Cooking the soft-boiled egg: the importance of the choice of eggs
To successfully cook a soft-boiled egg, choose extra fresh eggs.
To be sure that the eggs are fresh, simply place them in a bowl of cold water: if the egg sinks directly and is placed horizontally, it is extra fresh, if it floats, on the other hand, it is unfit for human consumption.
Ideally, the eggs should also have been stored so far at room temperature.
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Indeed, putting the eggs in the refrigerator is useless, so it is best to keep them at room temperature (protected from light and air however) to avoid thermal shocks.
If you have kept the eggs in the fridge, take them out at least 1 hour before cooking.
This avoids thermal shock when they are immersed in water.
It is this thermal shock that weakens the shell and can cause the egg to “burst” in the pan.
Moreover, to prevent the egg white from spilling into the water if it breaks, it is advisable to pour a few drops of vinegar into the pan.
Cook a soft-boiled egg in a saucepan
The recipe for soft-boiled eggs is extremely simple.
First, boil some water in a saucepan.
As soon as the water comes to a boil, the eggs must be plunged into the saucepan using a tablespoon or, better still, a slotted spoon, avoiding breaking their shells.
Once the eggs are in the water, it takes 6 minutes, the use of a timer being recommended to avoid making mistakes.
To remember the ideal cooking time, you can use the rule of 3, 6, 9: 3 minutes for a soft-boiled egg, 6 minutes for a soft-boiled egg and 9 minutes for a hard-boiled egg.
As soon as the allotted time has elapsed, you must immediately remove the egg from the pan and pass it under running cold water to allow it to cool and thus interrupt the cooking.
You can then peel the egg without burning yourself, but you have to act very delicately, because the egg is much more fragile than a hard-boiled egg and therefore risks opening.
If the recipe has been scrupulously respected, you get a soft-boiled egg.
That is to say with a firm white, but a runny yolk.
As a reminder, in the case of a soft-boiled egg, the yolk and white are still mostly liquid, and in the case of a hard-boiled egg, the yolk and white are fully cooked and therefore compact.
Read alsoSoft, hard or boiled, the secrets for eggs that are out of the ordinary
Cooking a soft-boiled egg in the microwave
For those in a hurry, good news: it is possible to cook a soft-boiled egg in the microwave in less than a minute.
All you need to do is get a special microwave ramekin, then fill it with four tablespoons of water seasoned with a pinch of coarse salt.
You can then break the egg directly into the ramekin and put everything in the microwave at maximum power.
If the microwave cannot exceed 900 W, the egg must be cooked in it for 50 or even 55 seconds.
If it can go up to 1000W, 40 seconds is enough to make a soft-boiled egg.
In video, how to cook a soft-boiled egg
Soft-boiled egg and poached egg: what is the difference in cooking?
It is in fact exactly the same type of cooking, but the poached egg is cooked without its shell, thus approaching the microwave recipe given above.
To make a soft-boiled egg in a saucepan, fill the pan with water and add a little vinegar.
Once the water is boiling, crack the eggs directly into the pan.
It is therefore essential to stir the water with a spoon throughout the cooking process.
Indeed, the circular movements allow the white and the yellow to remain grouped.
After two minutes, the eggs are ready and can be taken out with a slotted spoon or spoon.
All that remains is to taste them!
