation breakfast sounds frightening.
DeleteAmy, I literally just LOL'd. :) And Grace--while I do love a good hard boiled egg, I may just have to try soft boiled if for nothing other than the time savings! I assume you can just store extras in the fridge for later? Or do they taste gross cold?
DeleteGood on you for crossing over to the green side with your eggs!! Our usual pastured egg source is currently dried up so we've been getting eggs at the store...the storebought eggshells are so much flimsier than the calcium-rich eggs I'm used to that I literally explode them when I crack them open. All over the counter. Jacob looks at me like: are you trying to make some kind of point?
ReplyDeleteI eat eggs every day too - love them! I'm a fan of over easy. And soft boiled - but with toast. Love some broken up buttery toast with and egg chopped on top!
ReplyDeleteSince you're a master of four and Simon is an expert... can I eat these eggs while I'm pregnant??? because they sure sound delicious and exactly what I need in the morning. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteyes! just make sure the water is at a rolling boil the whole time so that the yolk is cooked {but still soft} :)
DeleteThanks so much!!
DeleteI'm seriously going to try this!
ReplyDeleteyum! My grandma used to always make us soft boiled eggs in the morning when we slept over. Such good memories. She would put them in a bowl with butter (a good amount) and lemon pepper and chop chop it up and it would taste SOOOO good. Going to have to start making this for me and the kids in the morning - I had almost forgotten about it so thanks!
ReplyDeleteThese have been my go to lately:
ReplyDeletehttp://thenourishinghome.com/2012/05/fluffy-little-almond-flour-pancakes/
http://www.multiplydelicious.com/thefood/2012/09/sweet-potato-carrot-cakes/
The pancakes are actually pretty quick since you make them in the blender. The sweet potato carrot cakes take a little more time, but I just freeze a big batch.
You are amazing, thank you for posting this because I seriously have been wanting to figure out how to make soft boiled eggs for a while. I find the info on Google but never trust that what I'm looking at is going to steer me in the right direction. I figure if these directions work for you then I'm bound to have some kind of luck as well. Strength in numbers. Now I just need to learn how to make the perfect over medium egg. Perhaps your next mission? ;)
ReplyDeleteBut do you know what the chickens' names are?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds crazy, but it's one of our favorites! (mine growing up as the oldest of five and now my 6 and 8 year old kiddos) We call it "Humpty Dumpty".
ReplyDelete1. Boil water in a small pot
2. Put in 1-3 eggs (usually one for each kid unless they're super hungry)
3. Set the timer for exactly 3 mins.
4. After 3 mins, take them out and rinse briefly under cold water until you can peel them.
5. Peel them and drop them (sometimes they just slide out) into a bowl with (here's the fun part!) a graham cracker. Bonus points if a kiddo has broken it into small pieces while the eggs cooked.
6. Stir the egg Into the chopped up graham craker(s) and I promise they'll gobble it up!
I also need more breakfast ideas all the time, so I'm glad you shared your wealth of knowledge. ;)
ReplyDeleteEggs for breakfast are the best; no grumpy sugar lows at ten o'clock from anyone (myself included)!
ReplyDeleteWe've gone crunchy and get the pasture raised eggs and wow, what a difference! I even go to a different grocery store to get them partly because they taste so much better and partly because i don't like how the regular egg farms treat their chickens. We get vital farms eggs, and the funny thing is that sometimes they pop up on my with pictures of the chickens...and their names! So silly ;)
Mmmmmmm, eggs. When I'm actually up to preparing myself a regular breakfast (instead of grabbing a Wawa or Dunkin Donuts bacon-egg-and-cheese bagel-wich on my way to work) I usually make two eggs over medium and serve them over mixed greens. The runny yoke + salt and pepper flavors the greens so I don't need dressing, and I feel very smug about my healthy food choices for the rest of the day.
ReplyDeleteI'm sitting on Sebastian's bench for this one.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Sebastian on this one too. Gross! So Yucky!
ReplyDeleteWe get our eggs fresh from the lullabing hippie farmer and I try to convince myself that I love eggs and I'm going to eat up their goodness and while they do taste much better they are still eggs and they still gross me out.
Soft boiled eggs are the centerpiece of my Six Minute Meal! http://this-american-wife.blogspot.com/2012/02/stop-what-youre-doing-and-broil.html (plus toast plus sliced avocado)
ReplyDeleteNothing like a good egg or three for breakfast. My kids especially like omelets or breakfast burritos, which are basically scrambled eggs and cheese (some like green peppers, too) in a tortilla wrap.
ReplyDeleteChickens on pasture really are so, so much better. You've got me thinking, though, when you mention "vegan" chickens. It makes no sense to me. Chickens love to eat bugs. When they are on pasture, they will be all over a moth or worm or any bug they can find. If they are vegan chickens, they can't possibly be outside in any grass...
You just need to build a coop and raise the chickens yourself. :)
For breakfast Poach Pods, avocado toast, and chia seed pudding are all my jams.
ReplyDeleteOk, I have to admit something here. I'm allergic to eggs, but because of that I've never, ever cooked eggs for our kids before. I KNOW! I need to get on it before they eat at a friends house and don't even know what scrambled eggs are. All they know is baking and dying them, haha! Mom fail.
ReplyDeletePS, over-achiever Bridget totally wants to have hens someday... we'll see if reality Bridget ever get's the guts.
Love it! I have chickens and I concur, they really do lay superior eggs.
ReplyDeleteSheesh! When did Julia turn 13?! She is sooo grown up here! Little cuties.
ReplyDeleteIf you salt the water the eggs will peel with no problem and no need to do an ice bath.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this! We made them this morning. My family likes poached, but I struggle making them, these were so much easier and just as good!
ReplyDeleteI have never made a soft-boiled egg before, and honestly, I thought that the white might be soft too...and, gross. These were SO delicious, and perfect with a piece of toast. Thanks for adding to my arsenal of things I can eat that take minimal preparation, and still help me feel like a real adult.
ReplyDeleteDo you know the egg peel trick? If you don't, I'm ready to rock your egg eating world here. After the ice bath roll all over so it gets cracks all around. Then slip in a spoon or your finger and it is one quick motion to peel.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I just went to your post for how to make these when I could've just googled. I trust Grace more.
Finally got around to this today! Love it- and ate it over the trash. No sharing with the Bébé, though. He was sleeping! :)
ReplyDelete