eggssoft-boiled-eggs
Is there anything other than the temperature of the shell making it difficult to peel? I'm sure the white would be firm enough to withstand a gentle peeling if you're careful?
I was hypothesizing about it as a potential easy alternative to poached (all contained nicely in it's own shell for cooking), but I've never seen it before. Is it impossible, just a stupid idea, too risky (i.e. being squirted with trapped hot water from the white/shell etc.) or just something that hasn't been tried?
Very few people have tried a perfectly cooked soft boiled egg. There is a tradition among chefs of trying to show each other how perfectly they can cook something as simple as an egg. Chef Fernand Point, who serves as inspiration for the affable chef Gusteau in Pixar’s animated movie Ratatouille, would test his apprentices by asking them to fry an egg. With a responsive thermometer, such an infrared one, you can approximate their work at home.
If you ever get that mad scientist feeling, try cooking the egg in a bowl of water placed in the oven. Start with cold tap water in the bowl, place the eggs in the water and the ensemble in an oven set to its lowest setting. Every five minutes, check the temperature of the water in the bowl. If you are using an infrared thermometer, stir the water before measuring. Let the water hover between 65°C to 68°C for an hour. In most ovens you will have to turn the oven off and on to keep the water in that range. The result will be a bright yellow firm gel. I have a picture of the gel for the fried version of the mad scientist egg (what I call Eggs Mondrian):
If you want the yolk runny, then the temperature of the water should be between 63°C (to cook the whites) but below 66°C to keep the yolk runny.
Let it sit, pray carryover cooking does the job (unlikely)
Wrap it in plastic wrap, tightly spin the top to close. Twist 'the tail' into a knot or secure with string. Put it back in the water.
Position it 'hole-up' on a baking sheet, put in an oven (time-consuming)
Crack the egg over a bowl, finish in a pan on low heat (not ideal for runny yolks)
Microwave (sad, but could work)
I vote for number 2.
Best Answer
Yes it is absolutely possible!
Soft-boiled eggs are delicious. I make them all the time, love it especially on ramen:
The trick is to boil the egg in a rolling boil for 5 or 6 minutes depending on the size of the egg, then dumping them in cold water to stop them from cooking further. This product might help too.
You have to be a little bit more careful than with hard-boiled eggs when peeling, but it really isn't very hard to do!
I then dip the meat from my ramen in the egg yolks, and later break the white in pieces and eat it with the noodles. Yum!