Soft Boiled Eggs

Does it not matter the size of the eggs?

When I was testing the duration for hard boiling eggs, the jumbo ones took several more minutes than the merely large ones, with extra-large being somewhat in between. --SW

Great point. This test was done with large eggs. I think I'm going to have to do the same for extra large and jumbo. (And probably medium, small, and peewee...)

Sigh... and I thought I was done testing eggs. (My wife keeps shaking her head as I bring home several dozen eggs for testing.)

Just repeat the test using the same procedure you've established on small and jumbo. Plot size (probably mass, but volume should work too) versus time and then interpolate/extrapolate to figure out the time you should use for the sizes you don't test.

I mean, it probably isn't a straight line given the fact that you have an egg cruising up in temperature to meet the water which is cooling down along a similar curve, and Newton's law of cooling implies that the curve supposed to be exponential, but it's shouldn't be too bad. What's the mass ratio between jumbo and the smallest size you're interested in? As long as it isn't 10 or so, I wouldn't worry about it. If it is, throw in one more size in between.

So wouldn't the amount of water in the pan along with the number of eggs contribute to the timing? A large amount would be more stable. Maybe an amount or water per egg would be the way to specify it.

What about the fridge internal temp? Or is somewhere around 38 fine?

It would be interesting to weigh various egg sizes from various sources to see if there is much variation.

Are the shells on brown eggs thicker? They seem to be for the ones I get and wouldn't that effect the timing as well?

In my experience, brown eggs to have stronger thicker shells, but not significantly where it would affect temperature rise in the yolk and albumen.

A volume of water per egg sounds good to me, and if we're real picky here, a pot with a water column equalling the diameter should result in the least amount of ambient heat loss. B)

Fridge temps should be fairly standard==about 35 to 37F. A couple of degrees should not make that much difference since the rate of heat absorption is greatest at the start of the heating cycle where the difference in temperature between the egg and water is the greatest.

Egg sizes are USDA standardized:

peewee=15 oz
small=18 oz
medium=21 oz
large=24 oz
extra large =27 oz
jumbo=30 oz

Has anyone actually ever SEEN peewee eggs in a market? I don't even see small where I am on Long Island. Medium is the smallest I ever see here.

I wonder how much elevation would matter -- would you need to do it longer at higher elevations?

Elevation would definitely make a difference since the temperature of the boiling water is lower than if you were at sea level. At 1,000 to 2,000 feet, the difference is small enough that you might not have to make adjustments but over 5,000 feet (where the water temperature is about 10 degrees F lower) you might need to add a minute or two.

yawl sure know I'm convinced, but NASA did this exercise already:

http://nasaexplores.nasa.gov/show_912_teacher_st.php?id=03070985426

Is that for a "runny" soft boiled or a "slowly flowing" soft boiled. There is less than a 2 degree difference in egg temperature between perfection and failure.

http://amath.colorado.edu/~baldwind//sous-vide.html

scroll down 1-2 pages and you'll see.

Gary -

it's NASA - if they miss the moon by two degrees they'd just wave goodbye and hire a couple new astronauts . . .

'sides, _you have to provide the yolk temp you _want_ <g>

I'm glad Liv asked about altitude. At 5,000 feet it does take me a little longer to achieve the same results.

(And if I plan to make spaghetti at 11,000 feet while camping, I boil the noodles most of the way at home and pack them in pre-cooked. You don't want to find out how long it takes to cook pasta at that altitude when you're really hungry.)

Kitt
http://www.kittalog.com

I would suggest re-running the test using freshly laid eggs i.e. those still warm from the laying process. A similar test could be run using eggs from the refrigerator. All of this has relevance because of the relative size of the air pocket within the shell and its expansion rate at the different temperatures

......re-running the test using freshly laid eggs i.e. those still warm from the laying process.

utter waste of time. you could list all the home cooks in USA who could ever get a warm egg in their hand on a few sheets of paper.

it is correct that the air sack changes with freshness. but there are so few people that can "do fresh" at a point it could make any possible difference it's a moot point, imho.

Crack an egg into a little souffle cup and add a spoonful of milk or cream. You can also put a little chopped ham, or fish, or veggies, or whatever in the bottom of the cup.

