Easter: This is how you cook the perfect egg!
The Easter weekend has arrived and we are going to eat delicious food again at Easter. Of course, that also includes a tasty egg. Everyone can boil an egg, right? Well, no, but with the following tips you can cook the perfect egg from now on.
Always take an egg out of the fridge about ten minutes before cooking. Before cooking, always pierce eggs with an egg piercer and carefully press the egg with the convex side (air chamber) onto the sharp needle. This prevents the egg from cracking during cooking. Place the eggs in a pan with plenty of cold water and count the cooking time from the moment the water boils. Use an egg timer.
Egg white solidifies at a temperature of 60 °C and egg yolk at 70 °C.
- Soft egg = 2-3 minutes
- Semi-soft egg = 5-6 minutes
- Hard egg = 8-10 minutes
Please note, this can differ if the egg is larger or smaller than average.
Allow an egg to cool in or under cold running water immediately after cooking. By 'startling' the egg content shrinks and the egg will be easier to peel. Hard-boiled and peeled eggs can be stored in plenty of cold water in the refrigerator for two to three days. Storing hard-boiled eggs in their shell is not recommended. Peeling will be much more difficult later on.
How can you tell if an egg is still good?
You can easily test whether an egg is fresh, still edible or spoiled with the 'egg still good water test'. This goes as follows:
Fill a transparent glass with water and carefully place the uncooked egg (when an egg is boiled, this test no longer works). If you want to check several eggs at once, you can also use a clear bowl:
- When the egg stays on the bottom, completely flat on its side, the egg is fresh.
- If it stays on the bottom with the tip pointing slightly upwards, the egg is about 1 week old.
- If the egg remains on the bottom but with the tip pointing all the way up, the egg is about 2 to 3 weeks old.
- If the egg floats, it is spoiled and you can no longer eat it.
With this 'egg still in good water test' you know at a glance how old the egg is. When the egg is 2 to 3 weeks old you can often just eat it, but don't wait any longer.
What does a fresh egg look like inside?
If you open a fresh egg and put it on a plate or in the pan, the egg yolk (the egg yolk) is still high and round. The egg white looks nice and firm, jelly-like. The protein sticks together, resulting in an oval or round puddle.
With an egg that is no longer fresh, the egg yolk will sink in a bit. The egg white also runs out completely, it is watery and no longer holds together.
Why does the egg float if it is no longer good?
The egg contains a small air sac in the widest end. When the egg is fresh, this air pocket is about 0,3 cm deep and 2 cm wide. As the egg ages it loses both moisture and carbon dioxide, the air chamber increases in size. A larger air chamber gives the egg more buoyancy.
Blood spot on the egg
An egg can sometimes contain a blood spot (also called a 'meat spot'). This seems to occur in about 1% of eggs. Such a spot does not mean that the egg is bad or fertilized. You can safely eat such an egg. When an egg is older, blood spots often disappear. This means that an egg with a blood stain is fresh.
Other tips
- If you want to fry an egg, take an egg that is as fresh as possible, it tastes best. If you want to boil an egg, it is better to use a slightly less fresh egg, which makes it easier to peel.
- An egg white that is cloudy or has a yellow or green tint is caused by carbon dioxide that has not had enough time to pass through the egg's shell. This is common in very fresh eggs.
- Fibrous, rope-like strands in the protein are the 'chalazae'. These are inside each egg and hold the yolk in place. These fibrous strands are not a sign that the egg is not good or fertilized. You can safely eat these eggs.
Bon appetit and Happy Easter!
As for cooking times. This depends on the size of the egg. For example, a small egg is already hard after 4 minutes.
Dear adje, If you would have read it correctly, then the dependence on the size of the egg you write about is exactly what was already mentioned in the article.
I had bought an “egg cooker” from Blokker for € 6,99
It has 3 settings, soft, medium and hard.
If the egg (or all 6) have the desired hard / softness, it will moo.
Very easy
This rule does not apply to Thailand as the air pressure is generally considerably higher than in the Netherlands. This makes it take a little longer. The same phenomenon as boiling an egg at an altitude of 2 kilometers.
It depends on what you mean by:
- generally
– significantly
– a little longer
The phenomenon cancels out against the variation in the size of the eggs.
