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Time for Boiling Eggs

This recipe gives boiling times for poached, soft boiled, and hard boiled eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Time for Boiling Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Choose the timing

  1. For poached eggs, boil for 4 minutes.

  2. For soft boiled eggs, boil for 2.5 to 3 minutes.

  3. For hard boiled eggs, boil for 6 to 8 minutes.

Cook and rest

  1. For someone with a weak stomach, bring 1 pint of water to a boil.

  2. Add the egg.

  3. Remove from heat.

  4. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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
Egg proteins set as they heat, turning the white and yolk from runny to firm.

The step that matters

Boil for the time matched to the style. Egg proteins set progressively as heat rises, so a minute or two changes the texture from runny to firm. Overcooking also produces a grey-green ring around the yolk.

“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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