Set the cups into a baking dish filled with warm water.

Bake at 375 deg until firm, 10-12 min; top with some cheese for the last 5 min if you like.

It makes a very soft and creamy egg.

Love the experimentation. As a researcher, I really appreciate the rigorous methods. I've always put a cold egg into water and brought the water to a boil. It's what I've always done, but is a pretty poor method, since I am not patient enough to sit by the pot to start timing once the water has come to a boil. As a result, I usually end up with undercooked soft-boiled eggs. I am going to switch up my approach. I'm not sure why I didn't just try a different method to begin with. I guess old habits die hard.

just a question...

why would you want the soft-boiled eggs to be peelable whole? seems like a whole lot of work, unless you do it sous vide. to be peelable, the white would be too firm to be really tasty. loses the gooey factor. I usually just spoon them out into a bowl. if i wanted whole soft eggs, i would choose to poach them.

no offense meant.

kayenne -

probably little offense sensed - but actually I think the "purpose" of the whole effort was to define/identify what temperature(s) produce what effect(s).

I agree with the basic statement:
soft boiled egg? what's with the "peel" thing?
....I whack off the top and put 'em on toast....

there is however a place in fin food fixins' where a veddy soft boiled gooey egg get puts over something even more tasty...
so past the "it's running all over the place" the temp guidance would be beneficial.

oh well, i suppose it would be a pretty presentation in a hotel if you wanted soft boiled eggs on toast.

i just had two soft boiled eggs for breakfast. a drizzle of soy sauce, singapore hawker style, and 2 slices of toast with strawberry jam. Mmmm...

Well, here's a new method my wife from Belgium brings with her which works perfect everytime.

Start with cold water fully coveringand cold eggs together in a covered pot. Bring them to a rapid boil and set them off the burner for 4 minutes 30 seconds (sea level). Rinse in cold water to reduce temperature and drain. Eggs do not crack and are perfect.

I think some decimal places may have gone missing here? I wouldn't call a 1 lb egg small..
(pedantic I know but what if somebody were using eggs as mass dampers in a skyscraper and didn't use sufficient eggs due to your inaccurate data? What would you say to the families of the casualties when the quake hit, hmm? Think of the children, just think of the children!)
(You'd have egg on your face for sure!)
Oh dear

Great article though - I love your obsessive rigorousness - reminds me of Heston Blumenthal
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PmrgCc7Fswk

To anonymous: I believe the egg weights referred to the weight of a dozen eggs. (I could be wrong, but that's what made sense to me, anyway.)

The weight of the eggs is per dozen.

Will all of the above work with brown eggs?

:-)

I think some decimal places may have gone missing here? I wouldn't call a 1 lb egg small..
(pedantic I know but what if somebody were using eggs as mass dampers in a skyscraper and didn't use sufficient eggs due to your inaccurate data? What would you say to the families of the casualties when the quake hit, hmm? Think of the children, just think of the children!)
(You'd have egg on your face for sure!)
Oh dear[/quote:68b2adc9bd]


It looks like you quoted one of my posts. (Tue Aug 26, 2008 9:04 pm) Sorry for the confusion.

There aren't any missing decimals.

The ounces listed are PER DOZEN eggs of the given size.

I suppose everyone knows, but I noticed that sometimes eggs peel well and sometimes the skin is dry between the shell and the egg.

Once my eggs had cooked the appropriate length of time, I took the pot of boiling water and sat it in the sink. Then I ran cold water into the hot water until it stopped steaming. Then I drained the water and filled the pot with cold water. These eggs slid out of their shells.

Is there an better method?

doing the perfect hard cooked egg - easy to peel, no green, etc - is a very long and twisted debate.

start in cold water
start in boiling water
when water boils turn off and allow to sit for x minutes
boil for x minutes
boil x minutes then cool for y minutes

everybody has a trick; nothing is easy <g>

but I'm with you - my method is to plunge them in ice water - real ice cubes floating around....

I LOVE (yes, love in all caps) your experiment and write up. It renews my slightly battered faith in humanity's critical thinking abilities!