Not really something to lose sleep over (or write about…)
Enjoy your meal
And why would the air pressure in Thailand generally be considerably higher than in the Netherlands?
At a height of 2 kilometers, the air pressure is lower than at sea level, so the boiling point of water drops and the water boils sooner, but the egg has to be in the boiling water longer. That is why cooking in a pressure cooker is faster.
You can also increase the boiling point of water by adding salt, but this effect is so small that it is pointless.
Scaring the egg is also a bit of a mystery to me, why would the content shrink faster and/or more than the shell?
We speak of cooking an egg at sea level and not at a height of 2 km. So you are making an untenable statement. Why is the weather generally better in Thailand: high pressure and no low pressure (depressions). Scaring an egg does work, under the hard shell there is still a membrane that is more easily detached from the egg white than if you let an egg cool down. Try it. Already demonstrated in many hotels. Why, no conclusive explanation but it works.
You yourself come up with the example of boiling an egg at a height, so I have taken the liberty of commenting on it.
That the better (warmer) weather in Thailand could be attributed to the average higher air pressure than in the Netherlands, I really have to refer to the Kingdom of the Fables.
From the pictures below you can see that the air pressure in the Netherlands is on average even slightly higher than in Thailand.
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https://goo.gl/photos/tGvmR79A5vJipG1E9
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Wouldn't the cooking time simply depend on the calorific value of the heat source?
Eggs...they're like people. As soon as you take the skin off you know if they are good.
The more calories the heat source supplies, the more water evaporates.
However, the water does not get warmer than 100 degrees, assuming you use a regular pan, so your egg will not be ready any faster.
You pierce the hole to let air out of the egg. When it gets warmer, it expands and the shell can break.
Do not boil an egg in cold water.
It is quite different how long it takes for the water to boil.
For example, the size of the pan (the amount of water), the starting temperature of the water and how much heat.
Heat depends on the intensity of the flame, the type of gas or other heat source. If the egg stays for a long time in a temperature of 90 to 100 degrees, this naturally affects the hardness.
In other words, only put the egg in the water (after poking a hole) when the water boils. Then the process is almost always the same. Unless you put a large amount of eggs in a pan, of course, then the temperature drops a bit.
Then take some extra time, as with large eggs.
My eggs hatch at 4 minutes, my wife's at 7 minutes.
Okay, I also enjoyed a delicious semi-soft boiled egg this morning. With a pinch of salt (I don't like maggi like the Thai people) but still a few questions for the real eggologists among us ....1 I have never seen an egg piercer in Thailand so where are they for sale ??...2 get an egg 10 minutes before cooking from the fridge ::except for myself I have never had in Thailand
Seeing an egg in the fridge, in fact: you regularly see thousands for sale along the road in the burning sun, how is that with the shelf life?!! Or did mother chicken pack it so well that it has no influence on the freshness?
Hahaha, no egg piercer for sale. Take a hammer and a wire nail. Can you fry the egg. Just kidding, happy easter.
At Lazada you can buy as many egg picks as you want.
Eggs in the refrigerator is westernized nonsense and bad for the shelf life and taste of the egg as the egg is porous and therefore absorbs the ambient air
You can simply store eggs on a shelf in an air-conditioned room at room temperature
happy easter
They are also just on the shelf in the supermarket, not refrigerated.
If you first boil 2 cm of water in a closed pan, so that you need much less energy, 5 minutes is enough for a soft-boiled egg.
A right angle is 100 degrees, and eggs cook at 90 degrees.
In Thailand anyway.
Terrible what a mountain of stories about cooking an egg. It would make you despondent I got 2 delicious soft-boiled eggs from my wife for breakfast this morning and sometimes they are a bit softer and then a bit harder, but they always taste great. So don't make such a drama of it and tap your egg 555. Have a nice Easter everyone.
Hello….my mom used to say,
“one egg 3 minutes….100 eggs 300 minutes”.
Greetings, Joe
Technical progress is fast. Many nowadays own an Airfryer. Just put your egg(s) in there and set to 165 degrees and 7 minutes. The result is a perfectly soft-boiled egg. Rinse briefly with cold water to prevent overcooking. Experiment with the time for a harder or softer egg.
