How long does it take to boil an egg?
Unless youre a vegan, its pretty easy to get on board with a boiled egg with soldiers.
Protein-rich and full of vitamins, the humble boiled egg is the breakfast of champions, if you have the right-sized spoon.
And its equally essential to make sure you cook the boiled egg just right.
Luckily, Michelin star cooking this aint. But its still irritatingly easy to cook a boiled egg wrong and end up with raw egg whites or a rock-hard yolk.
So how long do you need to cook one for? Do you just need water, a pan and a hob?
Once youve got your egg, some water and a pan, youre basically halfway there. Now you have to be precise and patient.
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The best way is to use a timer, which is easy to do on your phone, but there are also very easy-to-use timers available in most homeware and gadget stores.
Its also much easier if you make sure plenty of water is boiling in the pan before you put the egg in, so sort that out first.
If you like your egg yolk soft and runny you only need to cook it for a short time, but for more solid yolks you can cook it for up to 12 minutes.
But bear in mind that an egg continues cooking once youve taken it out of the water, which can be annoying if you want it to be soft for dipping soldiers.
So submerge the eggs in cold water as soon as you think theyre done.
Times for boiling an egg
- Very soft runny yolk – 4 minutes
- Soft yolk – 5 minutes
- More solid yolk – 6 minutes
- Thoroughly boiled egg – 7-12 minutes
Once your egg is cooked, whack it in a securely-placed egg cup on a plate.
To open the lid, take a sharp knife and strike the egg hard across its upper body once, which should be enough to dislodge the top section.
For a different texture of egg, you can also steam them.
It makes the whites softer and the yolk more tender because they havent been submerged in boiling water.
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All you need to steam eggs is a deep pan, and some kind of metal sieve or strainer that can sit in it. You can also use a metal vegetable steamer or a bamboo steamer.
Boil a small amount of water in the bottom on the hob and when its at peak boil, place the eggs in the sieve/steamer, and then place that in the pan.
Place a lid on the pan and the steam will begin to circulate.
The eggs will need a bit longer to cook to your liking when to steam them, so add around two or three minutes to the normal boiling time.
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