boilingeggs
I love a boiled egg, but it has to be soft. On occasion I get it just too soft, so some of the white is still 'snotty'. Oviously I only discover this once I have opened the egg, when it is too late to put it back in the pan.
Is there some trick I can use to continue to cook the white a little and rescue my egg so that the white is set but the yolk is still runny?
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.
Use fresher Grade AA eggs, this minimizes the amount of thin albumen. If this doesn't work you could perhaps try boiling it briefly when it's done cooking via sous-vide. I'd start with 60 seconds in boiling water, and going up from there to find the proper timing. I've never done this, but the boiling water should serve to quickly cook the runny whites.
Best Answer
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.