Just 100 degrees, 3 minutes in the microwave. Egg cooker for sale at living mall. And of course prick the convex side.
Have you ever read a discussion here about cooking potatoes…. I almost laughed when I saw all those 'chefs' talking…. now, well a reposted message, the same thing can happen again about boiling an egg. Cooking is not an exact science. Is just experience and yes, many can't even fry an egg, let alone cook it. Then leave it to 'tie rakje'.
lung addie,
my little teara can't boil egg or potato.
So for the eggs I have such a beautiful thing from Blokker and potatoes I do myself.
I did learn from her that I throw away too much broccoli, stems are also edible
As a seafarer, I know that eggs are still edible after 3 months on board in the refrigerator.
Facts about eggs.
A true (taken from my study) but remarkable story about the shelf life of eggs.
When humans make a child, a man's sperm fertilizes an egg inside the woman. the man produces millions of sperm every day for a while during his life. but where do the female eggs come from? they originated much earlier.
When a girl grows in her mother's womb, already in the (I seem to remember) 12th week of pregnancy, all the eggs are created that she can use later, once born and sexually mature, to possibly make a baby. Women can become pregnant until about their 40th birthday. Those eggs are then already 40 years and 6 months old. Remarkable isn't it?
By the way, I was once a chef. I never poke eggs. Almost always goes well. Only wise to put a lot of salt or a dash of vinegar in the cooking water (does not smell good). If an egg still leaks, the white will solidify very quickly and will stop deflating further.
I have friends who live a block away from me. They are without children and elderly. Every year he still romantically boils and colors some eggs and then hides them in the garden for his girlfriend. Every year a box of 6 eggs. And I know how he colors them because I taught him that trick a long time ago. I have now also boiled 2 eggs myself and colored them exactly like this and hid them in their garden early this morning at about half past five. Unfortunately I will not be there when his girlfriend proudly comes in with 8 eggs while he really only expects 6. That Easter Bunny!
I also old sailor, if we disturbed fuel and food that we disturbed in Curacua to bring to the Willembarends that we had to turn the boxes with eggs before arrival according to the homeester, then the yolk could drop back to the middle Happy Easter FREEK
I also old sailor and sailor of the Tanker Pendrecht of shipping company van OMMEREN from Rotterdam would tell the same story or is this story from me ???
What kind of egg is it 4 and 7 min egg then
How can you tell if an egg is cooked or not (yet) cooked, without breaking it?
Place on the table and give the egg a twist. If the raft rotates, it is cooked. If it turns with difficulty, it is uncooked.
Boil an egg? Take an egg or several from the refrigerator, take a pan of cold water, put the eggs in that pan of water, put a lid on the pan, bring the water to a boil, turn off the heat under the pan, wait a minute or 10, remove the eggs from the water, cool under a cold tap if desired, peel off the skin, eat, and you're done. So gas saves energy and the environment!
Why boil or fry eggs? If I really want to taste an egg, I just make a hole in the convex side of a raw egg and drink it. Delicious.
Never store eggs in the refrigerator!
Cover with cold water until almost submerged.
When the water boils 3 minutes and voila a delicious soft boiled egg ♀️
When I stay with my mother-in-law in rural Thailand, I always get a few duck eggs with my breakfast. Takes some getting used to, but still quite enjoyable. No idea how long and where she keeps it or cooks it.
Easter: This is how you cook the perfect egg!
My girlfriend thought I would rather eat duck eggs, because I always buy the white eggs in the Netherlands.
In Thailand, the white eggs are always duck eggs, because apparently there are no chickens with white earlobes there (white earlobes => white eggs, red earlobes => brown eggs).
Duck eggs are generally slightly larger and have a more orange yolk than chicken eggs.
My mother told me that duck eggs are more likely to develop salmonella.
In the US, eggs must be kept refrigerated because they are required to be washed with a chlorine solution.
This dissolves the protective outer layer and makes the egg more permeable.
In the EU and I assume also Thailand this is not necessary.
RICH
In this modern age I use the airfryer. 165 C and 7 minutes. You then have a perfectly soft egg. We rinse under cold water because otherwise you will get a hard egg because of the after-cooking