[Raven81]

I just made myself a boiled egg - the first of our own hens eggs I have tried so I wanted it perfect. Upon asking OH how he'd make one I realised there are so many different ways!!
I like hard boiled eggs (was bought up in the 80s when there was a salmonella scare so mum started making them that way and it stuck).
My OH said put it in boiling water for 3 minutes, but I had already put it in cold water which I then boiled for 10 minutes as I always thought if you put an egg in boiling water it would crack.
I just wondered how you would make one and why.

And yes, I realise this is probably the most boring question on here!!

[Plot18]

I do all eggs into boiling water, 8 mins hard(ish) boiled, 6 mins for soldiers.  I also ALWAYS put my hot hard boiled eggs in iced water to cool down, can't stand the black bit around the yolk!!

[arugula]

Soft boiled with runny yolk for dipping. OH makes them like that very nicely, so I let him. Other than that if they are fried, scrambled, poached, made into an omelette or tortilla, souffle, etc, etc, I do it... very nicely.

[BirminghamRyan]

for me, soft boiled from room temp is about 4-5 minutes in boiling water, hard boiled is in the 10-15 min range, they usually end up overdone though, occasionally very much so if I forget about them and the pan boils dry...

See also http://blog.khymos.org/2009/04/09/towards-the-perfect-soft-boiled-egg/

[johnfh]

Soft boiled eggs have to be cooked in boiling water to get consistent results in my opinion for four minutes for perfection. The shells do crack sometimes, depends on how thick they are.  If you strike a match, blow it out and drop it in the water this will stop most shells cracking. I think the carbon in the match strengthens the shell somehow seems to work usually.  Hard boiled eggs can be anything over 8 minutes.  (Goose eggs about 8.5 minutes soft boiled no cracking problem here).

[Gandan57]

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/3158/Egg-Perfect?src=gpute                                           

One of these is a useful aid.

[GrannieAnnie]

My Brian likes his boiled eggs quite soft, so I have to put them in cold water, bring to boil, then turn down til water is just off the boil and leave them in it for one minute.

Me, I like a soft yolk, but not runny white!  so by the time I've taken his eggs out, put them on the plate and put the bread and butter on the plate, them mine are just right!!

[GrannieAnnie]

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/3158/Egg-Perfect?src=gpute                                           

One of these is a useful aid.

I've seen those Gandan, do they actually work??

[Gandan57]

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/3158/Egg-Perfect?src=gpute                                           

One of these is a useful aid.

I've seen those Gandan, do they actually work??

                                                                                                               

I can thoroughly recommend it GrannieAnnie. We put the eggs in warm water so as not to crack the shells and one of these helps take the guesswork out of when to actually start the timing.

[lucywil]

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/3158/Egg-Perfect?src=gpute                                           

One of these is a useful aid.

i use one too but didn't pay £5.99 for it, it was £1 from one of those cheapy shops at the seaside

[GrannieAnnie]

ooh I'll have to try the non seaside cheapy shops in Spalding!!   

[Gandan57]

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/3158/Egg-Perfect?src=gpute                                           

One of these is a useful aid.

i use one too but didn't pay £5.99 for it, it was £1 from one of those cheapy shops at the seaside

                                                               

Ours didn`t come from Lakeland either. It just happened to be the first link I came upon.

[Scribbler]

Five minutes for large eggs straight from the fridge. Also prick the bottom to stop them cracking.

My late Mum tried all sorts of things to stop them cracking, even wrapping them in aluminium foil.

And yes, cool down asap if being used as cold hard boiled eggs. Not like school dinner ones!

[joyfull]

I place the eggs in cold water and then bring to a rolling boil and boil for 3 minutes from then. Unless I am boiling the bantams eggs then it is 2 minutes.

[Tenhens]

Another angle is to steam them - we use a Tefal steamer which has a tray with dimples for the eggs to stand in, for dippy eggs we have found that 5 mins is about right. For hard boiling we steam for 20 mins. So much easier just set the timer and it shuts off at the alloted time.