Soft Boiled Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
Bring a kettle of water to a boil.
Carefully drop the eggs in with a spoon to prevent breaking.
If the water cools, wait for it to boil again before timing.
For soft eggs, cook for 2 to 2.5 minutes for small eggs, or 2.5 to 3 minutes for larger ones.
For firmer yolks, cook for 3 to 3.5 minutes.
For hard‑boiled eggs, cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or longer for drier yolks.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Provide the protein that sets from liquid to firm as the cooking time increases.
The step that matters
Wait for the water to boil again before timing. If the water cools when the eggs go in, the eggs cook more slowly and unevenly, so the timing goes wrong. Timing only starts once the water is boiling again, so the set of the white and yolk matches the chosen time.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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